Review of Cardiovascular Training Guidelines

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Review of Cardiovascular Training Guidelines
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The goal of this article is to quickly do a review of the cardiovascular training guidelines we have been discussing in this series so far, much like we did in our Review Of Resistance Training Guidelines. I know many people don’t have the time to sift through a lot of content on line, and you really just want the TLDR version. So the aim here is to simply do a review of the cardiovascular training guidelines, in the hope that it allows you to create a better exercise program for yourself.

Before you get stuck into this article, it would be helpful to read the following articles:

This will give you some background as to why exercise is important, what we are using exercise to accomplish, and they will also give you an introduction to cardio training and the exercise guidelines for cardio training.

You can also visit our exercise hub for more content on exercise, and you can find the cardio and resistance training article there too.

I would also just like to remind you that we offer comprehensive online coaching. So if you need help with your own exercise program or nutrition, don’t hesitate to reach out. If you are a coach (or aspiring coach) and want to learn how to coach nutrition, then consider signing up to our Nutrition Coach Certification course. We do also have an exercise program design course in the works, if you are a coach who wants to learn more about effective program design and how to coach it. We do have other courses available too.

If you would prefer to read through all the cardio articles themselves, rather than just reading a review, they are linked below:

There is of course a lot more nuance to cardio training, but if you read through these articles (or indeed this review of cardiovascular training guidelines) you will have a pretty good idea of how to integrate cardio into your exercise program.

Now, with all of that out of the way, let’s get stuck in!

Exercise Guidelines

To design an effective cardio (or indeed exercise) program, you want to at least ensure you are hitting the foundational elements of an exercise program. The most up to date exercise guidelines for health suggest that adults aim for the following: 

  • 150-300 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic exercise per week (half that for vigorous exercise). 
  • At least 2 resistance training sessions per week, strengthening all major muscle groups. 
  • Beyond formal exercise – move more, sit less (no specific recommendation, although we generally recommend getting at least 8,000 steps per day). 

So, at the very least, as it relates to cardio we want to be doing 150 minutes of cardio per week (75 minutes if it is more intense). However, this doesn’t all have to be formal exercise, it can be a combination of informal and formal exercise. So going for more walks and stuff like that does contribute, and it doesn’t all have to be formalised cardio sessions.

general exercise guidelines

Clear Goals

Having clear goals is incredibly important for designing exercise programs in general, but especially with regards to cardio. With resistance training, you are generally able to be a bit clearer with the goals, as resistance training is mainly a tool to either build muscle or strength. Whereas with cardio, there are many, many more specific adaptations we could potentially target.

This is especially true when discussing sports. Unfortuantely, the waters are very muddied when it comes to cardio, as most of the discussion is actually a discussion of sports specific training (especially running), rather than a discussion of the actual underlying principles and adaptations of cardio.

To effectively program cardio, you have to be clear on what you are actually trying to use your cardio to accomplish. We discuss this more thoroughly in the article on why you would do cardio, but in general, there are three main areas that cardio training is used for:

  • Manipulate calories: Often used as an aid to fat loss, although sometimes used to allow an individual to eat more. We could also label this category as “body composition”, although that doesn’t encapsulate all that is included here, as body composition change may not be the goal.
  • Improve performance: This is a very broad category that can get incredibly specific and it is not really the aim of this article series to delve into all the nuances here.
  • Improve health: A broad, and often ill-defined category.

The reality is that the vast majority of people are likely going to be using cardio to either burn more calories or to improve their health (or some combination of both). While some of you reading this may want to improve specific performance metrics for your sport, this is a much more nuanced discussion than we can have here.

So, you have to have a think about what exactly you are trying to accomplish with your cardio. Then you can get a bit more nuanced with this, and start teasing apart what exact cardio protocols you should use.

health benefits of cardiovascular training

Cardio Protocols

Speaking of cardio protocols, there are realistically millions of different specific cardio protocols that you could use, depending on your specific goals. However, there are a few that are used more frequently, or that make more sense for more people. So I am going to cover some of the more foundational ones below, but you can read more in our article on Foundational Cardio Protocols.

Aerobic vs Anaerobic

When deciding on which cardio protocols to use, a fundamental question you have to answer is whether you intend to predominantly train aerobically or anaerobically. Both have advantages and disadvantages, and accomplish different things.

