Aerobic Capacity While Running in Place

Steady-state cardio exercises such as running in place are effective exercises to burn calories, reduce stress and help to manage chronic conditions such as high blood pressure and cholesterol. Although running in place will not improve your aerobic capacity to the same degree as interval training, your cardiovascular system will improve over time.

  1. Improving Aerobic Capacity

    • Aerobic capacity, which is also known as VO2 max, is a measure of the amount of oxygen you can consume while exercising at your maximum capacity. The harder you train, the more oxygen your muscles need to keep you going. To improve aerobic capacity, you need to push your cardiovascular system past its normal limitations.

    Cardiovascular Adaptations

    • Although the ideal method for improving your aerobic capacity involves intense interval training and pushing your heart rate above the aerobic zone, running in place can still result in improvements to your cardio over time. With enough training, your heart strength will improve, along with the oxygen content in your blood, making you a more efficient endurance machine.

    Target Heart Rate

    • When you run in place, you're likely going to work out in the aerobic heart zone, which keeps your heart rate between 50 and 80 percent of your maximum heart rate. Exercising in this zone allows you to improve endurance without taxing your cardiovascular system by exceeding your aerobic capacity. You can exercise longer and more comfortably here than you can when sprinting or interval training. You can estimate your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220.

    Considerations

    • If you want to see noticeable improvements to aerobic capacity, consider adding one or two high-intensity conditioning days to your training regimen. Running a few 4x4min sprints can improve VO2 max much faster than steady-state cardio, according to research conducted by the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment. To measure your rate of exertion during exercise, take your pulse on the inside of your wrist for six seconds and then multiply that number by 10 to get your heart rate.