The recommended frequency of doing cardiovascular exercises is three
times a week, with a minimum of twenty minutes for each session. But,
after doing the same exercises and the same style of training, you may
become bored. You lose your momentum and you reach a plateau. This is
the point in which the training or exercise you are currently doing can
no longer give you additional benefits. To overcome a cardiovascular
exercise plateau, you should change your routine and use a new method.
There are three most popular methods of a cardiovascular program,
the continuous training, the interval training, and the composite
training.
Continuous training is the traditional and most common method of
cardiovascular exercise. By virtue of its name, a person doing
continuous training is using only one activity throughout the whole
thirty-minute session. For example, the sole activity can be riding a
stationary bike. A person will ride this stationary bike for the whole
thirty minutes of one session. The benefit of such training is that the
large muscle groups are used continuously for 20 to 30 minutes. But,
many who use such training eventually become bored by the monotony.
The interval training method is not recommended for beginners.
This method involves the repeated use of a light-intensity activity
followed by a hard-intensity one. A typical interval training may be
like this: The light intensity activity may be walking at a comfortable
pace. This may last for five minutes (intervals can be from 2 to 10
minutes). After the five-minute walking, the person begins to jog or
run. Jogging or running is a hard-intensity activity. It must also
last for five minutes. And then the person goes back to walking for
another five minutes. This sequence is done over and over again until
he finishes the entire 30-minute session.
In composite training, a person may use several different
cardiovascular activities. A person using this method is less prone to
boredom or plateau. A typical composite training may be like this: a
ten-minute bicycling, followed by a ten-minute stair-stepper, and then a
last ten-minute rowing.
To make the cardiovascular exercise more fun and more exciting, a
person may combine both the interval and the composite training
methods. For example, a ten-minute riding on a stationary bike, which
is a part of composite training may become an interval training when the
resistance of the bike is adjusted. The ten minutes be divided between
a two-minute light-intensity less resistance and a two-minute
hard-intensity greater resistance.
Whichever method you are currently using is fine as long as you
are still deriving benefits from it. If you have reached a plateau,
switch to another method.
About The Author
Joel Dresse is the Webmaster of http://www.aerobics-00.com, an informative site on aerobics and cardiovascular exercising.
joel_dresse@hotmail.com
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