Training the aerobic energy system

Now is a great time, if you’ve been neglecting with your cardio, to invest in and develop a strong aerobic system.
It’s the most malleable of the energy systems – which will see positive impacts in a small amount of time.

What are the benefits of a  aerobic system?
– Improving the pliability of the autonomic nervous system – which means it’ll be easier for your body to access parasympathetic (this is a massive deal when it comes to increasing your ability to down-regulate ).
– Improve training capacity  – being aerobically fitter, we can do more work in the same about of time.
– Your heart will be stronger and pump more blood with each contraction – helping decrease your HRH and increase your HRV.
– You’ll become faster and increase your mitochondrial density , increase the oxygen available to your mitochondria increase ATP (energy) production.
– Improving your biomarkers, lower blood pressure, lower LDL count and increase HDH count. 

Overall making you a generally healthier individual and lowering your risk of many serious illnesses.

How to train the aerobic system:

Before commencing, it’s important to first establish your resting heart rate over the course of a few days (to establish a mean average), what is measured is managed.  Target is to stay within 120-150bpm for at least 30 mins. Activity can  walking, jogging, cycling, swimming etc. Ideally you should be able to measure the distance covered in each session as well as your heart rate.
For beginners recommend 1-2 session per week, for those with good conditioning recommend 2-3 sessions per week. 
When measuring the distance covered, if you fail to improve your distance from the last session, you should add an extra 5 mins of work time to the session. After a few weeks of training measure again to see if there is any improvement to your resting heart rate.
A decrease in resting heart rate would be indicative of improvement.

If you do not have a heart rate monitor, you could also track the intensity of your session using your breathing – you should still be able to breathe in and out through your nose in a calm and controlled manner, or still be able to hold a conversation throughout the session.
So go on, get outside whatever the weather and use your precious hour of exercise freedom to work on something really worthwhile!