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4 Ways To Increase Aerobic Endurance
4 Ways To Increase Aerobic Endurance
One of the most rewarding things about pursuing our fitness goal is we can see how much progress we’ve made over the course of our journey.
Seeing how far you’ve come from where you started doesn’t just mean you’ve improved your fitness, but it’s clear evidence that when you set your mind to it, you can accomplish your dreams.
Fitness gives us a great opportunity to put ourselves to the test and prove to ourselves all that we can do. Every second you shave off your mile time is a reflection of your hard work and dedication to achieving your goals.
Aerobics tests our stamina. In doing so, every lap around the track, around the pool, or around the block is another example to ourselves that we won’t quit until we achieve our goals. Endurance is one of the most important attributes you can train to effective results in your aerobic exercise.
When you increase your aerobic endurance, you can further in achieving your fitness goals, figuratively and literally.
Let’s dive into how you can maximize your potential in your aerobic activities.
What Are Aerobics?
While we may have a common sense understanding of aerobics, gaining a complete grasp equips you with the knowledge to make the most out of these exercises.
So what are aerobic exercises?
The word “aerobics” derives from Greek, meaning “with oxygen.” Aerobics are so-called because they are exercises that rely on oxygen as the primary supply of energy for your body. When you’re undertaking a sustained stint of aerobic exercise, it’s chiefly the oxygen you’re breathing that fuels your performance and your endurance.
You may be familiar with a few common aerobic exercises already. There are two types of aerobic exercise: low-impact aerobics and high-impact aerobics.
Low impact aerobics describe aerobic activities that are less intensive. They are exercises that put less stress on your body — basically, they are easier to do than high-impact aerobics.
Types of low impact aerobic exercises include:
- Walking
- Jumping jacks
- Swimming
- Cycling
- Rowing
High impact aerobics are higher in intensity. They are harder to sustain as they require more energy to do them.
High impact aerobics include:
- Jumping rope
- Running
- HIIT (high-intensity interval training)
What Happens During Aerobic Exercise?
While these different aerobic activities may differ in the muscles they use, they all activate the body in the same way.
What’s actually going on in our body when we do aerobic exercises?
Having a better idea of what happens in the body when we exercise will equip us with the information we need to make the necessary adjustments to improve our endurance.
As the “with oxygen” meaning of aerobics suggests, it’s all about oxygen. There are three defining features that occur when you do aerobic exercise that help your body function.
Your body increases oxygen flow to provide your body fuel to burn, you employ cooling measures to keep your body from overheating, and you remove waste produced by your metabolism.
These changes are accomplished in many ways.
For example, your blood flow increases to transport oxygenated blood cells across your body. This means your heart rate increases to circulate more blood and, therefore, more oxygen through the body.
Aerobic exercise is often synonymous with cardio exercise, short for cardiovascular. This is because our heart is essential for sustaining aerobic exercise; it’s a key to our endurance capability.
This increased activity in the body raises your internal body temperature. To keep you cool, the blood vessels in your skin widen in order to release the built-up heat. You sweat as a way to keep from overheating.
What Are the Benefits of Aerobic Exercise?
Aerobic exercise of any intensity level is a great way to gain some significant benefits to your health, namely for your cardiovascular system.
Aerobic exercise has been associated witha reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, and regular aerobic exercise may lower your blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
Because sustained aerobics expends calories, it can be a great way to promote weight loss.
Aerobic exercise can also improve your lung function. Your respiratory system is what supplies your body with oxygen in the first place. So the more aerobics you do, the better equipped your lungs are to supply you with the oxygen your body needs to fuel itself.
How Can I Increase My Aerobic Endurance?
Aerobics provide you with a great way to gain health benefits, but you can increase your risk of injury if you overexert yourself.
Whether you’re just beginning on your fitness journey or you’re well along your way, consider your fitness level and abilities before setting out to increase your aerobic endurance.
When you have a better handle on your personal fitness level, you can safely and effectively increase your aerobic potential and assure your potential.
So how can you improve your aerobic endurance?
1. Do Breathing Exercises
The importance of a good breathing routine while doing aerobics exercises is clear. Oxygen is the primary source of fuel that sustains aerobic activity, so making sure that you’re in a good breathing pattern ensures that you have the fuel you need to endure.
Getting a handle on a reliable breathing technique can make a difference in your aerobic ability.
Ideally, you want to breathe in a way that doesn’t grab your attention. You want a breathing pattern that is as natural as it is effective.
Good breathing uses your entire diaphragm — the muscle beneath your lungs that manages the rising and falling of your chest while breathing.
