Testimonial: Phil Hanlon
I came to Jes to help me deal with advancing arthritis in my hip. When I started with her, I was barely able to climb stairs, I had completely given up running and was struggling even with non-contact aerobic workouts.
I discovered that Jes is incredibly knowledgeable about muscle groups and biomechanics. She has systematically built up the muscles that support my hip and helped me deal with secondary issues resulting from my arthritis like posture and
gait. She designed an exercise and stretching program for me that has made a world of difference in my life so that I now have no hesitation using stairs and I am even starting to jog again!
Jes is outstanding to work with. During workouts, Jes is unfailingly positive and enthusiastic. She has a great sense of how hard to push and what goals to set. She offers advice on diet, on how to stay fit during business travel and she has been flexible on times to meet given my very busy schedule.
I would recommend Jes to anyone. Jes rocks!
(THANKS PHIL…YOU WILL BE MISSED!)
Effective Cardio Training Part 2
As I mentioned in my last article, effective cardiovascular training is a crucial factor in for many fitness related goals including athletic goals, weight loss and general health. In this post, I’d like to share with you some of my secrets for developing cardio programs.
In order to get the most benefit from cardio training, I recommend making continual adjustments and tweaks to three variables:
-Duration: Length of time spent for each individual cardio session
-Intensity: Level of difficulty achieved during each cardio session
-Variance: Varying the type of cardio performed each session
Duration
Obviously the length of your cardio training sessions has an impact on total calories burned, cardiovascular endurance and cardiovascular health. While basic recommendations from the American College of Sports Medicine and American Heart Association are to do moderately intense cardio 30 minutes a day five days a week, or to do vigorously intense cardio 20 minutes a da, three days a week, for healthy adults under the age of 65, it’s also important that your cardio training correlates with your personal fitness goals, whether they involve weight control, fat loss or are more performance oriented.
Intensity:
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
HIIT has become a very popular fat burning method. HIIT uses intervals of time and assigns them a personal intensity level. Normally you’ll “max out” and then recover during the next interval. HIIT is great for breaking personal records and gives you a personal challenge during every workout. Not only that, research suggests that HIIT causes the body to burn more energy for a longer period of time after the workout is complete (fat burning while doing nothing!). The main drawback to HIIT is for beginners in fitness. This type of workout can be intimidating, and, if done incorrectly, it could be overly exhausting to the point of becoming nauseating. Whenever performing HIIT, it should always be based on personal intensity index. It is important to understand how hard you can work.
Steady State Training (SST)
SST is a constant, steady effort throughout the entire cardio session. You’ll keep your personal intensity from 7 to 9 (on a scale of 1-10) the entire session. This type of cardio session will also cause the body to demand more energy when your workout is complete, although not as much as HIIT.
Low Intensity Cardio
Low intensity cardio is great for active lifestyle activities, beginners in fitness, those recovering from injury and the elderly. While you do burn mostly fat while doing cardio at a lower intensity level, you will not get the benefits of post-workout energy demand. Because of this, LILT is an inefficient method for burning fat. You can achieve more benefits in a shorter period of time by using the various other methods suggested here.
Variance
One commonly overlooked component of cardio training is variance. By variance I mean using different methods of cardio each time you train in order to elicit an adaptive response. Variance is especially important if your goals include weight loss, fat loss or general fitness. By using different types of cardio such as running, jump rope, step mill, biking, elliptical, etc., your body attempts to become efficient at each activity (as opposed to becoming efficient at just one activity). Continually changing type of cardio you do will not only improve overall fitness level but also will increase your total calories burned.
The method I’ve found to be most effective in getting cardio results is by laying out a weekly a monthly plan that incorporates each of the variables mentioned on different days. Are you wondering how you can use these principles to maximize the effectiveness of your cardio training plan? If so, leave your questions and I will do my best to answer them below.
Effective Cardio Training Part 1
Effective cardiovascular training is a crucial factor in many fitness related goals including athletic goals, weight loss and general health. In this article, I would like to add to your knowledge and understanding of cardio training so you can design a program that leads you to your goals.
When I was just starting out in fitness, I was certain that I could achieve all my goals by running an hour (or more) every day. I figured the more cardio I did (no matter what the type), it would make me a better volleyball player, help me lose the weight I wanted to, and get me in great shape, since I had so much endurance. I was wrong! While I did develop a lot of endurance, I still struggled to be as fast as I wanted during volleyball matches, reacted a little slower than I hoped and had trouble staying at the weight I wanted. In other words, I was in good health and decent shape but the results I was after stayed just out of my reach.
It wasn’t until I learned to apply the simple tips I’m about to describe that I finally the results I wanted. In order to get the most benefit from cardio training, I recommend making continual adjustments and tweaks to three variables:
- Duration: Length of time spent for each individual cardio session
- Intensity: Level of difficulty achieved during each cardio session
- Variance: Varying the type of cardio performed each session
Adaptive response to exercise:
The body’s response to the demand placed upon it during an exercise session
Duration
Obviously the length of your cardio training sessions has an impact on total calories burned, cardiovascular endurance and cardiovascular health. While basic recommendations from ACSM and AHA are to do moderately intense cardio 30 minutes a day, five days a week, or to do vigorously intense cardio 20 minutes a day, three days a week, for healthy adults under the age of 65, it’s also important that your cardio training correlates with your personal fitness goals whether they involve weight control, fat loss or are more performance oriented.
For example, if your goal is weight loss, you may want to increase your cardio from 20 minutes three times a week to 30 minutes five times a week; this would allow you to burn more total calories each week. Or, if your goal is to become a better basketball player, you may want to train for speed two times per week and train for endurance two times per week.
As I said before, you should also consider intensity and variance when designing an effective cardio training plan. In my next post, I will detail three different types of intensity training that you can incorporate into your plan, I’ll describe what I mean by the word variance and how you can use it to get better and more individualized fitness results, and I will give you an example of how I helped one client go from struggling to walk uphill three minutes on a treadmill to finishing her first marathon.
The points I’ve listed here are the basic principles I use when designing training programs for my clients. By using the combined information from this and next weeks post not only will you get better results, your routine will become more fun and interesting.
Jes Reynolds holds a B.S. in Kinesiology, is a certified personal trainer