Aerobic Cardio: Aerobic cardio, also known as endurance or steady-state cardio, involves prolonged, low to moderate-intensity activities that increase heart rate and breathing. Examples include running, cycling, swimming, and brisk walking. This type of exercise relies on oxygen to generate energy, which means it can be sustained for extended periods of time.

Advantages:

  • Improves cardiovascular health by strengthening the heart and lungs.
  • Increases mitochondrial biogenesis.
  • Enhances endurance and stamina.
  • Burns calories and potentially aids in weight loss.
  • Is associated with a reduced risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension, and tends to lead to a longer life.

Disadvantages:

  • Can be time-consuming due to the need for longer workout sessions.
  • May lead to overuse injuries, particularly in activities like running, especially when unaccustomed to it.

Anaerobic Cardio: Anaerobic cardio involves short bursts of high-intensity activities that push the body to its limit, such as sprinting. This type of exercise relies on glycogen/glucose and doesn’t require oxygen. As a result, it can only be done for a short period of time, but the intensity can be quite high.

Advantages:

  • Potentially enhances power and explosiveness, which is beneficial for athletes.
  • Trains the heart at higher heart rates.
  • Potentially trains the muscles (and body) to better handle metabolic byproduct build-up.
  • Shorter workout durations can be more time-efficient.
  • Can be more fun than lower intensity aerobic cardio.
  • Burns calories and potentially aids in weight loss.

Disadvantages:

  • Higher risk of injury due to the intensity and strain on muscles and joints.
  • Is much more fatiguing than aerobic cardio, and requires longer recovery periods between sessions.
  • May not be suitable for beginners or those with certain health conditions.
  • May burn less calories than aerobic cardio, as you simply can’t do the same volume of anaerobic cardio as you can aerobic cardio.

Overall, aerobic cardio focuses on endurance and cardiovascular health with prolonged low to moderate-intensity activities, while anaerobic cardio emphasises high-intensity bursts of effort, which can be used to create specific metabolic adaptations to the muscles/body. Both can be used to burn calories, but anaerobic cardio is generally more fatiguing and thus you can do less of it. Aerobic cardio is less fatiguing, but you have to do more of it to equate calorie burn.

Understanding what exactly you are trying to accomplish with your cardio is important, as it heavily influences what kind of cardio protocols you choose. This is why we always hammer home the importance of being clear on your goals. Assuming you are clear on your goals, and understand whether you would most benefit from aerobic or anaerobic cardio, we can then actually get specific with our protocols.

LISS/Zone 2 Cardio

The basic goal is for someone to train their overall aerobic capacity, and get all of the beneficial adaptations that go along with that, such as: 

  • increased mitochondrial biogenesis, 
  • lower resting heart rate, 
  • higher heart rate variability, 
  • increased VO2 max, 
  • improved cardio-pulmonary function and system, 
  • and increased recovery from anaerobic exercise. 

This method is often also used to simply burn calories. The basic setup is straightforward enough, even though most people don’t actually adhere to it.

You want to keep the heart rate at roughly 60-70% of your maximum heart rate or work to a rating of perceived exertion (RPE) of 4-5 out of 10. In general, LISS is usually programmed for 45-90 minute blocks, although obviously, sports-specific aerobic training may require longer sessions.

aerobic metabolism exercise

VO2 Max Intervals/Cardiac Power Intervals

Cardiac power intervals are actually used quite frequently, although they are often done in a manner that really only serves to burn calories. The true benefit of cardiac power intervals comes in strengthening the heart and increasing the body’s ability to utilise oxygen at higher intensities. These are often called VO2 max intervals, because they are generally designed to have you training at your VO2 max. VO2 max is the maximum amount of oxygen an individual can utilise during intense exercise. It reflects the body’s ability to transport and use oxygen during physical activity. Generally, your heart rate is going to be 85% or above when at your VO2 max.

These types of intervals are quite effective for improving VO2 max (at least in the short term) and they are quite good at improving the strength of your heart. The basic protocol is something like this:

3-5 minutes of high intensity at >85% of max heart rate, then 3-5 minutes of rest/active rest, repeated for a predetermined number of sets (i.e. 5 repeats of the 3-5 minutes of high intensity efforts). 

