Cardiovascular Improvement

[DinbinFanfoom]

Looks like the treadmilling is starting to pay off in practical ways... over the weekend I was at a pool-party for some friends and played some frisbee 500 and a lot of 3 on 3 touch football. Didn't get winded once. Plus the loss of ~35lbs of fat let me dive and slide and accellerate like I haven't since high school. Loved it.

[EricStratton]

That's all well and good but how did you fair w/ the wimmin???? :D

(and congrats, that's great!)

[DinbinFanfoom]

That's all well and good but how did you fair w/ the wimmin???? :D
(and congrats, that's great!)All taken. :lowsmile:

[Shiz]

From my rowing days, we did a lot of cardio development. The absolute best way to increase your cardio (and we did blood testing to track results) is 2 sessions a week* of 90-150 minutes at 60-65% of your max heart rate. This is probably not practical for working people (and also boring as hell) but I thought I would mention it. We called this steady state. After 3 months of steady state 2 times a week, our testing showed a 20-30% or so reduction in lactic acid accumulation during our 2000 meter (6 minutes or so) ergometer tests, meaning we could pull harder for longer before muscle burn manifested.

Max heart rate for a generally inactive 30 year old is ~185 but these stats are easily available. The younger or more in shape you are, the higher the max. We had some athletes peak close to 220.

*The other 4 days was a mix of weight training and shorter duration cardio at higher heart rates. Doing steady state every day would probably improve cardio further but good fitness requires exercise rotation.

[DinbinFanfoom]

My usual routine is 35 mins of running @ 160-170bpm 2 or 3 times a week.

[Zyzzyx]

The younger or more in shape you are, the higher the max. We had some athletes peak close to 220.
About 10 years ago (21yrs old) when I was riding far more often, and with more intensity I could get my HR up to ~220bpm with a hard sprint on the bike. Friends didn't believe me, borrowed a HR monitor, managed to record a max of 226bpm. Now, these were sprints that I would basically collapse after doing, but I did enjoy it at the time.

[Shiz]

My usual routine is 35 mins of running @ 160-170bpm 2 or 3 times a week.

That is probably on the high side for true steady state but where you want to be for a shorter workout. As we all know, some exercise is better than none.

edit: I would also like to point out that our best cardio athlete was a cyclist but he quit rowing due to his difficulty with the technique (and other factors I imagine). Our best rower had the fastest lactic acid accumulation on the team and was incapable of maintaining steady state. He was just too damn competitive to not pull as hard as he could all the time.