Easy Ways to Improve Your Cardio Fitness

Do you quickly get out of breath during everyday activities? Or do you simply want to feel fitter and be able to walk longer distances?

The key is cardio fitness. Cardio fitness, or colloquially, conditioning, is an important component of a healthy lifestyle. And surprisingly little is needed to improve this conditioning.

Here you will learn how to easily improve your cardio fitness and thus lead a healthy lifestyle.

What is cardio fitness?

Cardio fitness, often referred to as aerobic exercise, indicates how well your heart and lungs can transport the necessary oxygen while you exercise at moderate to high intensity.

If you have good cardiovascular fitness, you can train for a long time at moderate intensity before you get exhausted. This is because your body is able to continue supplying itself with the oxygen it needs during exercise.

By the way, you burn the most calories during such activity in this specific heart rate zone.

Common examples of endurance training include walking, cycling, jogging, or even swimming. But household chores such as vacuuming and mopping can also broadly be considered cardio or cardiovascular training.

The difference between endurance training and other sports, such as strength training, is that it is based on the body's ability to use oxygen during exercise.

The performance of a person's cardiovascular system can vary due to various factors. For example, genetics have a significant influence of 20 to 40% on a person's cardiac performance.

In addition, women generally have 25% lower cardiac capacity than men. In both sexes, this capacity also tends to decrease with age. [1]

However, this does not mean that your genes, gender, or age prevent you from improving your cardio fitness. Even if these factors may be one reason why we are not all top athletes, there are numerous ways we can all increase our endurance.

Why it is important to improve your cardio fitness

Strong cardiovascular endurance allows the body to transport blood efficiently. This allows more oxygen to reach the cells. This oxygen serves as an energy source for the cells in your tissues and muscles.

Improving fitness has a variety of benefits, including:

• Better weight loss through increased fat burning
• Improved sleep quality, especially with moderate to high intensity exercise [2]
• Activities such as jumping rope or climbing can particularly increase bone density [3]
• Reduction of stress and faster stress reduction by improving the ability to cope with problems in a positive way [4]
• Promotion of well-being and relief from anxiety and depression [5,6]
• Reduces the risk of heart attacks, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and some types of cancer [7]

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How is cardio fitness measured?

The best way to measure your cardiovascular fitness is to measure your VO2 Max. This measure indicates the maximum amount of oxygen your body can utilize during maximum exertion. [8]

For the most accurate measurement, your doctor can perform a stress test. During the stress test, your doctor will have you run or walk on a treadmill or cycle on a stationary bike.

The speed is increased until you can no longer continue or the target heart rate is reached. Your breathing, heart rhythm, and blood pressure are monitored during this process.

An approximate measurement of these values can also be carried out using numerous fitness devices such as smartwatches. However, the data is less exact than that provided by a doctor.

How long should your cardio training last?

To increase your endurance, you don't have to train for hours. Especially for beginners who want to improve their endurance, it is advisable to divide the training sessions into 10- to 15-minute segments. This way, you won't be immediately overwhelmed and exhausted.

Once the exercise becomes easier for you, you can try to keep it up for a few more minutes. Gradually increase to 30- to 60-minute sessions. You can also increase the intensity, for example, by covering greater distances in the same amount of time.

All these measures put more strain on your body and contribute to improving endurance.

Numerous health authorities, including the WHO, recommend at least 150 minutes of exercise or endurance training per week. [9,10,11]

With these tips, you can easily improve your cardio fitness

"But how can I really improve my cardio fitness?" A valid question. There are numerous ways and a few valuable tricks to strengthen your endurance.

Before we talk about this method, however, you should know that you should warm up for 5-10 minutes before every workout, for example with dynamic stretching exercises.

This particularly benefits people who participate in sports that involve running and jumping. [12]

HIIT for more endurance

"I don't have time!" is not a valid excuse when it comes to high-intensity interval training (HIIT). This represents a way to get effective endurance training in a short amount of time.

A complete workout is completed in about 30 minutes, which primarily includes aerobic training, but usually also a little strength training.

It includes both aerobic and strength (resistance) training. To achieve similar benefits as a longer workout, the intensity is high. To achieve similar benefits as a longer workout, the intensity is high.

HIIT is a form of interval training. It consists of several rounds that alternately involve several minutes of high-intensity movements. The goal is to raise your heart rate to at least 80% of your maximum heart rate. This is followed by short periods of lower-intensity movements. [13,14]

Interval training offers the perfect opportunity to easily improve your fitness from home. You don't need gym equipment or a lot of free time for it.

Instructions for suitable exercises can be found in numerous training guides or, for example, on YouTube.

Cardio in everyday life

Believe it or not, you can easily incorporate daily cardio into your everyday life, even if you have little free time.

For example, try not to drive or take the train to work every day. Instead, take your bike. You can walk shorter distances instead of taking public transport.

Another everyday activity that can quickly become a routine and help improve fitness is climbing stairs. Instead of always taking the elevator, you can do something for your fitness and take the stairs.

Household chores like vacuuming, sweeping, and similar activities are also considered cardio and can especially help improve your endurance at home.

If you want to do more endurance training in your free time, the following activities are suitable:

• Swimming
• Dancing
• Jogging
• Walking
• Jumping rope
• Playing soccer

When choosing your training, remember that it's easier to stick with if you enjoy it. Therefore, choose activities that fit your lifestyle, personal preferences, and current fitness level.

Measure your heart rate

It is not necessary to measure your heart rate during endurance sports. With regular training sessions, you will soon notice an improvement in your fitness, even if you don't have concrete data.

Nevertheless, the use of various products for measuring heart rate can be helpful if you want to train more specifically and monitor your performance better.

The easiest way to quickly improve your endurance is to use a fitness tracker while exercising. Even if the data from a watch worn on the wrist is not entirely accurate, it provides a solid benchmark.

This way, you can try to train for a certain period of time in the same (high) heart rate zone.

For more precise data, you can also use a chest strap. This can measure your heart rate more accurately and thus provide you with even better results. This also allows you to structure your training sessions better.

The right heart rate monitor can tell you when to push harder and when to stop your workout.

Better results with the infrared cabin

In addition to warming up and regular training, the recovery phase should not be neglected. Because if you don't give your body enough time to recover, you risk muscle soreness, tension, pain, or even injuries. [15]

To benefit more from training and to make optimal use of the recovery phases, regular use of the infrared cabin is ideal. The use of an infrared sauna after training or in conjunction with a regular training program can significantly increase your physical fitness results.

Regular far-infrared sauna use has been shown to prevent heart disease, strengthen the cardiovascular system, and improve resilience.

In addition to cardiovascular fitness, the use of an infrared sauna after exercise has been shown to improve muscle performance, accelerate muscle recovery, and promote muscle growth. [16,17]

This means that you can enhance the effects of regular endurance training with the infrared cabin and thus see and feel the desired results faster.

If you are training with the goal of weight loss, the infrared sauna can also be supportive. The infrared heat not only stimulates metabolism but can also specifically help with fat loss. [18]

Clearlight offers a variety of models that differ in design and size, but all technically offer absolute comfort and luxury.

The patented True Wave™ technology and the special arrangement of the infrared heaters ensure the greatest possible effect of infrared heat on your body.

You benefit not only from higher infrared power and stronger heat emission. Because Clearlight's infrared cabins produce almost no electrosmog, which makes them unique on the market.

If you would like to know more about infrared cabins, sports and well-being, we at Clearlight will be happy to advise you.

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