Medically reviewed by Anisha Shah, MD
Cardiorespiratory endurance is the ability of your heart and lungs to work efficiently to deliver oxygen to working muscles during continuous physical activity. Cardiorespiratory endurance is an important indicator of physical health and is one of the major components of fitness. Cardiorespiratory endurance is important during exercise and essential for everyday tasks such as household chores, walking, and going up and down stairs.
This article will discuss the benefits of cardiorespiratory endurance and types of exercises.
Table of Contents
What It Means to Have Cardiorespiratory Endurance
Having good cardiorespiratory endurance means that your cardiorespiratory system, which consists of your heart, lungs, and blood vessels, is able to work efficiently to pump oxygenated blood to muscles during exercise. Muscles can only contract in the absence of oxygen for a short period of time during anaerobic exercise, such as short bouts of lifting weights.
When muscles have to contract for a longer period of time, they rely on an adequate supply of oxygen during aerobic exercise or physical activity. Good cardiorespiratory endurance means that your body is able to deliver enough oxygen to your muscles during physical activity so that your muscles continue to work without discomfort and that you do not feel out of breath.
Benefits
Good cardiorespiratory endurance is a sign of a healthy body that is functioning properly to support the needs of daily activities and exercise. Good cardiorespiratory endurance provides several benefits for the body, including:
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Improved heart function and lower resting heart rate
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Improved lung function and breathing
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Improved oxygen supply throughout the body
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Improved circulation
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Decreased blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglycerides
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Decreased inflammation throughout the body
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Decreased risk of developing conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and stroke
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Increased ease with daily activities and movements like walking and stair climbing
These benefits are applicable to everyone, but are especially beneficial for older adults, people with cardiac or pulmonary conditions, and after menopause, as cardiorespiratory endurance is decreased in these populations.
Tests
Cardiorespiratory endurance can be measured either directly with maximal exercise tests or indirectly with submaximal exercise tests. Maximal exercise tests involve measuring the amount of gasses inhaled and exhaled, your blood pressure and heart rate, and the electrical activity of the heart.
The main maximal exercise test is the cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET), which measures inhaled and exhaled gasses while participants exercise with increasing difficulty.
Submaximal exercise tests are easier to perform in various settings without equipment and use equations to estimate cardiorespiratory endurance. Submaximal exercise tests include:
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20-meter shuttle run test: Participants run between two points that are 20 meters apart while being in sync with audio signals that increase in frequency.
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Run tests: Participants run a specified distance as quickly as possible.
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Six-minute walk test: Participants walk as far as possible in six minutes.
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Step test: Participants step up and down on a block, progressing through stages in which step rate increases.
Cardiorespiratory Endurance Exercise Examples
Exercises that improve your cardiorespiratory endurance involve any type of activity that involves continuous movement and muscle contraction for an extended period of time. Examples of cardiorespiratory endurance exercise include walking, jogging, running, hiking, bicycle riding, dancing, and swimming.
Daily tasks like vacuuming, mopping, sweeping, and yard work like raking leaves, shoveling snow, or mowing grass rely on cardiorespiratory endurance.
As recommended by the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association, adults should engage in regular weekly physical activity according to the following guidelines:
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150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity
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75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity
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An equivalent combination of moderate and vigorous physical activity
Exercise intensity is grouped into the following categories:
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Light intensity: Walking slowly, cooking, light housework
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Moderate intensity: Brisk walking (2.4–4.0 miles per hour), bicycling (5–9 miles per hour), dancing, active yoga, recreational swimming, gardening, vacuuming, raking leaves
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Vigorous intensity: Jogging, running, hiking, bicycling (more than 10 miles per hour), swimming laps, jumping rope, soing aerobics, weight lifting, stair climbing, shoveling snow
Takeaway
Exercise that involves cardiorespiratory endurance is often simply called “cardio.”
Learn More: How Many Minutes Should a Teenager Exercise a Day?
Workouts to Improve Cardiorespiratory Endurance: Walking
Walking is one of the most accessible cardiorespiratory endurance exercises that can be performed almost anywhere. Aim to walk for at least 15–20 minutes to get your heart and lungs going. To add intensity, you can include inclines by walking up hills to increase the amount your heart and lungs have to work to supply oxygen to your working muscles.
Workouts to Improve Cardiorespiratory Endurance: Jogging
If you like a little faster paced activity, jogging can help improve your cardiorespiratory endurance. Because your body moves faster than with walking, jogging requires more cardiorespiratory endurance to keep you going. Start off slowly and for short durations. Gradually increase your speed and/or distance over time.
Workouts to Improve Cardiorespiratory Endurance: Swimming
Swimming is an excellent choice for improving your cardiorespiratory endurance because it is a whole body workout that involves both your upper body and lower body. Swimming is also a great option because the buoyancy of water helps take pressure off of painful joints, which can make exercising easier.
Workouts to Improve Cardiorespiratory Endurance: Cycling
Cycling is another great option to improve your cardiorespiratory endurance, especially if you have painful joints since this type of exercise is non-weight-bearing. You can use a standard bicycle outdoors or stationary bicycle indoors. To increase the intensity of your workout, try cycling up hills or increasing the resistance on a stationary bicycle.
Workouts to Improve Cardiorespiratory Endurance: Dancing
Dancing is a fun way to incorporate cardiorespiratory endurance exercise into your day. You can dance along to your favorite songs or take a group class such as Zumba for a whole body workout.
Takeaway
Having chronic pain can make exercising more challenging. Picking low-intensity exercises, such as walking, can help make exercising more manageable. For chronic joint pain, non-weight-bearing exercise, such as stationary cycling, can help ease discomfort with standing activities.
Exercise Adaptations for People With Metabolic Disease
Exercise is especially important to help people manage metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes. Exercise and regular physical activity can help control blood sugar levels to prevent the worsening of diabetes and reduce the risk of comorbidities. Exercise has been shown to reduce high blood pressure, high cholesterol, body weight, and hemoglobin A1c in people with type 2 diabetes.
Because exercising influences blood sugar levels, people with diabetes should be careful to monitor their blood sugar before, during, and after exercise to prevent hypoglycemia when blood sugar drops too low. Eating before exercising and keeping a fast-acting supply of glucose on hand, such as glucose tablets, honey, or juice, can help prevent dangerous blood sugar drops with exercise.
Read Next: Making a Type 2 Diabetes Exercise Plan
People with diabetes or other chronic conditions should always work with their healthcare providers to make sure that they are healthy enough to begin exercising. Whenever beginning a new exercise program, start off slowly and gradually increase the intensity, duration, and frequency of physical activity over time.
Summary
Cardiorespiratory endurance is the ability of your heart and lungs to work efficiently to deliver oxygen to working muscles during continuous physical activity. Having good cardiorespiratory endurance can improve your heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, triglycerides, and heart and lung function. It can also decrease your risk of developing conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and stroke, and make everyday activities easier to perform.
Exercises that improve your cardiorespiratory endurance involve continuous activity for an extended period of time, including walking, jogging, running, hiking, cycling, dancing, and swimming. Before starting any new exercise program, check in with your healthcare provider to make sure that it is safe for you to exercise.
Read the original article on Verywell Health.
