It's very easy to get into an "exercise rut" doing the same exercises the same way. What often happens is that your body adapts to the exercise and is no longer challenged and changed by it. To get the most out of your exercise, make sure that you frequently change the type of exercise, the intensity of exercise. This will force your body to adapt to the changes and make your exercise more effective.

To get the most of your cardiovascular exercise, you should determine your maximum heart rate. Once you have determined your max Heart Rate, you will need to decide what zone you want to train. 220 are the "Maximum Heart Rate," which is 100% of your heart rate (the fastest your heart will beat). This is different for everyone. To use Heart Zone Training you must first determine your maximum heart rate (max HR). You can determine your max HR one of two ways. One way is to use the age predicted max HR formula, whereby you subtract your age from 220. If you were 40 years old, your predicted max HR would be 180 beats per minute (BPM). The other method, which is much more accurate and more individualized, is actually having a medical or fitness professional administer a max HR test for you. Only those are cleared by a physician should do this test.

Calculation:

Age: 40 years old
MaxHR – Age =
220 – 40 = 180 beats
To train in the Fitness Zone
180 BPM (0.5 or 0.6) = 90 BPM or 108 BPM

Intensity Of Exercise

Healthy Heart Zone:

Intensity: Easiest and most comfortable zone.
Exercise: Walkers most likely train at this zone. Or any exercise within the max HR requirement.
Benefits: Help decrease body fat, blood pressure and cholesterol. Risk of degenerative diseases
Max HR: 50-60% of your max HR
Caloric expenditure %: 10% of carbohydrates are "burned" (used as energy), 5% of protein is burned and a whopping 85% of fat is burned.

Fitness Zone:

Intensity: more intense that Healthy Heart Zone. More burnt calories
Exercise: for example, fast walking or any exercise within the max HR requirement.
Benefits: condition fat mobilization (getting fat out of your cells) and fat transportation (getting fat to muscles)train fat cells to increase the rate of fat release and train your muscles to burn fat, more cardio respiratory benefits
Max HR: is 60-70% of your max HR
Caloric expenditure %: 85% of your calories burned in this zone are fats, 5% are proteins and 10% are carbohydrates.

Aerobic Zone:

Intensity: more intense that Fitness Zone.
Exercise: for example, jogging or any exercise within the max HR requirement.
Benefits: increase the number and size of blood vessels, vital capacity, functional, capacity, respiratory rate, in pulmonary ventilation, in arterial venous oxygen, stroke volume (amount of blood pumped per heart beat), the size and strength of your heart, number of calories burned, improve cardiovascular and respiratory system decrease resting heart rate
Max HR: 70-80% of your max HR
Caloric Expenditure %: 50% of calories burned are from carbohydrates, 50% are from fat and less than 1% is from protein.

Anaerobic Zone (Threshold):

Intensity: high, more calories are within Healthy Heart, Fitness and Aerobic zones
Exercise: any exercise within the max HR requirement.
Benefits: improved VO2 maximum (the highest amount of oxygen one can consume during exercise), cardio respiratory system, higher lactate tolerance (improve endurance)
Max HR: train at 80-90% of your max HR
Caloric Expenditure %: 85% of the calories burned are from carbohydrates, 15% from fat and less than 1% is from protein.

Frequency of Exercise

The first component of cardiovascular exercise is frequency of the exercise, which refers to the number of exercise sessions per week. To improve both cardiovascular and fitness you should exercise (cardiovascular) at least three days a week. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends three to five days a week for most cardiovascular programs.

Duration of exercise

The second component of cardiovascular exercise is the duration, which refers to the time you've spent exercising. The cardiovascular session, not including the warm-up and cool-down, should vary from 20-45 minutes to gain significant cardio respiratory and fat burning-benefits. Each time you do your cardiovascular exercise; try to do at least 20 minutes or more. Of course, the longer you go, the more calories and fat you'll "burn" and the better you'll condition your cardiovascular system. All beginners, especially those who are out of shape, should take a very conservative approach and train at relatively low intensities (50-70% max HR) for 10-25 minutes. As you get in better shape, you can gradually increase the duration of time you exercise. Make sure to invest in the proper apparel as your body and joints will have new stress placed on it.

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