Aerobic fitness refers to the ability of the heart, lungs and arteries to transport oxygen to working muscles and your muscles’ ability to utilize that oxygen to perform work over a particular period of time.  You can improve your aerobic fitness with regular bouts of cardiovascular exercise such as walking, running, biking and swimming. If you are new to exercising aerobically please be cautious when it comes to the length of exercise.  You may have the endurance to increase the time of your sessions; however, your joints may not be up to it.  Do a little less in the beginning than you think you are able to and give your joints time to catch up to your heart and lungs.

How Long Should I Exercise?

In the first 30 days start with as little as 20-30 minutes of exercise per session.  Over the next 60 -90 days you may progress to 30-45 minutes per session. 

How Many Times Should I Exercise Per Week?

In the first 30 days you may start with 3-5 days per week.  Over the next 60-90 days progress to 3-6 days per week.

How Hard Should I Exercise Aerobically?

Please use the Perceived Exertion Scale (PES) which requires you to be attuned to your body during exercise.   Perceived  exertion is a subjective rating of how hard you’re working during exercise and is focused primarily on your breathing.  All you need to do is simply evaluate, using a scale from 1-10, how hard you’re working based on how out of breath you are.  Your optimum exercise zone is around 7 or 8.  When you first start out try to exercise consistently at about level 7.  Later you can move up to a level of 8 if you feel you are ready.   

Level 7 – Definite feeling of fatigue but maintainable for your exercise session; breathing is deep but you can carry on a conversation.  This is your baseline level and you should strive to maintain in your workout  sessions.

Level 8 – Definite feeling of fatigue; your breathing is very deep; you can still carry on a conversation but you may not feel like it.  This is the feeling you should experience after you are comfortable maintaining a Level 7 and are prepared for a more intense work out.