How to Build Cardio Endurance
Cardiorespiratory endurance, more commonly known as cardio endurance, describes the ability of the cardiovascular system to keep up during long bouts of exercise. It’s a key indicator of somebody’s overall fitness, alongside muscular endurance.
The cardiovascular system includes the heart, lungs, and blood vessels. It works closely with the musculoskeletal system (the skeletal muscles and the joints) during exercise. Whether you are performing low intensity, moderate intensity, or high-intensity exercises, each area of your body is working together in synergy to enhance your performance.
Improving your cardiorespiratory endurance means improving your oxygen uptake. The more you work on your endurance, the more oxygen your lungs can take in with each breath, and the more blood your heart can pump around the body to the working muscles. When the muscles are receiving more oxygen and nutrients during exercise, you will be able to perform better.
Generally, while performing high-intensity exercise during high-intensity exercise, your muscles need more oxygen than when you are performing low-intensity movements. Therefore, improving your cardio endurance will improve your performance in exercises of all intensities.
Studies show that those who have a higher cardiorespiratory endurance have lower blood pressure. Maintaining a healthy blood pressure reduces your risk of cardiovascular diseases and strokes later in life. Other studies show that those who have higher endurance levels are able to multitask more efficiently, even in later life.
How to Improve Cardio Endurance
How can you improve cardio endurance? Here are some great exercises to get you started.
- Jumping jacks
- Jumping squats
- Jumping lunges
- Sprints
- Burpees
- Mountain climbers
- Jumping rope
Perform each of these exercises in intervals of 30 to 60 seconds, followed by a 15-second rest. Aim to perform around 10 to 15 intervals in one session. To make it fun and varied, switch up the exercises each time you do a training session. This will prevent you from getting bored or reaching a plateau in your performance.