You want to get as much oxygen into your lungs as possible while you’re doing aerobics. Belly breathing is an effective breathing technique that conditions you to use your full diaphragm and therefore get more oxygen in your lungs.
The more oxygen in your lungs, the more fuel you have to burn for better endurance.
You can work on better breathing practices before you even work out. Take the time to practice belly breathing to get yourself in the habit of this effective breathing style. Simple breathing exercises have been shown to lower your resting heart rate, which goes a long way in improving your endurance.
2. Stay Hydrated
Dehydration has been shown to reduce our physical performance during exercise and our cognitive ability.
In short — we can’t operate at our best when we’re dehydrated.
In one study, participants who actively rehydrated themselves while they exercised were able to run much harder for longer periods of time on a treadmill than their counterparts who only drank at separate intervals.
When we’re exerting ourselves, especially with higher-intensity aerobic activities, we increase the rate at which we dehydrate our bodies. Sweating is a crucial part of keeping us cool during our workout, but it drains us of the fluids that allow us to operate at our best.
If you want to improve your aerobic endurance, rehydrate yourself early and often.
One of the best ways to stay hydrated is by empowering your fluid intake with hydration supplements, like the Personalized Hydration blend from Gainful.
Achieving the peak hydration that improves your performance isn’t just a matter of how much water you drink but also requires that you supply yourself with the nutrients that sustain your hydration levels.
Electrolytes play a significant role in sustaining your hydration levels. Your Personalized Hydration blend supplies you with all the electrolytes you need to improve your aerobic endurance. Our formulas include ingredients such as Calcium Citrate for muscle function, Magnesium Glycinate for muscle performance, Sodium Citrate to replenish after sweat loss, and Potassium Citrate to regulate fluids.
3. Follow a Diet That Boosts Endurance
What you eat can have a huge impact on the effectiveness of your workout. After all, we are what we eat.
Making dietary choices that encourage aerobic endurance can make all the difference.
The research concerning foods and nutrients that promote aerobic endurance is vast. Prevailing theories on a carbohydrate-rich diet and aerobic endurance present it as a reliable means to boost your endurance. Carbs are rich energy sources that your body can rely on when you need the extra energy to carry on with your aerobics.
Alternatively, protein consumption is often overlooked in its relation to aerobic endurance. More associated with strength training, researchers are increasingly looking into the benefits of higher protein consumption on aerobic endurance.
In fact, higher endurance performances have been shown to require a higher level of protein to sustain. Protein is the base layer to improve performance; it helps support your muscles, supporting your endurance.
Supplements allow you to cover all your dietary needs in an easy to consume, effective package.
The Personalized Protein Powder from Gainful gives you an effective way to get the protein to help promote your aerobic endurance. Your Personalized Protein may include Organic Pea Protein, Organic Brown Rice Protein, or Whey Protein, depending on your info and goals.
Our Personalized Pre-Workout can also help fuel you before your sweat session even begins. With ingredients like Creatine for muscle strength and endurance, Beta Alanine for training intensity, and BCAAs for muscle growth and recovery, it can help you toward your fitness goals.
4. Improve Your Form
Your form can help you maximize your exercise routine.
Researchers have concluded that dedicating yourself to proper technique can make all the difference in your performance and endurance.
Running is a good example of an aerobic activity where technique can make a difference in your endurance.
By implementing proven techniques in stride, footfall, and pelvic movement, you can maximize the power of your movement and economize on the energy you spend during your exercise.
Alternatively, bad form may hold you back, wasting your energy and increasing the rate at which you get fatigued.
Worse, the effects of bad form on your body can result in injury. You may not only increase your risk of injuring yourself during the exercise but bad running form over years of exercise can damage your knees and other parts of your body.
Improving your form improves your endurance by maximizing your potential while reducing the impediments holding you back, like an injury.
Find New Limits on Your Own Terms
However you decide to improve your aerobic endurance, you should always work on your terms.
Set goals you know you can safely reach; give yourself every advantage to maximize your fitness potential.
At Gainful, we believe that fitness is a deeply personal experience. Our products reflect your personalized approach to fitness. We make sure you get a supplement that best fits your lifestyle by tailoring our blends to your exact needs.
Take our quiz to find your perfect blend and get the support to accomplish all your fitness goals.
Sources:
Aerobic Exercise | Cleveland Clinic
What Happens To Your Body When You Introduce Cardio Exercise | Warner Family Practice
Cardiovascular Effects and Benefits of Exercise | National Library of Medicine
Breathe For A Better Workout | AARP
What are Electrolytes? | Cedars Sinai
The 6 Most Common Running Injuries (Plus How to Treat Them) | Cleveland Clinic
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