Monarch Quick-Fit Program
Cardiovascular Training
Cardiovascular training improves your heart’s ability to deliver oxygen to the working muscles. Cardio training helps you burn calories and allows you to perform endurance related tasks more efficiently. To begin your cardiovascular training program, read through each of the following:
Choose a MODE of exercise:
- Walking, hiking, running, cycling, rowing, elliptical, etc.
- Choose something you enjoy and change it up when you get bored.
Make sure you are working at the proper INTENSITY:
- Next to each television on the cardio theatre there is a scale called the “Rate of Perceived Exertion” or “RPE“, it can estimate how hard your heart is working by how hard you think that you are working.
- Begin your workout with a 3-minute warm-up portion or an RPE of 9–11, which will get your blood circulating, preparing your body for more intense exercise.
- After the warm-up, increase your intensity so that you are working out at an RPE of 14–16. Remember this is different for everyone, so listen to YOUR body.
- Complete the suggested cool-down period for each cardio machine.
The LENGTH of your workouts should be:
- Begin at 15-20 minutes and work up to 30 consecutive minutes.
- If you can already complete 30 consecutive minutes of exercise, check to see what your RPE is during that 30-minutes. If it’s not an RPE of 14-16, then you need to increase the intensity. Make sure that you are PROGRESSING!
- Each time the intensity level of your workout becomes easier, your Rate of Perceived Exertion will decrease.
- Each time the intensity doesn’t produce an RPE of 14-16, and then you need to increase your intensity. For example:
| Monday |
Treadmill |
3.5mph |
30 minutes |
RPE 15 |
| Wednesday |
Treadmill |
3.5mph |
30 minutes |
RPE 14 |
| Friday |
Treadmill |
3.5mph |
30 minutes |
RPE 13 |
| Monday |
Treadmill |
4.0mph |
30 minutes |
RPE 16 |
Notice that each time the desired RPE was met, and then the workload (in this case, speed) stayed the same. But as soon as the desired RPE was not met then the intensity increased.
Intensity can be increased by changing speed, incline, resistance, program
setting, etc. For example: If you normally exercise at a manual setting try the interval setting.
