Aerobic Exercises

The term aerobics means "with oxygen". While performing aerobic
exercises your heart, lungs, and blood vessels respond to your
physical activity by increasing the oxygen available to your muscles.

These exercises must use large muscle groups, and the activity
must be sustained for a period of time.

Benefits

Strengthens heart so it can pump more oxygen-rich blood to your tissues with every beat.

Improves fitness.... As you develop your aerobic stamina you can increase your
intensity and duration. And recovery time decreases.

Improves your mood and reduces depression and anxiety.

Reduces the risk of certain cancers.

Increases your resistance to fatigue.

Improves the quality of your sleep.

Increases good (HDL) cholesterol.

Helps control and reduce body fat.

Heart rates and target zones for aerobic exercise

For general guidelines used in determining your maximum heart rate and target heart rate ranges, refer to the chart below.

Age....Max.heart rate(beats/minute)...Target range(beats/minute)

20-24________________200______________120-150

25-29________________195______________117-146

30-34________________190______________114-142

35-39________________185______________111-139

40-44________________180______________108-135

45-49________________174______________105-131

50-54________________170______________102-127

55-59________________165______________ 99-123

60-64________________160_______________96-120

65-69________________155_______________93-116

70 and older___________150_______________90-113

Here is a high impact aerobic routine you can try at home.

How many calories can I burn with aerobic activities?

The number of calories that you burn varies with the activity, duration and intensity of the workout. The table below is from the American Council on Exercise. Calories are given for one minute of activity. To determine how many calories you would burn in half an hour of aerobic activity, multiply the number shown by 30.

Activity + cals/min: 120 pounds 140 pounds 160 pounds 180 pounds Aerobics class________7.4________8.6_________9.8_______11.1

Basketball____________7.5________8.8_________10________11.3

Cycling (10 mph_______5.5________6.4_________7.3________8.2

Golf (carry clubs)______4.6________5.4_________6.2________7.0

Golf (power cart_______2.1________2.5_________2.8________3.2

Hiking________________4.5________5.2_________6.0________6.7

Jogging______________9.3_______10.8________12.4_______13.9

Running_____________11.4_______13.2________15.1_______17.0

Skating______________5.9________6.9_________7.9________8.8

Skiing(cross-country) __7.5________8.8________10.0_______11.3

Skiing(downhill)________5.7________6.6_________7.6________8.5

Swimming_____________7.8________9.0________10.3_______11.6

Tennis________________6.0________6.9_________7.9________8.9

Walking_______________6.5________7.6_________8.7________9.7

Weight Training________6.6________7.6_________8.7________9.8

Here are some helpful links to specific exercises.

Jogging

Cycling

Cross Training

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