Cardiovascular Exercise Prescription

Cardiovascular Fitness Prescription

As you can see from the schematic above, we are mainly interested in adopting a program that can get you up to a new level of fitness capacity.  In other words, by doing our fitness program, your goal will be to improve the top speed of your cardiovascular engine.  We will also talk a bit about the fuel efficiency of your engine, but to get the best benefit from a metabolic perspective, overall capacity is our chief goal.  Use the table below to determine which program works best for you.  Then you will write yourself a fitness prescription and you will stick to it for a full 2 months.

Current Level	Appropriate Program
Sedentary	Active Lifestyle
Active	Low Endurance Program (6-8 METS)
Low Endurance	High Endurance Program (> 8 METS)
High Endurance	V02 Max Program

·         Sedentary:  You are at the sedentary level if you work at a desk job and get very little activity even walking a dog, biking to work, or going for hikes on the weekend.  Your participation in those activities is less than 2 and a half hours per week.

·         Active:  You are active if your participation in active leisure activities like those mentioned above e.g. walking, leisurely biking, easy hikes is more than 2 and a half hours (150 minutes per week).

·         Low Endurance:  You are at the low endurance activity level if you do a formal cardiovascular exercise such as a jogging, running, biking, or swimming for the express purpose of staying fit but your intensity level is on the low side (6-8 METS).  You should describe your current level as low endurance if you do this specific activity for more than 150 minutes per week.

·         High Endurance:  You are at the high endurance activity level if you do a formal cardiovascular exercise at a level of 8 METS or more.  You should describe yourself as high endurance if you do these activities for more than 150 minutes per week.