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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. Top 10 Fitness Reading
2. Feature Article - Cardio Training Part 1

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1. Top 10 Fitness Reading

Top 10 books for October to December on fitness, health
and nutrition.

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2. Feature Article - Cardio Exercise

Cardiovascular Exercise Principles and Guidelines
Warming-up, Stretching, and Cooling-down
     By Chad Tackett

For maximum effectiveness and safety, cardiovascular exercise
has specific instructions on the frequency, duration, and intensity.
These are the three important components of cardiovascular
exercise that you really need to understand and implement in your
program. In addition, your cardiovascular program should include
a warm-up, a cool-down, and stretching of the primary muscles
used in the exercise.

Warming Up and Stretching

One very common mistake is stretching before muscles are
warmed-up. It is important to stretch after your muscles are warm
(after blood has circulated through them). Never stretch a cold
muscle. First warm up. A warm-up should be done for at
least 5-10 minutes at a low intensity. Usually, the warm-up is done
by doing the same activity as the cardiovascular workout but at
an intensity of 50-60% of maximum heart rate (max HR). After
you've warmed-up for 5-10 minutes at a relatively low intensity,
your muscles should be warm. To prevent injury and to improve
your performance, you should stretch the primary muscles used
in the warm up before proceeding to the cardiovascular exercise.

Cooling Down

The cool down is similar to the warm-up in that it should last
5-10 minutes and be done at a low intensity (50-60% of max
HR). After you have completed your cardiovascular exercise
and cooled-down properly, it is now important that you
stretch the primary muscles being used. Warming-up, stretching,
and cooling-down are very important to every exercise session.
They not only help your performance levels and produce better
results, they also drastically decrease your risk of injury.

Frequency of Exercise

The first component of cardiovascular exercise is frequency of
the exercise, which refers to the number of exercise sessions
per week. To improve both cardiovascular fitness and to
decrease body fat or maintain body fat at optimum levels,
you should exercise (cardiovascularly) at least three days a
 week. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends
three to five days a week for most cardiovascular programs.
Those of you who are very out of shape and/or who are
overweight and doing weight-bearing cardiovascular exercise
such as an aerobics class or jogging, might want to have at
least 36 to 48 hours of rest between workouts to prevent an
injury and to promote adequate bone and joint stress recovery.

Duration of Exercise

The second component of cardiovascular exercise is the
duration, which refers to the time you've spent exercising.
The cardiovascular session, not including the warm-up and
cool-down, should vary from 20-60 minutes to gain significant
cardiorespiratory and fat burning-benefits. Each time you do
your cardiovascular exercise, try to do at least 20 minutes or
more. Of course, the longer you go, the more calories and fat
you'll "burn" and the better you'll condition your cardiovascular
system. All beginners, especially those who are out of shape,
should take a very conservative approach and train at relatively
low intensities (50-70% max HR) for 10-25 minutes. As you
get in better shape, you can gradually increase the duration of
time you exercise.

It is important that you gradually increase the duration before
you increase the intensity. That is, when beginning a walking
program for example, be more concerned with increasing the
number of minutes of the exercise session before you increase
the intensity, by increasing your speed or by walking hilly terrain.
 

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