Endurance Training

Endurance, which is a measure of your cardiovascular fitness, is the ability of your heart and lungs to adequately supply oxygen enriched blood to your working muscles. By improving your endurance, your muscles more efficiently use oxygen to generate movement. Have you ever climbed a flight or several flights of stairs and felt out of breath at the top? Well, that was a test of your cardiovascular fitness.

Benefits of Endurance You Might Not Be Aware Of

1. Improves Memory

2. Reduces Stress

3. Improves Sleep

4. Can help reduce some symptoms of depression and anxiety

5. Decreases chances of erectile dysfunction in men and leads to enhanced arousal in women

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that adults should get at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per week.

There are several ways to achieve this goal:

1. 30-60 minutes of moderate intensity exercise 5 days per week or

2. 20-60 minutes of vigorous intensity exercise 3 days per week or

3. For the time crunched individual, one continuous session and multiple shorter sessions of at least 10 minutes to accumulate the desired weekly amount of exercise.

It’s advised that you gradually progress your exercise time, frequency and intensity to reduce the risk of injury. Even, if you are not able to meet these goals, you can still benefit from some form of physical activity.