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FACT SHEET #3

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CV Training Explained

Need to know!

CV training (or cardiovascular training to use its full name), can take many forms including gym classes, running, cycling and swimming, all of which have the same aim - to improve your fitness. However, in order to do this you need to:

  • work at the right intensity
  • work for the right amount of time

The belief held by some people that simply joining a gym will help you get fit is, unfortunately, not true - you have to work out too! CV training is often referred to as 'endurance' or 'aerobic' training and involves you working for at least 20 minutes at 65-85% of your maximum Heart Rate (HRmax).

If you are just starting off down the road to fitness then a fast walk may be enough to get your Heart Rate to this level, whereas if you are further down the road then you will probably need to work harder to achieve this. However, this type of training is not about how fast you go, it is about maintaining the right Heart Rate intensity and is person specific.

Do not become complacent with this type of training, to keep improving you need to push yourself - remember OVERLOAD! So, once you can manage the prescribed duration and intensity you need to increase it - if you don't you will stagnate - remember VOLUME!

Nice to know!

Developing a good 'aerobic base' can be achieved through continuous exercise, but after 3-4 months of regular exercise fitness improvements will plateau. If you do not address this there will be fewer, if any improvements - even after another 6 months!

Therefore, once you have developed a good base (your trainer will be able to advise on this) you should think about introducing some higher intensity training sessions to your programme.These will help you to push yourself further and develop the 'top-end' of your fitness which would otherwise remain untouched. In essence, they allow you to perform a higher VOLUME of training which is, as you know from Fact Sheet #1, essential.

To further improve your aerobic capacity you can introduce some 1:1 training sessions whereby you work at a higher intensity (85-90% HRmax) for 3-4 minutes and then use the same time period as a recovery phase - this should be repeated 4 times.

Following on from this, you can increase the intensity once more. An example of this would be a 1:2 training session whereby you work for 2 minutes at over 90% HRmax with 4 minutes as recovery - 2 sets x 4 reps should be performed.

You can use any piece of CV kit for these sessions but bikes, treadmills or rowers are recommended. Remember that these sessions are high intensity and that you should have a rest or recovery day to follow.

Fun facts

  1. Where is your heart? If you answered 'left chest', you're wrong! The heart is found almost in the dead centre of the chest. The tip of the heart is shifted towards the left and hits the ribs during contraction. So, the rhythm is best detected on the left side.
  2. An average 40 minute step-aerobics class requires the same work-rate as running 5.3 miles per hour, (8.55 kph) for 40 minutes - which would you rather do?
  3. The word cardiac, in reference to the heart, comes from the Greek name Kardia and Aristotle believed that the heart was the seat of the soul and the centre of man.
  4. Contrary to popular opinion, your maximum Heart Rate will not increase with training - what happens is that your HR at rest and at any given exercise intensity decreases. Your heart becomes more efficient.