6 Exercises to Boost Cardiovascular Endurance
Regardless of your exercise training goals, you should be including some cardiovascular training throughout your week to maintain or improve your general health. When you improve your cardiovascular fitness, you can truly feel the benefits, such as no longer feeling out of breath when you walk up a flight of stairs.
One of the best aspects of cardiovascular exercise is that there are plenty of options to choose from. This allows you to find the types of exercise that suit your preferences so you’re more likely to stick with it in the long term and reap the benefits of improved cardiovascular health.
As always, please be aware that this is general advice and to check with your medical provider/doctor/physical therapist to see if they have any specific recommendations for you.
Here are my top 6 modes of exercise to improve cardiovascular endurance:
1. Running
Running is a very popular form of cardiovascular training, arguably because it’s more accessible than many other forms of exercise. You don’t need any fancy equipment or a building. You simply need shoes, space, and ideally some decent weather. Running also doesn’t have a steep learning curve. Sure, there are some technique aspects of running we could get into such as stride length, cadence, or breathing, but by and large you can start to pick up on these as you begin to run and gain more experience with running over time.
One thing to note about running is that it’s higher impact. Impact is not necessarily a bad thing as the right amount of impact exposure can be healthy for the joints.
However, doing too much too soon can cause discomfort. If you’ve been away from running for many years or you’re dealing with some sort of joint issue, you may want to slowly ease into running over many months to give your body time to adapt. This could be done through a blend of walking that progresses to walking and jogging into sustained jogging and running. Another way to gradually build up your running capacity is to start with 5-10 minutes of walk/jog intervals.
2. Cycling
Cycling, both stationary and outdoor, can be a fantastic way to improve your cardiovascular endurance. Having done both, I can honestly say that outdoor cycling is much more fun than indoor as you’re training in a dynamic environment. That being said, indoor cycling has some unique benefits: 1. You can do it rain or shine. 2. You rarely have to worry about a mechanical issue happening during your workout. 3. It reduces the need to plan out an outdoor route.
My two favorite ways to include cycling for cardiovascular training are the classic stationary bike and the assault bike/air bike.
The stationary bikes that you’ll typically find in most gyms allow for adjustable resistance and may have a small screen showing the gear resistance, pace, and distance traveled. This can be useful for tracking your intensity and work performed in your training log.
The assault bike is both a lower and upper body workout, making it a great way to warm up the legs and arms, as well as perform full body sprinting in a way that is low impact. One thing to note is that most assault bikes do not have an adjustable resistance in the pedals like a stationary bike does. However, this can simplify having to decide what gear to use on your ride if you have the adequate strength to pedal with the assault bike’s single gear setting.
3. Incline Treadmill Walking
Incline walking is a great way to add challenge to walking on level or flat ground. If you have access to a treadmill, you can start by selecting a walking speed that feels like a brisk but manageable pace and then increase the incline of the treadmill belt to raise the intensity.
One benefit of this is that it provides a lower impact option than running. Another benefit is that there are minimal technique requirements making this style of conditioning work a great option for beginners.
The only drawback with incline walking is that you need access to a treadmill or hill. The treadmill would allow you to adjust the incline to match the intensity to your current ability level and then gradually increase this as your fitness improves.
I personally use incline treadmill walking to replicate the feel of an indoor hike if the weather isn’t ideal for an outdoor workout.
4. Swimming
Swimming is both one of my favorite and least favorite forms of cardio. It’s really a love-hate relationship. I love it because it is very effective at getting the heart rate to elevate, even at a lower or moderate intensity. It’s also very low impact on the joints.
The biggest downsides? First, it can be mind-numbing. In a pool, there is nothing to look at but a line on the bottom (usually, but not always) and nothing to listen to but the sound of your breathing. Suffice to say this is a great way to train your patience.
Another downside is you need access to a pool, and, if it’s an outdoor pool, adequate weather – unless you like swimming in the cold.
Finally, swimming requires a certain degree of skill. A less efficient stroke technique means you will be working harder than necessary to move through the water. If you’ve never been taught how to perform the main stroke forms, it may be in your best interest to hire a swim coach.
5. Rowing
Rowing is another great low-impact option for cardiovascular exercise. The main area of focus on rowing is the muscles on the backside of the body – also known as the posterior chain - as rowing involves a full body pulling-motion. While this can be a benefit as it allows you to train the hips and lower back in a unique way, it also means that if your lower back lacks strength or endurance, you may experience some lower back fatigue. This may limit the amount of time you’re able to initially spend on the rower. To avoid running into this issue, start at an easy pace and row for a few minutes, gradually increasing the time you spend on the rower over a few weeks.
Another drawback of the rower is that you need a smooth technique to get into a pace that allows you to get your heart rate up. A simple way to start rowing is to start sitting forward with the knees bent and arms straight. Next, push back with your legs, lean your torso back, and finish the pull by bringing the handle into your ribcage. To reset forward, the arms go first, then sit the torso forward, and finish by bending the knees to complete the entire stroke. Going slow initially will help you get this technique down. As it begins to feel more natural, gradually increase your speed without compromising technique.
I typically keep rowing efforts on the shorter end as long bouts of rowing can be tiring on the lower back. If I do plan on using the rower for a longer effort such as a 2,000m+ row, I will spend a few weeks gradually building up the time I spend on the rower so I don’t overdo it on the muscles in my lower back.
6. Ski Erg
The ski erg gives you the feeling that you’re performing cross-country skiing by mimicking the motion via flexing at the hips and following through with a downward push of the arms.
In addition to being low-impact, the ski erg has a unique feel to it when compared to running or walking. There is much more work being placed on the upper body as opposed to many of the other options listed in this article which mostly involve lower body work.
One drawback of the ski erg is that if you lack the technique and rhythm required to move at a steady pace with minimal conscious effort, the movements likely won’t be rhythmic enough to allow you to hold a consistent pace so you can elevate your heart rate. If the ski erg looks like a fun option, just be sure to dial in your technique first before you try to use it for a longer cardio workout.
Okay, now that we have our options, let’s walk through an example of what this could look like within a training program.
Putting This into Action
If you’re new to cardiovascular endurance, you could pick one or two of the options listed above and perform a short workout at a conversational pace 1 to 2 times per week with 1-3 days of rest in between.
Your workout could look something like this:
Week 1 - Tuesday:
Stationary bike ride
5-10 minutes @ conversational pace.
Record pace used, gear setting, and total distance completed.
In week 2, you could either match the previous week’s workout time and pace or gradually increase the total time you spend on the bike if you feel comfortable (increase from 5-10 minutes to 10-15 minutes as tolerated).
Week 2 – Tuesday:
Stationary bike ride
10-15 minutes @ same pace as previous week.
I hope this helps!
If you have questions about cardiovascular training, feel free to reach out here.