See below a minimum and optimum orientated overview of how much cardiovascular exercises are advisable to do per week to gain positive health benefits and to make your efforts worthwhile. The below are basic orientations, individual considerations need to be taken into account and each exercise program needs to be individually tailored:
Minimum training requirements:
- You should do a minimum of 60 minutes of dynamic activity that includes the usage of the big muscle groups (running, swimming, cycling…).
- Through your activity you should increase your calorie consumption by at least 500-1000 kcal.
- It is advisable to rather train 3 times per week for 20 minutes than once for 60 minutes straight to avoid a too long resting period.
Optimum training requirements:
- You should do dynamic activities that involve usage of the big muscle groups (running, swimming, cycling…).
- Training time per week should be a minimum of 3-5 hours.
- 4-5 training sessions with a minimum of 30 to 60 minute duration
- A longer exercise routine per week leads to further improvement of cardiovascular fitness but increases the orthopedic load at the same time.