Cardio Training Intensity and Your Fitness Goals

What is "cardio"? In the fitness industry, cardiorespiratory training is activity that puts demand on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems in order to produce, sustain and recover from the activity. Basically if you are getting your blood pumping, you are cardiorespiratory training on some level.

What is intensity? Intensity in any kind of exercise training is, basically how much effort you are putting into your workout as compared to your maximum efforts. This can be measured in many ways, some ways are more appropriate than others depending on the training concept. For today, we're talking about "cardio" and a good indicator of your intensity during a cardiorespiratory workout is perceived exertion. Perceived exertion scales usually follow the Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion Scale which is a 6-20 scale (6 being no effort 20 being maximum effort), however are scaled down to a 1-10 scale for ease of use (1 being no effort at all 10 being maximum effort).

The Borg Rating finds a high correlation between perceived exertion multiplied by 10 and actual the heart rate during activity of that intensity level. (Borg, 1998). This, of course, is just a generalization and doesn't take into account all of the variables that affect heart rate (fitness level, medication, conditions that affect the cardiorespiratory system etc). For instance if you are exercising at intensity level 10 on the Borg Scale, your heart rate would be roughly 10x9 or 90beats per minute. This exercising heart rate is very light and your efforts "relatively" low, again this number is relative depending on the above variables. Perceived exertion comes in handy when you a) don't have a heart rate monitor handy or b) don't feel like stopping your activity to check your pulse rate. How well your body is conditioned will determine your perceived exertion for each activity.

From weeding the garden to running a race the possibilities of activities that challenge our cardiorespiratory systems are endless and you have the power to get the most (or least) out of your efforts by changing your intensity level during your activities. By increasing your intensity level during activity, you are telling your body to recruit more motor units (nerves stimulating muscle fibers to work). More motor unit recruitment means more muscle fibers working which also means more energy required to produce and sustain those contractions. More energy required can mean more calories expended during that particular exercise effort. If your fitness goal, for instance, is weight loss increasing your intensity level to maximize the amount of energy expended works to your advantage! It can mean a difference of hundreds of calories burned during one bout of exercise.

How can you increase your intensity? It all depends on the exercise

• Involving more muscle groups per activity is usually a good start. A jumping jack for instance, intensity is increased when you add arms movement to the leg movement. Starting with just legs is a great place to start add arms when you're feeling ready to take things up a notch. 
• Intentional movement, making those movements count...flopping arms around will require less muscle work than intentional, defined arm movement. Small movements will require less energy than large movements. Squatting and standing up without focusing on muscle contraction will require less energy than squatting and squeezing the quads and glutes when you come back up. As founder of the willPower Method®, Stacy Lei Krauss says "defined movement produces defined muscles", I couldn't agree more. Make those movements count!
• Add a jump or a kick to your step
• During slower tempo exercise, create fuller range of motion (this is also good for joint mobility)
• Contract muscles when you can both concentrically (shortening the muscle) and eccentrically (elongating the muscle from shortened state).
• Smile (a smile produced by the contraction of 17 muscles, burn extra calories just by smiling:)-my personal favorite!