If I had to single out one
thing that bothers me most about this aging thing it is the waning of
endurance. Look at the definition. Endurance is what enables you to do what you
want to do for as long as you want to do it.
Remember when you could stay up all night and still go to work the next
day? Now it is an effort to make it
through an active eight hour day. The
endurance just isn’t what it used to be and I resent it.
Endurance is a combination
of aerobic capacity, cardiopulmonary performance and stamina. Unfortunately, as you get older you will find
that you have to work harder it in order to maintain a desired level of
fitness. The good news is that it is still possible to increase your endurance
level but you have to take into consideration that you will never be 20 again.
There are two types of
endurance, mainly muscular and cardiovascular.
Muscle endurance is what you call into play when you something like
climbing a flight of stairs. Strength
training exercises with increasing numbers of repetition will help, so wear
your pedometer or climb on a stair climber (hate that stair climber). Cardiovascular endurance lets you exercise,
walk, run or any other activity that involved the large muscle groups without
developing shortness of breath or excessive fatigue. As you age, your heart’s ability to pump
blood and use oxygen efficiently decreases.
The pulmonary system also changes as your lungs lose elasticity and
operate less efficiently. If you combine
the age related changes with a lifestyle of inactivity you will soon be in a
world of trouble.
How do you improve your
endurance? Endurance exercises are any
activity that increases your heart rate and breathing for an extended period of
time. If you have noticed that you get
out of breath just walking around the block or shopping at the mall, you will
need to do a considerable amount of work in order to get back into shape.
Why is endurance work
necessary? In time aerobic conditioning
will actually improve the performance of the heart, circulation, and
lungs. If an appliance or a car wears
out you can buy a new one, but guess what?
Heart and lung transplants aren’t routinely an option. It is up to you to work with the body you
have if you want to remain active and independent.
This will take some
time. You will need to build up your
endurance gradually, even if you can only do 5 minutes at a time. The goal is to build up to at least 30
minutes of endurance exercise most days of the week.
What are good endurance
exercises? Walking (including jogging,
running and skating), cycling, jumping rope, water jogging and aerobics,
stepping, skiing and circuit programs are all interesting options and some of
them are actually fun. Warm up gradually
and increase your activity over 5-10 minutes.
Keep your heart rate within a target range for at least 20 minute before
enjoying a 5-10 minute cool down period.
I am seeing more and more people wearing heart monitors when they exercise
and think this as a great idea. I love
gadgets and am hooked on the idea of knowing exactly how many steps or how many
miles I have done. Many people find keeping track of their
workouts and activity levels motivating and interesting.
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