How Long Should Someone Jog for Cardiovascular?

Putting on your jogging shoes and getting going is definitely a step in the right direction in terms of cardiovascular health. So long as you're fit enough, any amount of jogging will benefit your health. However, if you want to reap the most benefit from your efforts, you'll need to make sure you're jogging long enough. Fortunately for you, the experts have some very definite guidelines on how much exercise you should be getting each week -- with room for a little variety in your routine.

  1. What is Cardio?

    • Cardiovascular exercise is another name for aerobic exercise, and refers to the increased amount of oxygen your body requires when working out. When you exercise, you'll start breathing harder and your heart will beat faster in order to deliver more oxygen to your cells. Any exercise that gets your heart pumping is considered cardiovascular or aerobic exercise, including mowing the lawn, gardening, walking and jogging. You can reap numerous benefits from cardiovascular exercise, including lower body weight, lower blood pressure and an increase in good cholesterol and decrease in bad cholesterol.

    How Much?

    • Now you know its benefits -- but how much cardio should you be getting? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), all adults should do some type of moderate-intensity exercise about 150 minutes each week, or about 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise each week. That breaks down to about 30 minutes, or 15 minutes, a day, five days a week, respectively. Jogging can be considered a vigorous-intensity exercise if you're breathing fast and hard and your heart is beating much faster than normal, says the CDC. For even greater health benefits, the CDC recommends 300 minutes of moderate-intensity or 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise each week.

    HIIT

    • While 15 to 30 minutes a day, five days a week is not a lot of time investment, you do have another option that can help you improve your aerobic capacity, or the amount of oxygen your body can take in. It's called high-intensity interval training, or HIIT, and it can be a big time-saver. HIIT involves cycling between bouts of high-intensity exercise and bouts of recovery. For example, after a short warm-up, you would sprint for 30 seconds, and then jog slowly for one minute, and then sprint again, repeating the cycle six to eight times. If you do this cycle eight times, you'll get in an intense workout in just 12 minutes. Do it two times a week and you'll see benefits such as increased aerobic and anaerobic capacity, decreased abdominal fat and increased metabolism, says the American Council on Exercise.

    Preventing Injury

    • While you might hear any number of recommendations for how long to exercise and what to do while exercising, your own personal circumstances -- and how you feel -- should be the most important factors. If you haven't exercised in a while or you're recovering from an injury, get your doctor's OK before you start a new routine. Always start your workout with a short warm-up, walking or jogging slowly for five to 10 minutes. If you feel any pain in your arms, neck, chest or jaw, or you feel faint or light-headed, stop jogging and seek the help of a medical professional.