The Best Cardio Vascular Exercise

What is the best cardiovascular exercise? This is the most debatable question when it comes to losing body weight.

The answer is very simple. There is no “best” exercise. But there is a large variety to choose from. All sorts have their benefits and you just cannot choose the one that’s most effective. Actually it all depends on your interest and determination.

Technically, a cardiovascular exercise is any continuous activity that gets your heart working for a certain period of time, ideally for around 15-50 minutes. Cardio exercise programs are the primary means of maintaining cardiac health, and overall path to wellness. They strengthen the heart as well as the lungs. Cardio vascular exercises also provide enormous benefits to body (physiologically and psychology).

The most common cardiovascular exercises are jogging, cycling, hiking, tread mills, stair climbing etc.

Cardiovascular exercises are mainly divided into two categories.

Non-weight bearing: you don’t carry you own body weight for example, bicycling, rowing etc. These exercises don’t put much stress on your joints and thus have a lower chance of injury.

Weight bearing: where you support your own body weight, for example, running, jogging, calisthenics etc. These are great for strengthening your ligaments and bones.

Cardiovascular exercises are most effective for burning fats. At any given time our body stores about 1400 kilo calories in form of glycogen. On other hand approx 50,000 to 60,000 kilo calories are stored in our bodies in the form of body fat. When we start cardiovascular exercises, this excessive body fat is converted into energy and we start losing weight. The pace, at which you lose fat, depends entirely on the intensity of your workout. Weight training also increases the body to store energy in form of glycogen and burns fat.

The best formula for finding out the target heart rate is 220 minus your age. This figure will give you the exact idea what intensity level to choose. Any exercise that gets your heart beating in the right zone is the best for you. Exercising too light may not produce desired results while exercising too hard may lead to injuries and exhaustion.

The bottom line is that the best cardiovascular exercise is the one that you enjoy the most and will do it over and over again.