Cardio: How much?

Whoa, loaded. We are talking heavy. I get this question all the time, “How much do I need to workout?” The real question usually is, “How little exercising can I get away with?"

First off, I am only addressing cardio in this post. I do this, mostly because it is the form of exercise that most of us are used to doing, have seen others do, or really think we should be doing it. I will attack the equally important weight lifting in future posts.

From Personal Training pics

OK, I’m taking a big breathe – here we go:

To begin, I will be referring to the F.I.T. factors (adapted from NASM). This translates to:

F Frequency

I Intensity
T Time

And as M.C. Hammer so eloquently stated it, let’s “break it down”:

Frequency

How many days per week do you need to strap on the workout shoes, find two semi matching socks, scrounge up some not too smelly workout clothes that have no noticeable food items on them, locate the ipod and headphones that mysteriously float around the house, dare to battle the attack of the Rubbermaid cupboard to find a clean water bottle, strap on the heart rate monitor, and….WORKOUT! Ta Dah! You made it! I am certain that for a mom just getting to the gym burns half of the calories. Whew!

My standard answer for the question of “how often” is one of my own personal mantras:

Six days a week. Six days a week. Six days a week.

Repeat that a dozen times, it will stick in your brain and leave no room for excuses.

Intensity

How hard do you have to workout? Easy, moderate, hard? Of course, if you have a heart rate monitor (most likely coming in a post near you) this is easy to gauge. If you haven’t taken the plunge into the world of chest straps and numbers galore, then the easiest way to know how hard you working by your Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) developed by a guy named Borg. Below is my adaptation:

Trainer Momma's Rate of Perceived Exertion Chart

Rate of Perceived Exertion
0	Nada, sitting while reading this blog.
1	Very light, picking up the living room after the kids are down for the night.
2	Light, putting the laundry away, ALL OF IT (???!?? Does that ever happen?)
3	Moderate, walking at a comfortable pace
4	Uh-oh, getting harder
5	OK, it is officially hard – we are in the SWEAT ZONE, ladies!
6	Forget about running to Costco after this.
7	Very difficult
8	I wish I had one of some of those “wicking” shorts on so everyone doesn’t think I wet my pants.
9	Aaaahhh!
10	Very, very difficult, can’t sustain this level for more than 60 seconds.

The key for intensity is: ARE YOU SWEATING YOUR BRAINS OUT? If so, take your sweating hand and slap yourself on your sweaty back. Love it! If you’ve been working out for 20 minutes, and your makeup still looks like you stepped out of a Estee Lauder photo shoot, step it up sister! After your workout, you should be a complete mess and look terrible. Sweaty, stinky, sticky – or as my two year says every morning as I lift him out of the crib, “Mom, you are fweaty!” Get FWEATY!

**A post about interval training is coming soon!

Time

How long? How long do you get to do this or how long do you have to do this? Answer which ever question you want but the minimum time recommended the American College of Sports Medicine and every other health professional is 30 minutes. If your goals are for improved fitness, then of course you need to up that and go for 45 minutes to an hour.

From Personal Training pics

In a nutshell:

If you are going for GENERAL HEALTH. Then here are your F.I.T. factors:

General Health Cardio
Frequency	Intensity	Time
5-7 days per week	Moderate or RPE of 1-4	30 minutes per day

If you are going for IMPROVED FITNESS or WEIGHT LOSS, here are your F.I.T. factors:

Improved Fitness
Frequency	Intensity	Time
6 days per week	SWEATING A LOT 60-90% of your maximum heart rate Or RPE of 5-10	30-60 minutes per day