These types of intervals can at first glance appear to be predominantly training the anaerobic system, but in reality, they are actually quite aerobic in nature. While the anaerobic system is generally used for high intensity efforts, it really doesn’t have the capacity to fuel 3-5 minutes of work. As a result, the intervals ended up being largely aerobically fueled. Generally, the efforts for these will require you to work at an RPE of 8-10, which is quite hard.

HIIT

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is generally more aimed at targeting the anaerobic system, rather than the aerobic system. HIIT results in some of the same adaptations that you get from more aerobic training, but due to the high intensities used, it is far more fatiguing. The adaptations to HIIT do also seem to level off much more quickly than the adaptations to aerobic cardio, so we must keep this in mind too.

You can perform HIIT with full or incomplete recovery, and each have advantages and disadvantages. The main point to realise is that if you use incomplete recovery, you are training more and more aerobically, but you are training at an intensity that potentially doesn’t allow you to get all of the benefits of aerobic training.

energy systems

In general, we can break down HIIT into two different styles of protocols, ones that primarily target the ATP-PCr system and those that primarily target the glycolytic system. Depending on the specific adaptations desired, different protocols will be used.

Alactic (ATP-PCr)

These are primarily concerned with improving the ATP-PCr system, and thus they have you doing 10-15s of effort, and if complete recovery is the goal, 2-5 minutes recovery periods are used.

Very often you will see these done with incomplete recovery, which as a result, can lead to the build up of lactate, which does kind of defeat the purpose of these. However, it doesn’t negate all of the benefits. Some common protocols include:

  • 10s work, 50s recovery, for 3-15 minutes total
  • 15s work, 45s recovery, for 3-15 minutes total
  • 10s work, 20s recovery, for 3-5 minutes total

Of course, there are many other possible permutations, and specific protocols would be used for specific goals, but these should give you a rough idea. Alactic intervals aren’t overly fatiguing, unless very short rest periods are used.

Lactic/Glycolytic

anaerobic metabolism

The goal of glycolytic intervals is to target glycolysis, and as such, generally, something like 20-120s of effort is used, although 20-40s of effort is the usual. Ideally, if full recovery is the goal, we would like to also see 2-5 minutes of recovery used. If the goal is sporting performance, then we will generally use full recovery, or at least close to it.

A good proxy for this is getting the heart rate below ~130 bpm before the next effort. However, very often people trying to burn calories will use incomplete recovery periods, so as to keep heart rate (and thus calorie burn) higher. Some common protocols include:

  • 20s work, 40s recovery, for 3-10 minutes in total
  • 30s work, 90s recovery, for 4-30 minutes in total
  • 60s work, 120s recovery, for 6-30 minutes in total
  • 120s work, 180s recovery, 10-30 minutes in total

Again, there are a variety of other protocols that you may see, which should only be used with a specific goal and adaptation in mind.

Now, with all that out of the way, we can run through a review of cardiovascular training guidelines and how to start putting this into action.

Review of Cardiovascular Training Guidelines

We have covered a lot in this exercise series, and in a few short articles on cardio you have really been raced through a foundational understanding of how to use cardio. I know it is a lot to take in, especially if you aren’t as familiar with actual cardiovascular training theory. This really does only scratch the surface too, as you can get very granular and specific with the training protocols, if you have specific adaptations in mind. However, I do realise that most people reading this are likely going to be using cardio to either burn more calories or to improve their health (or some combination of both).

With that in mind, a very rough and ready rule for programming cardio is that 80-90% of your time should be spent on low-intensity work and 10-20% of the time on high-intensity work (this rule could be even more refined by stating that 10-20% of energy output should be high intensity and 80-90% of energy output should be low intensity, but that is just incredibly hard to quantify for most people). This isn’t always the case, as some goals require higher volumes of high-intensity work, however, for the vast majority of people, these are the rough guidelines that should be followed where possible.

Practically speaking, before you think about what cardio to do, we would generally recommend setting a baseline for your general activity (i.e. your informal activity). This is most easily done by setting a daily step goal, and by just having the intent to try and incorporate activity into your daily routine wherever possible (i.e. taking the stairs rather than the elevator/escalator, choosing more active commuting options, parking further away from your destination etc.). This does actually really help to improve your health and fitness, and it does actually meaningfully contribute to your daily energy expenditure (i.e. daily calorie burn). 

