Decrease Your Risk for Cardiovascular Disease

"Exercise capacity is a more powerful predictor of mortality among men than other established risk factors for cardiovascular disease." (1)

WOW! What this is saying is that your cholesterol, triglycerides, etc are NOT the most powerful predictors for cardiovascular disease.

I'm sure some of you are saying "Well that's all fine and good, but what is my Exercise Capacity?"

Exercise capacity, as defined by the National Institute of Health, is "the maximum amount of physical exertion that a patient can sustain." Exertion is measured by how much oxygen is consumed and utilized by the body by the exchange of oxygen in the blood. (VO2) The more efficient the body is the better it utilizes the oxygen, letting more oxygen into the blood stream, increasing your VO2. It's like the body getting a better miles per gallon rating with oxygen being it's form of gas!

Your VO2 is measured in a clinical or exercise physiology lab by hooking you up to a metabolic cart with a face mask to breathe in to while running or walking on the treadmill or stationary bike. You do not need to have your VO2 measured though to learn how to improve it.

Thanks to GR8Fits on Flickr

IMPROVING EXERCISE CAPACITY
For cardiovascular fitness, many people get on a treadmill, elliptical, stationary bike or even go outside and run for 30 minutes to hours at a time at a steady pace and expect to see improvements in their bodies. I will be the first and hopefully not the last to tell you that this is 1. not good for your body and 2. you may make small improvements. Just like in the gym if you don't try to lift heavier, you will never make strength gains; if you don't push yourself in cardiovascular constantly changing up your program, you will not see improvements! Begin to add interval training, where you are working extremely hard for short, medium and long interval lengths. Incorporating intervals into your cardio program will help to increase your VO2 by recruiting different energy systems in your body, utilizing inhaled oxygen! For recovery days, you can still get that long distance run in. Exercising for 30 minutes at a time is more than enough. Play around with different programs on your cardio equipment. If you want more precise workouts begin tracking your heart rate, which is the best way to gauge how hard you are working. Look to our blog in the future for more on heart rate training.


We are made to move. So get up and get going!! Find something whether it's biking, swimming, dancing, walking or skiing that you LOVE doing and get out and do it. In 20-30 minutes a day 3 times per week, it can decrease your risk for cardiovascular disease.

Reference: (1) http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/346/11/793
(2) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bookshelf/br.fcgi?book=cm&part=A411