Daily Cardio Exercise - It's More than Just a Healthy Heart

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Can I Engage in Cardio Exercise Every Day?

Daily Cardio exercise offers you more than just cardiovascular health. There are many benefits to performing some form of cardio activity every day. Cardio workouts improve your heart and your lung capacity by increasing your oxygen intake and the circulation of oxygen around your body. Additional benefits for this type of exercise is the reduction of many health diseases such as obesity, type II diabetes, heart conditions, strokes and high blood pressure. Adding some weight bearing activity to your cardio exercise such as walking or a circuit class will also reduce the risk of brittle bone disease and osteoporosis. 

Cardio exercise can also help you to lose those unwanted pounds. Cardio activity combined with a healthy lifestyle will help you achieve your weight-loss goals. It is all about movement, trying to cut down on 'sitting' time and moving more. The more you move and the more vigorous your cardio activity is, the more calories you will burn and the more weight you will lose. For a successful weight loss plan you will need to decrease your calorie intake and increase your cardio activity.

Already we can see the amazing benefits of cardio exercise:
  • Strengthens heart and lung capacity and endurance
  • Reduces the risk of heart disease, type II diabetes, strokes, high blood pressure and many more.
  • Improves circulation
  • Enhances sleep quality
  • Boosts mood
  • Live longer

How can I Improve my Cardio Activity?

The UK Government physical activity guidelines for adults : 

"Each week, adults should accumulate at least 150 minutes (2 1/2 hours) of moderate intensity activity (such as brisk walking or cycling); or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity (such as running); or even shorter durations of very vigorous intensity activity (such as sprinting or stair climbing); or a combination of moderate, vigorous and very vigorous intensity activity."

The above statement is the UK government's guidelines for cardio activity and a great place to start. If  your present activity levels are quite low or you are inactive throughout your day, then a 30 minute walk, five times a week, would be a great starting point for you. Remember the more energetic your cardio activity, the more benefits you will gain for your health and weight-loss or maintenance programme.

Progressing on from a 30 minute walk, would be a power walk or an interval walk to increase your heart rate and burn more calories and from here you can progress to a 30 minute jog, stair climb or a run.

If you don't particularly like walking or running there are lots of fun cardio exercises you can do. As we are now so aware of our cardio health there has been a surge of cardio activities in recent years. 

For example:

Walk a Mile to Music: How about a fun way to walk a mile. Try some aerobic exercise to music with 4 simple basic steps and lots of walking....all to music.

Hula Hoop: Hula hoop is a safe and fun way to exercise, burn calories, strengthen your core muscles and improve your cardiovascular fitness.

Skipping Rope: Skipping will strengthen your calf muscles, strengthen your core muscles, improve your stamina and enhance lung function. Skipping is a great cardio exercise


Aqua Aerobics: Water fitness is gentle on the joints as you move through the workout. You can jump, lunge, run and hop without causing any stress to the bones, something that you cannot do on land. This low impact activity is ideal for those with joint or bone issues and for those who are recovering from injuries. The benefits of water for health, strength and cardio

Boxercise: Boxercise packs a punch where cardio is concerned. Not only is it a great aerobic workout but it is fast paced involving foot work, bobbing and weaving which will increase your agility, balance and coordination skills. Boxercise tones up your arms, engages your core muscles and is a great fat burning exercise.

Zumba Class: If you love to dance, then Zumba is a perfect cardio workout. Zumba can burn up to 500 - 800 calories an hour and tones your entire body. Zumba hits a lot of different muscle groups all at once, engaging the core muscles and improving your coordination skills all in one class. 


Mini Trampoline workout: Mini Trampoline is a fabulous low impact cardio workout. Bouncing is fantastic for dynamic balance and building muscle in your feet, ankles and calves. This type of low impact exercise strengthens the body's muscles, ligaments and tendons and improves body movement without causing stress to your joints and bones.

Different Types of Cardio Workouts

You can improve your cardio endurance by adding more minutes to your daily cardio exercise. You can then add elements into your cardio activities such as speed and inclines. For example, you may enjoy your 30 minute walks each day but if you want to improve your endurance and heart health, add a hill or increase your speed at intervals during your route. 

Cardiovascular Endurance Exercises

Improving your cardiovascular endurance will make your daily tasks a lot easier. Endurance measures how long you can engage in a cardio activity, involving your whole body at a moderate intensity for an extended amount of time, before you feel you need to rest.

Cardio exercises improve your endurance make you inhale more oxygen and raise your heart rate. For example:
  • walking/jogging
  • swimming
  • cycling
  • dancing
  • climbing a set of stairs
  • dancing
  • hiking
  • rowing

HIT (High Intensity Training)

HIT training involves short bursts of high intensity exercise with periods of low intensity activity or quick recovery periods. This type of training lasts around a period of  20 minutes. HIIT training can decrease body fat, increase strength and endurance and improve your cardio health.

SIT (Sprint Interval Training)

SIT training is similar to HIT but involves intense interval exercises , focusing on raising the heart rate (to its maximum) for each set until you feel fatigued. The intensity of a SIT workout is higher and the rest or recovery periods are shorter. 

©HealthyForeverFitnessMotivation

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