We generally recommend something like 8,000 to 15,000 steps per day. However, this obviously needs to be tailored to your unique goals and situation.

After establishing a baseline of informal exercise and general daily activity, then we can start introducing more formal exercise. We generally recommend that people start by incorporating aerobic exercise into their training program, as it is probably the most bang for your buck type of cardio over the long run. It burns a decent amount of calories, and it significantly enhances your fitness quite quickly, which in turn allows you to recover better from all other types of exercise and to actually push yourself harder in other areas of your training program. 

We generally recommend using low intensity steady state cardio (zone 2) cardio at something like an RPE 4-5, for at least 60 minutes per week. Ideally, we would like to see this creep up to the recommended 150-300 minutes of cardio per week (although your daily baseline informal exercise can also be included in this target, especially if you are doing stuff like going for walks or commuting to and from work in an active manner). 

You can continue to do more aerobic cardio, and really build your overall aerobic fitness beyond this, however, you may also wish to develop your anaerobic system too. You can do this to some extent by introducing some cardiac power intervals once per week, although you could also do some HIIT style intervals too. Both are quite demanding, so I would definitely err on the side of doing a low overall volume to start. 

The cardiac power intervals are a little bit more aerobic in nature, and are a good option if you want to really develop your VO2 max and the strength of your heart. These can be done in the same session with LISS cardio, which does make them quite practical. For example, you could easily do ~20 minutes worth of cardiac power intervals and then 45+ minutes of LISS. You could also do this the other way around too (i.e. LISS first, then cardiac power intervals).

However, rather than doing this, you could also introduce some HIIT style intervals into your training. These can fairly easily be done after resistance training, and can significantly improve your anaerobic fitness, along with improving your aerobic fitness. Something like 3-4 sets of 20 seconds of effort followed by 40 seconds of (active) rest can be done after resistance training.

The use of incomplete rest means these will be slightly more aerobic in nature, rather than truly anaerobic, but they will still improve your fitness and contribute to calorie expenditure. If you were more concerned with actually developing the anaerobic system, perhaps due to wanting to improve your anaerobic system for sports, then you would be better off using longer rest periods (2-3+ minutes, instead of 40 seconds). 

You will generally want to spend a little bit of time thinking about the type of activity you intend to do for your cardio, as this is an important consideration that many people gloss over. Some activities make more sense for certain protocols, while trying to do those exercises for other protocols is just inappropriate and may increase your risk for injury. There is no one size fits all prescription for this, so you will just have to think through your options and/or consult with a qualified exercise professional to help you decide on the appropriate exercise selection.

As with everything, there is always more to learn, and we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface with all this stuff. However, if you are interested in staying up to date with all our content, we recommend subscribing to our newsletter and bookmarking our free content page. We do have a lot of content on how to design your own exercise program on our exercise hub.

If you would like more help with your training (or nutrition), we do also have online coaching spaces available.

We also recommend reading our foundational nutrition article, along with our foundational articles on sleep and stress management, if you really want to learn more about how to optimise your lifestyle. If you want even more free information on exercise, you can follow us on Instagram, YouTube or listen to the podcast, where we discuss all the little intricacies of exercise.

Finally, if you want to learn how to coach nutrition, then consider our Nutrition Coach Certification course. We do also have an exercise program design course in the works, if you are a coach who wants to learn more about effective program design and how to coach it. We do have other courses available too. If you don’t understand something, or you just need clarification, you can always reach out to us on Instagram or via email.

The previous article in this series is about Foundational Cardio Protocols and the next article in this series is Understanding Flexibility and Mobility, and How To Train Them, if you are interested in continuing to learn about exercise program design. You can also go to our exercise hub to find more exercise content.

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Paddy Farrell
www.triagemethod.com

Hey, I'm Paddy!

I am a coach who loves to help people master their health and fitness. I am a personal trainer, strength and conditioning coach, and I have a degree in Biochemistry and Biomolecular Science. I have been coaching people for over 10 years now.

When I grew up, you couldn't find great health and fitness information, and you still can't really. So my content aims to solve that!

I enjoy training in the gym, doing martial arts and hiking in the mountains (around Europe, mainly). I am also an avid reader of history, politics and science. When I am not in the mountains, exercising or reading, you will likely find me in a museum.