Aerobic Exercise: How Often and for How Long?

Aerobic Exercise

Synonyms: also called cardiovascular or endurance training

Components of an exercise session:

An individual exercise session should, ideally, include the following components:

• Warm up: lasting 5 - 10 min., should include moderate intensity cardio or calisthenics, can be non-specific or activity specific, i.e. warming up the thigh muscles more on a squat day or before a jog. Warming up prepares the body physically as well as psychologically for the challenge ahead. Although scientific evidence is lacking, anecdotal evidence suggests that warming up can indeed help prevent injuries.

• Conditioning: should last for 20 - 60 min. and includes aerobic training, resistance training, or outdoor sports. This phase is responsible for the maximum benefits derived by the tissues from the exercise session.

• Cool down: Should last for a minimum of 5 to 10 min.; like the warm up phase, this would also include moderate intensity of cardio or muscular exercises. This brings the heart rate to normal in a gradual manner and also prevents sudden fall in blood pressure seen in susceptible individuals.

• Stretching: Should last for 10 min. Again, like the warm up phase, this can be non-specific or specific, i.e. muscles exercised on that day or that session should be stretched. Stretching prevents muscle soreness (mainly DOMS or delayed onset muscle soreness) seen especially with resistance training by washing way lactic acid build-up during exercise.

FITT principle as applied to aerobic exercise: the word FITT stands for frequency, intensity, the time (duration) and the type of exercise included in the session.

1. Frequency of Exercise

The number of days per week that you exercise is a crucial determinant of fitness as well as general health benefits derived from the sessions. Moderate to vigorous intensity aerobic exercise (