Cardiorespiratory Endurance Exercise

Cardiorespiratory endurance refers to the heart and lungs. You can build this kind of endurance by climbing up and down stairs for 30 minutes, walking hills, biking, running or brisk walking on flat land. The idea is to gradually and consistently work at increasing your heart and lungs without strain. If you have a history of asthma, heart disease or are deconditioned, start with low-impact activities such as biking and walking.

  1. Importance of Cardiorespiratory Exercise

    • The heart is a muscle and must pump blood throughout the body. People recovering from open-heart surgery are placed on treadmills with heart monitors strapped to their chests to immediately train the heart muscle. The lungs must not only take in air (oxygen) but also expel toxins. Smokers know this when they try to walk a flight of stairs and are breathless. They may be out of shape, but also they may have not exercised the heart or lungs consistently for low-grade exertion.

    Building Endurance

    • Start with 10 minutes of walking two or three times a day. It might be a brief walk after each meal or parking your car farther away from your office and walking to it. Gradually increase this time from 20 to 30 minutes of walking daily to one hour. Once walking an hour a day is no longer a challenge, walk stairs or hills for 15 to 20 minutes as part of your 60 minutes of daily exercise. The incline will boost the challenge and require that your heart and lungs work harder---and get stronger.

    Increase the Challenge

    • When you are walking easily for an hour daily and can do even 20 to 30 minutes of hill- or stair-climbing, start biking or jogging for 20 to 30 minutes as part of the 60 minutes of exercise. Bike small inclines and gradually move to larger hills. Jog on the street, packed dirt, packed sand (beach) or even grass, such as a golf course. Avoid jogging on the sidewalk as it is too hard on the joints and spine. Continue to increase the time. By varying the kinds of exercise, you will stave off boredom and more evenly develop the larger and fine muscles to prevent injuries.