List of Aerobic Activities... Your Top 5 Elements to Boost Fitness

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Your list of aerobic activities reveals the fitness elements of each exercise.

5 Elements of Exercise Performance

There are 5 major elements of exercise performance. Knowing these elements will guide you towards a better understanding of aerobic activity and those exercises that naturally fit your requirements.

As any conditioning goals will vary depending on the individual, it is important you select an activity that meets your targets. For example, a keen tennis enthusiast who wants to improve their game will find steady jogging little help to their quickness across the tennis court. To train for tennis excellence, you must train for speed.

And what about the beginner wanting to get into shape?

Steady jogging at a slow to moderate pace now becomes a perfect fit for the beginner trainee.

The 5 major elements of exercise performance are:

• Muscle mass
• Muscle endurance
• Cardiorespiratory endurance
• Mobility
• Durability

1. Muscle mass is determined by the size of fibers in your muscle tissues. Strength training typically develops muscle mass which is a prelude to developing muscle endurance and strength. (Muscle strength is the brute force you can apply in an all-out rapid single muscle contraction.)
2. Muscle endurance enables you to contract your muscles many times before encountering fatigue.
3. Cardiorespiratory endurance is the ability of your heart and lungs to keep you moving for a long time.
4. Mobility is your body's flexibility to reach, turn and bend.
5. Durability enables your joints, ligaments and musculature to withstand sudden jolts and repeated knocks.

Using tennis as our list of aerobic activities example, this activity requires a moderate amount of muscle mass and a high level of muscle endurance (lots of running and jumping).

Cardiorespiratory endurance is also important due to any prolonged rallies, as is mobility to allow for quick changes in direction. Durability also scores high.


Photo courtesy of Mike Baird

Top 5 List of Aerobic Activities

1. Cycling. Muscle endurance and cardiorespiratory endurance take precedence over muscle strength when cycling. First train with long slow distance, and as you become better conditioned, employ interval training. Gradually elevate your heart rate to at least 80% of maximum, with periods of all-out effort if you are racing.

2. Jogging and Distance Running. Muscular strength is not a prime requirement here - muscle endurance is. To this end, you'll want to lose any excess fat if you are a serious trainee. Beginners should work their way up to a training pulse rate of 70% of your age-adjusted maximum, proceeding to 70-80% as fitness and conditioning improves. You can gauge any improvements by the ease with which you can run distances that were difficult for you at the outset.

3. Rowing. Training for rowing scores high in most areas of exercise performance, making it an effective all-rounder when looking to build muscle mass, endurance, and cardiorespiratory endurance. Rowing at a moderate to fast pace puts a training stress on the circulatory system, which helps condition the overall body. Further conditioning can be accomplished through interval training after an initial several weeks of long, slow distance training.

4. Swimming. Like rowing, swimming scores high in most exercise performance areas, making it an excellent choice of aerobic activity for both the experienced and beginner trainee. Unlike rowing, swimming does not require a high amount of muscular strength. Instead, muscular endurance is required, and mainly in the upper body as most of the propulsion in swimming is derived from the arms.

5. Tennis. Tennis also scores highly in most exercise performance elements. However, to play well some overall conditioning is important to guard against injuries. (Tennis, with its violent and sudden movements, puts great strain on the legs, arms and joints.) If your beginning fitness is low, tennis sessions should be short, not exceeding half an hour. As overall fitness improves, the play duration can gradually be increased.

In Summary

The above list of aerobic activities targets all major 5 elements of exercise performance. The benefits to you? You get to enjoy aerobic activities that are effectively tailored to your individual requirements.

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