Cardiorespiratory fitness, also called aerobic fitness, cardio fitness, and cardiorespiratory endurance, is an essential component of physical fitness. When you’ve reached an appropriate level of cardiorespiratory fitness, your heart and lungs work together to transport oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood to all of the muscles and systems in the body, as needed. Your muscles are able to efficiently use the delivered oxygen to produce energy needed to sustain exercise without too much fatigue.
Cardiorespiratory fitness is the ability to maintain high-endurance aerobic exercises, such as cycling, swimming, and running, for a prolonged period of time (for example, a period of 20 minutes or more), without the early onset of performance-inhibiting fatigue.
Cardiorespiratory fitness offers numerous physical and psychological benefits. In this unit, you’ll learn the general principles of cardiorespiratory exercise.
When you complete this course, you’ll be able to:
- Define cardiorespiratory fitness
- Explain exercise mode, duration, frequency,and intensity
- List the advantages of cardiorespiratory fitness
- Compare and contrast several cardiorespiratory exercise regimens
- Calculate HRR, MHR, and TI
- Detail various exercise plan progressions
- Design cardiorespiratory exercise programs
- Motivate yourself and clients to engage in cardiorespiratory exercise
