Fit and Youthful Life

Guest Author: Eddie Lomax


Cardio Interval Training can help you reach new cardiorespiratory endurance levels, burn more calories, increase speed, improve power and generally improve over-all fitness performance.

Cardio Interval Training is a series, or repeated segments, of intense activity, alternated with periods of recovery that can be either reduced activity or complete inactivity.

For example… you could run at a fast pace for a short distance and then rest for a certain time period before repeating, or you could run at a fast pace for a short distance and then reduce the intensity to a jog for a certain time period before repeating.

Dividing your workout into short, intense efforts permits you to perform a greater volume of work at high intensity.

For example… you could perform 10 sprints of 30 seconds at near maximum speed, whereas it would be impossible to maintain the same high speed continuously for 5 minutes.

As you can see Cardio Interval Training allows you to repeatedly reach and sustain a high level of intensity for a cumulative time that is greater than what you could achieve during continuous training with the same intensity.

Running was used above as an example only… You can use any method of metabolic conditioning training in the Cardio Interval Training format.

Other examples besides running are biking, swimming, jumping rope, calisthenics exercises, etc… even circuit weight training is a form of Cardio Interval Training.

Cardio Interval Training is an excellent training method to reap the benefits of anaerobic training… but Cardio Interval Training does not have to be exclusively high intensity, short duration.

The truth is… You should perform you Cardio Interval Training for high intensity, short duration, medium intensity, medium duration and low intensity, long duration.

Vary your Cardio Interval Training for the best results.

You can manipulate your Cardio Interval Training in 7 ways to effectively overload the aerobic and anaerobic energy pathways and promote improvement.

The 7 Ways to manipulate your Cardio Interval Training are…

The number of repetitions… How many intervals you perform.

The distance… Short, medium or long interval distances.

The active interval… How long you perform the interval.

The rest interval… How long you completely rest or reduce intensity between intervals.

The active – rest ratio… How long the active interval period is compared to the rest interval.

The overall workout distance… The total distance of all the interval series.

The frequency of workouts… How often you perform Cardio Interval Training.

Vary the methods, stresses and intensities of your Cardio Interval Training to get the best results.



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Guest Author: Eddie Lomax


If you are one of the people who believe steady-state aerobic exercise is the only way to improve cardiorespiratory endurance and burn fat, you’re in for a treat. Bodyweight calisthenics are an excellent way to get a full body workout that includes the heart and lungs. I’ll show you how to use bodyweight exercise in a second, but first let’s talk a little about cardiorespiratory endurance.

Cardiorespiratory endurance is the level of ability your body has to gather, process, deliver and sustain oxygen to produce energy for use in physical activity. Basically, the respiratory system gathers and starts to process the oxygen. The cardiovascular system continues to process and distributes the oxygen. So, your cardiorespiratory endurance is the level of efficiency your heart and lungs have to sustain and deliver oxygen for energy.

So, when most people want to improve their endurance they do cardiorespiratory conditioning exercises (cardio) to improve endurance by “conditioning” the heart and lungs. Unfortunately, the form of cardiorespiratory conditioning usually takes the form of aerobic exercise. And bodyweight calisthenics are completely ignored! But the fact is, any activity can improve cardiorespiratory endurance if they are done properly, and bodyweight exercises and calisthenics are an excellent choice.

There is something important I should mention. The type of cardio conditioning you do improves over-all endurance. But, the increased endurance is most closely related to the activity used. This means if you ride an exercise bike, your cardiorespiratory endurance will primarily be improved for bike riding. This is fine if you ride a bike in your normal, everyday life. But this has limited application for most people who are involved in a wide variety of activities both in and out of the gym.

If, on the other hand, you use bodyweight calisthenics for your cardio conditioning, you are using a wide variety of movements and muscles. Bodyweight exercises and calisthenics more closely represent the movements of highly random movements encountered in sport, work and life. So, you could make a case that cardiorespiratory conditioning using bodyweight calisthenics is better for endurance improvement that can be used in and out of the gym.

Plus, bodyweight calisthenics use all the muscles in your body. Compare this to the predominately lower body exercises of jogging or riding a bike. So, using bodyweight exercises allow you to build a strong, lean physique while improving cardiorespiratory endurance and burning fat!

Just think about it. Let’s say you do a fast paced bodyweight workout consisting of a circuit of bodyweight exercises and calisthenics. You’ll simultaneously build strong muscles and burn fat while improving heart and lung function. You wouldn’t even have to do a long, slow aerobic workout to supplement your training.

I hope this article has opened you eyes to the wide variety of possibilities available to improve cardiorespiratory endurance. You don’t always have to do long-slow aerobic exercise. And the truth is, using other forms of training to simultaneously improve heart and lung power can prepare you better for the challenges of sport, work and life. Bodyweight calisthenics are an excellent choice for both building a strong, lean, athletic physique and building a strong heart and lungs.



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