Your heart and your lungs are the engines that run your cardiovascular system. By strengthening them you increase that engines horsepower, making it run smoother and more efficiently. Simply, what this means is cardiovascular exercise boosts metabolism. Cardiovascular training increases stamina which will give you the type of energy that will keep you energized all day long.
Just like building the muscles of your body cardiovascular exercise has the same benefits for your heart and lungs. But unlike working the muscle fibers with a weight training routine you are working your heart and lungs, which respond to increased work just like any other muscles. You will increase their ability to pump oxygen rich blood to energy hungry cells throughout your body.
The best cardiovascular workouts should raise your heart rate to 70 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate and this should be sustained for a minimum of 20 minutes. This should be done at least 3 times a week with the more fit exercising closer to the upper percentage limit and beginners aiming for the lower percentile.
Aerobic exercise does more than boost your metabolism. Not only will you burn away excess fat at an efficient rate but the more fit you are cardiovascularly the less risk you have of having a heart attack or getting cardiovascular disease.
Just about any exercise that keeps your heart rate at the 70-85% of maximum rate will not only strengthen your heart and lungs but will also boost your metabolism into a fat burning machine. Bicycling, running, hiking, basketball will all give your heart and lungs a good workout. You can increase you?re the aerobic output of your heart and lungs around 18 percent with a good aerobic workout regimen and while resistance training with weights will also increase cardiovascular output the increase is only around 6 percent.
This is not to say that only cardiovascular training is beneficial for a metabolism boost. Weight training has its place in an overall fitness program and if you combine those two forms of exercise with a healthy diet you can boost your metabolism far beyond what you could if you just concentrate on one aspect of living a healthy lifestyle.
