Right Way To Do Cardios

How to make sure your cardio program is right for you?
The four components of a good solid cardio program are frequency, intensity, time and type. Frequency If you're happy with where you are fitness-wise, you should train three times a week for 30 minutes, with no more than two days between sessions. For most of us, we're not very happy with our fitness level so we need to train more. If you want to lose some body fat and increase your endurance, you should be doing cardiovascular exercise at least four or five days a week for 30 to 45 minutes.IntensityThe general rule is to train at 60 to 90 percent of your maximum heart rate. Of course, that's a pretty big gap, right? Here are my general guidelines for target heart rate for intermediate to advanced exercisers: one of your workouts should be long (up to an hour or more) at 60-70% of your maximum heart rate. Two of your workouts should be smack dab in the middle--about 30 to 45 minutes of cardio at around 70-80% of your maximum heart rate. One workout should be short (maybe 20 to 30 minutes) but intense...somewhere around 75 to 80% of your maximum heart rate. When you get up to 90% of your max, you're treading dangerous waters so be careful when you get above 80% of your max, and don't stay there for very long. Allowing some variety into your training intensity will allow you to build endurance without getting too bored or working too hard all the time.
Time
How long should you be working out? Again, general guidelines tell us that, for beginners, you should start with 15 to 20 minutes of cardio. You have to keep in mind that it takes at least 20 minutes of continuous exercise to kick-start your body's fat burning mode. The guidelines I mentioned above are more for advanced exercises than beginners...so what if you fall somewhere in between? You'll have to figure out for yourself exactly how long you can go. I suggest when you start a program, do your chosen cardio exercise for as long as you can. If you keep with it consistently, you can add a few minutes each week. For instance, if you're on the stairclimber at the gym and you can only do 10 minutes at a time, each week add 2 or 3 minutes to each workout. In no time, you'll be stomping away and really burning those nasty little fat cells!
Type
Now comes the hard part. What exercise should you be doing?? Another general rule goes like this; if you want to burn fat and increase endurance you want to do activities that recruit large muscle groups and employ continuous movement. Okay, so that would include anything from walking to jogging to cycling. Those types of activities are generally continuous and it's pretty easy to keep your heart rate at an even keel. When you do things like in-line skating and swimming, its a bit harder to keep your heart rate level, especially if you're a beginner. However, the more you practice, the better you get and the easier it is to get your heart rate up there. Then you've got the team sports, like soccer, volleyball and basketball. These kinds of cardio activities are more of a start-stop kind of thing, which gets into the anaerobic category of exercise.
The Bottom Line
Do any cardio activity you want...just make sure you like it and you can do it continuously for at least 20 minutes, and that you are monitoring your heart rate. May I suggest a heart rate monitor for the chronically lazy. The important thing is consistency. Whatever you do, make sure you do it often enough that your body can get some benefit from it.