There are many misconceptions when it comes to cardiovascular training.

I think it helps to first understand three things as it pertains to cardio:

1) What is Cardio?
2) Why is it important?
3) What are the various forms of cardio?

These ultimately are the 3 indefensible cardio secrets.

Secret 1: What is Cardio?

Cardio, short for cardiovascular exercise, is basically any physical moving of our body that increases your heart rate up and blood circulation.

You might have heard the term aerobic exercise mentioned when someone describes cardio training.

Aerobic (with “air”, air-robic) literally means “relating to, involving, or requiring free oxygen” , in short it means that as you train you get more oxygen into your body to meet the demands of your exercise. The more we train the more our body needs oxygen.

Examples of aerobic exercises include burpees, jumping rope, jumping jacks, cardio machines, spinning, running, swimming, walking, hiking, aerobics classes, dancing, cross country skiing, and kickboxing.

The difference between aerobic and anaerobic exercises is quite different.

The difference is really the amount of oxygen, energy breakdown, & your body needs to break down sugar and convert it to glycogen, so it can be used as energy or fuel.

When the body has an adequate supply of oxygen for this process, we call it aerobic respiration.

When there is not enough oxygen, for example when you are running hard at the end of a 5k, this is called anaerobic (not with “air”) respiration.

Examples of anaerobic exercise include weight lifting, sprinting, and jumping; any exercise that consists of short exertion, high-intensity movement, is an anaerobic exercise.

Each of these have difference effects on the body. and resulting by products.

Found this great explanation of all places in Yahoo Answers:

Aerobic:
1. Occurs in presence of oxygen.
2. CO2 and water is produced
3. Lot of energy is liberated (38 ATP)
4.Occurs in plants’ and animals’ cells
5. C6H12O6 –> CO2 + H2O + ATP ( Energy)

Anaerobic:
1. Occurs in absence of oxygen
2. Lactic Acid or Alcohol is produced
3. Relatively small energy is liberated (2ATP)
4. Occurs in many anaerobic bacteria and human muscle cells.
5. In muscles, lactic acid is produced while bacteria as Yeast produces Alcohol (Ethanol)
6. C6H12O6 –> Lactic acid / C2H5OH + ATP

Secret 2: Why is it important?

Our bodies are made to move. This is pretty straightforward, yet for millions around the world living sedentary lifestyles, sometimes the only really “exercise” they get is walking from their front door to their car, their car to their office, and reversing this process at the end of their day.

Obviously, if you are reading this post, and are an avid enthusiast of calisthenics, I would presume you getting a little bit more cardio exercise than what I just described.

In her article, Why Is Cardiovascular Fitness Important, by Lisa Marie Mercer, states,

There are two factors that distinguish cardiovascular fitness from other types of exercise.

    Cardiovascular fitness enhances the ability of the heart and lungs to supply oxygen-rich blood to the working muscles.
    Cardiovascular fitness enhances the muscle’s ability to use this oxygen to supply adequate energy for movement.

These are two excellent points worth remembering.

Here are a few more points to consider as to why cardio is important:

• Weight loss
• Stronger heart and lungs
• Increased bone density
• Reduced stress
• Reduced risk of heart disease and some types of cancer
• Temporary relief from depression and anxiety
• More confidence about how you feel and how you look
• Better sleep
• More energy
• A good example for those around you

Many of us know that cardio is good for us, but we might not know exactly why. Now you have some understanding. It’s good for the heart and lungs, and it helps our muscles get the oxygen needed to have energy.

The Talk Test

A great test to know whether or not you are exercising to much, is called the  talk test. This will help you determine if you are in an aerobic or an anaerobic state. When performing an aerobic activity such as walking, you should be able to talk. If you change your walk to a jog you should still be able to talk, but not sing. Adding a sprint in the middle of your jog will most likely take you to an anaerobic state and you shouldn’t be able to say more than a few words without pausing for breath.

Another great and actually more accurate way to measure your aerobic activity is measure your heart rate.

As you may not be aware, the whole intention of cardio is to get your heart rate above a certain threshold, to be deemed aerobic cardio activity. The challenge comes in knowing what that threshold or “target heart rate” is. Of course, if you have any medical conditions please consult your doctor, however if you are in “good” health you can use the below mentioned chart as a reference point.

Note: You want to exercise for at least 20-30 minutes then you can measure your heart rate.

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4736

Secret 3: What are the Various Forms of Cardio?

There are many different forms of cardio. They typically fall under two categories:

1) Pay to play
2) FREE (Or almost)

1) “Pay to play” forms of cardio entail, elliptical trainers, treadmills, climbers, spinning, stair climbers, etc. These are great forms of cardio but the only caveat is that cost a pretty penny or you need to go to a gym to use them. Not my choice.

2) FREE, this of course is my favorite, these include: walking, jogging, hiking, running, burpees, jumping jacks, plyometric jump training, jump rope (cost $2 on eBay for a simple jump rope with shipping included), etc.

How often to do cardio is really up to you. Its all about just doing it. How long as well depends on you, however I would typically suggest 20-30 minutes. Just 10 minutes of jump rope is equivalent 30 minutes of moderate use on a treadmill.

I like to combine H.I.I.T training with my cardio doing 45 seconds of 90-100% effort with 15-20 seconds moderate active rest, repeating this cycle 15-20 times, and then I also do ab-core training for 10-15 minutes.

In conclusion, I shared with you the 3 secretes to cardiovascular training or aerobic exercise:

1) What is Cardio?
2) Why is it important?
3) What are the various forms of cardio?

Now its just a matter of grabbing those running shoes and getting out there. And most importantly have fun.