How Does Aerobic Activity Help The Cardiovascular System?

If you want access to the latest fitness information, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

So…What Is Aerobic Activity Anyway?

In it's most simplistic definition, aerobic activity is defined as any activity that is performed "with oxygen".

Aerobic exercise therefore encompasses a wide range of activities that all require the use of oxygen to create energy for the body to complete the exercise.

Aerobic conditioning is the cornerstone of most weight loss and fat loss fitness programs, because it causes your body to burn more calories, thereby increasing your metabolic rate. This increased metabolic rate, combined with a well balanced nutrition plan, will force your body into a calorie deficit and promote natural, healthy fat loss.

Some common aerobic exercises include walking at a brisk pace, jogging, swimming, step aerobics, jumping rope, running on a treadmill, or performing an elliptical cross trainer workout.

Some important things to keep in mind when trying to put together an aerobic conditioning program include duration of exercise, intensity of exercise and frequency of exercise. (how long, how fast, and how often).

Aerobic exercise routines have been around for many years, but were popularized and brought to the mainstream in the early 1980's. Since then many people have wondered exactly how aerobic activity can help the cardiovascular system.

The Cardiovascular System

The cardiovascular system is made up of the heart, blood, and blood vessels. The cardiovascular system is your body' s delivery system. Blood moving from the heart, delivers oxygen and nutrients to every part of the body. On the return trip, the blood picks up waste products so that your body can get rid of them.

So exactly how does aerobic activity help the cardiovascular system?

Aerobic activity helps the cardiovascular system in a number of ways…

First it increases the workload of the cardiovascular system as a whole. This increased workload conditions the muscles and organs of the cardiovascular system, making them more efficient. This increased efficiency results in the muscles of your cardiovascular system having to perform less work to transport more blood and oxygen to your body at rest.

One of the health benefits of aerobic exercise is the fact that regular aerobic exercise causes your heart to enlarge. As a result, the heart increases its blood stroke volume. With increased blood stroke volume, comes greater oxygen uptake. Greater oxygen uptake causes Oxygen to be utilized by your body more efficiently.

When oxygen is utilized by your body more efficiently, you will…

• Burn more fat during any type of exercise. Again, as your body becomes more efficient at utilizing oxygen, you will begin to notice a positive body composition change, more muscle and less fat.

• Increase you endurance and allow for faster recovery from exercise, allowing you to perform more intense aerobic workouts, at more frequent intervals.

• Lower your blood pressure and resting heart rate, increase in good cholesterol and decrease in bad cholesterol, and a reduced risk in developing diabetes and other diseases. These are major reasons why regular cardiovascular conditioning is promoted so often throughout the health, fitness and medical fields.

When your cardiovascular system is in good condition, your resting heart rate,(number of times your heart beats at rest), slows. A resting heart rate of less than 60 beats per minute is an indicator of good health.

There are many other reported health benefits of aerobic exercise. Some of the most common are: Reduced blood pressure, increased HDL (good) cholesterol, decrease in total cholesterol, decrease in body fat, increased aerobic work capacity, decreased symptoms of depression and anxiety and increased heart function.

Regular aerobic conditioning can also help people who are coping with emotional and psychological stresses. As you perform a cardiovascular workout, your body releases endorphins into your blood stream. A high concentration of endorphins in the blood, has been shown to increase your mood and overall sense of wellbeing, typically leading to an improved self image.

So what are you waiting for…Put on your shorts and go for a jog today!