How To Improve Cardio Fitness? Boosting Heart & Lung Health

In the world of fitness, people have a misconception about cardio fitness. Most people consider cardio workout to mean only fat loss, whereas cardio mainly strengthens your heart and respiratory system.

You all must have heard about cardio exercise. These workouts are essential for your whole body and help you lose weight quickly.

Why is Cardio Fitness Important?

What are Cardio Exercises?

Cardio is a short cardiovascular exercise that increases heart rate and breathing. Many activities are included in cardio workouts, and the best cardio exercises are running, jumping rope, swimming, cycling, stair climbing, etc. These exercises are very effective in reducing weight.

Improving Cardio Fitness

Keep track of your body weight during the weight loss regime to check the cardio fitness improvement. 

Research has revealed how many calories people burn during different activities. To find out how many calories you will burn during cardio and weight training, you can find out by keeping your body weight on track.

• For instance, if you weigh 180 pounds (75 kg), you can burn about 300 calories in 30 minutes of walking or jogging moderately. 
• If you run briskly at 6 mph, you’ll burn about 365 calories in 30 minutes.

But many people do not know how much cardio they should do to lose weight. So today, I will tell you how much cardio should be done to lose fat or weight and increase cardio fitness.

Improve Cardio Fitness

The word “cardio” means heart. A person’s heart pumps 60-80 times in a minute, but with cardio, this heartbeat increases up to one and a half times, and this figure also reaches 100-130, which is called cardiovascular condition.

Calories are burned quickly at this stage, increasing your chances of rapidly losing weight. During this, type 1 slow-twitch muscle fibers are also activated.

Cardio does not cause fat loss; its main job is keeping the heart system right. Simply put, fat loss is a secondary function of cardio training. The metabolism kicks high during cardio, and the body reaches the fat-burning stage.

Increasing fat loss and boosting metabolism

If you want to lose 1 pound weekly, you must stick to 2,500 calories daily. 

Tip- If you are doing cardio empty stomach in the morning, add carbs to your diet, providing energy in the long run. Also, remember, you can and should consume protein with all-day meals. 

How Much Cardio To Lose Weight And Fat?

According to the guidelines issued by the US Department of Health and Human Services, one should do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week. 

It is enough if you do 30 minutes of cardio daily, five days a week. 

According to a Harvard Medical School article, cardio is essential for adults, the elderly, and the disabled.

Cardio is usually a low-intensity training, and the intensity has to be maintained for longer—for example, walking, cycling, and elliptical.

One should also do High-intensity strength activities at least twice a week for other health benefits.

Although one does not need 30 minutes of cardio in a single session, one can intermittently.

Benefits of Improving Cardio Fitness

• It helps burn fat and calories
• It makes the heart more robust so that it does not have to work hard to pump blood.
• It increases lung capacity.
• It helps reduce the risk of heart attack, high cholesterol, blood circulation, diabetes, cancer, etc.
• It makes you feel good. It can also provide temporary relief from tension, depression, and anxiety.
• It helps to sleep better.
• Improves immunity
• It gives more confidence in how you look and feel.
• It helps to increase bone density.

How to include and improve cardio fitness?

It is how you can include cardio in your lifestyle.

You can also reach your cardio goals with 10 or 15 minutes of workouts throughout the day. For example, walking 10 minutes before breakfast, 10 minutes during lunch break, and 10 minutes after dinner can be perfect and beneficial for you.

Or you can also walk for 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the afternoon if you’re starting, gradually increasing to 150 minutes a week.

You can cut your workout time by half if you are already working out and fit. You can do cardio and heavy workouts only for 75 minutes a week.

Cardiovascular Exercise Examples

• Cycling
• Walking
• Running
• Stationary Bikes
• Elliptical Trainer
• Treadmills
• Rowing Machine
• Climbers
• Stair Climber
• Jumping Rope
• Swimming
• Circuit Training
• Rowing

Types of Cardio Exercises For Weight Loss

We can keep ourselves healthy by keeping our weight under control. If our body is not healthy, we cannot do any work properly. So be sure to try the following five workouts.

Running is beneficial

Jumping Rope Benefits

Climbing Stairs

Go Cycling

Go swimming

Now you must understand how vital cardio is in everyone’s lifestyle. So, start incorporating these exercises today and improve your cardio fitness.