Since some of you may be interested just in cardio training, I’ll present it separately. On the other hand, some may view strength training as the main activity you are interested in. However, for your best health benefit, cardio training is still added to this program  (at the bottom of the chart).

Before you start
For the best understanding of the proposed cardio and strength program, I will explain some fundamental elements that are at the base of these fitness training programs.

Progression.  Each of the two types of fitness training follow a progression from easier, more accessible training programs, to a more vigorous, more challenging, cardio and strength training.

Step loading.  For the best progression, I’ll actually follow what is called in training step loading (figure 3.1). This method uses three steps, or weeks, of training consisting of low, medium and high intensities.

Figure 1.1 An illustration of how the step-loading progression is used in your training programs

Figure 3.1 illustrates the step loading methodology of: low, medium and high training demand/intensity

While the medium and high steps are meant to challenge your training potential at the time, the low intensity week allows you to recover from the more challenging steps, remove some of the fatigue you have accumulated during the past two weeks, relax mentally, and to get ready for another set of medium and high steps. However, you don’t actually have to think about step loading, since all my suggested training programs have a built-in progression. Just concentrate on your training task and simply follow the suggested training program.

Planning is an essential element to the success of your fitness training. There are two types of plans you can use during my 24 week suggested program:
1. The training session, or as is often called the workout, is 30-60 minutes long. For simplicity, I propose the following structure of a training session:

• Warm-up to prepare your body for the training program planned on any given day. The warm-up has the scope to progressively ready your body from   inactivity to a state of physical readiness.  A 10 minutes warm-up starts with easy jogging of 3-5 minutes, followed by stretching for the balance of time.
• Do the daily training program as suggested in both cardio and strength training.
• Warm-down to bring your body and mind back to your regular daily activity via a short (5 minutes) period of light jogging and a few stretching exercises.

2. The weekly training programs are presented in chart form. In each week, there are between 3-5 days of planned training. Some of the weekly training days are planned during the weekend, when you have more leisure time. Each of the two types of fitness programs has a built-in progression; from easier weeks to more challenging weeks of training. Every 3-5 weeks of training there is an easier week, where the number and difficulty (intensity) of days of training are decreased. The purpose of these changes in difficulty are to remove fatigue, increase quality of rest, recover and relax from the previous weeks training, and to improve your motivation for the training program planned for the next set of weeks of increased difficulty.

How to monitor your health and training progress? To monitor your health and training progress you need to continuously observe how your body reacts to training.  A healthy body has a healthy and strong heart. The best evidence that your heart is getting stronger and is functioning more effectively is to progressively lower your resting heart rate (RHR) and blood pressure. While your blood pressure can be more accurately taken by your family doctor, your resting heart rate (RHR) and body weight can be monitored and assessed by you. Any improvements of your health status will not come immediately, but rather after a few weeks of training. I don’t promise any miraculous pills that will result in quick weight loss. Only your determination will lead you to positive improvements that occur over a certain period of time resulting from simple and honest physical activity. The Surgeon General and the United States Department of Health are suggesting the same method; using moderate to vigorous physical activity to improve your health and to decrease your weight.

Resting heart rate (RHR). Taking your RHR once a week will allow you to monitor how your heart reacts to training, telling you the state of your heart. Normally, the RHR is taken when you are resting, in the morning, just before you step down from your bed. Place your index and middle finger on your wrist and count the number of heartbeats you feel per minute. You can count your RHR for 15 seconds and multiply it by 4 to get your heart rate per minute.

Body weight. The benefit of this very original training program will be visible, among others, through a continuous weight loss, loyally reflected on your scale. To monitor the success of this program, please take your body weight (BW) once a week, before breakfast, and insert it in the chart below. Make a comparison between your body weight (BW) you had before and after the completion of the program. The continuous weight loss will represent not just a demonstration that the program you have followed was very effective, but will also be your retribution for your dedication; you’ll look slimmer, better, healthier, and have an increased self-esteem.

How to use the RHR and weight loss chart?  Make your own chart, or download the attached chart (please note that the chart has 24 weeks, or the duration of this training program). After you take your RHR (resting heart rate), record a dot in the middle of the square corresponding to the RHR you have just taken. Do the same each week and link the dots together to form a graph. You can do the same with your body weight by adding from the top of the chart, downwards, your weight in lbs/Kg. Place your weight in the top of the chart, just on the right hand side of RHR, your present body weight. Fill the remaining lines, going downwards, 2 lbs/1Kg per line.  Test you body weight on the same day as your RHR and use another color dot in the square of each week. Now you’ll have two curves representing both RHR and BW. Towards the end of the 24 weeks of training, both graphs should visibly decrease. This is your actual proof that the program you have followed has been successful, that your heart has become healthier and more powerful, and that you have eliminated the extra lbs/Kg from your body.

A note of caution! Since your RHR reacts to every emotional situation and your level of fatigue, make sure that you are not taking your RHR after an emotional situation or after a night of indulging. This won’t show an accurate record for all your efforts to embark on a healthy lifestyle nor to the effectiveness of this training program.

Table 3.1 The suggested chart to be used to monitor your RHR and BW

NOTE:

• RHR=resting heart rate
• BW=body weight

Training intensity. Whether cardio or strength training, intensity determines if a training session or a repetition can be less or more challenging. For instance, intensity in cardio training refers to the pace/speed you’ll use per repetition or a training session. A faster pace or a higher speed of a repetition can make a training session easier or more difficult.

For the purpose of cardio training I’ll use the following three intensities:

Intensity of strength training, on the other hand, depends on the load/weight you use in training. For instance dumbbells of 20 lbs (8 Kg) will be easier to lift, therefore of lower intensity, than a load of 40 lbs (16 Kg). For strength training, specific suggestions like the load to take will be made.

Number of repetitions (reps) refers to how many times you repeat an exercise before you take a rest interval (RI). If you are doing a sit-up 10 times, this means you have done 10 repetitions. In the case of cardio training, the number of repetitions refers to how many times you perform a certain type of work per training session. Work can be specified in yards/meters or number of minutes. For instance 3x150 yards/meters means you repeat 150y/m three times per session.  Most of the repetitions in cardio training are also specified by minutes, such as 4x10 minutes, or repeating 10 minute duration of cardio training four times per training session.

Number of sets A set is considered a number of repetitions performed in strength training followed by a rest interval (RI). If, for instance, you repeat a bench press 2 times, six repetitions each time that means you have repeated two sets of bench presses per training session

Rest interval (RI) refers to the time you take to rest between two sets, in the case of strength training, or between two repetitions for cardio training. RI is traditionally specified in minutes or seconds.

Medical control is an essential element in your quest for a healthy lifestyle. My strongest advice to you is to get medical clearance from your family doctor before you start the suggested training program. It is very essential for you to know from the beginning of the program, that you are a healthy person, with a healthy heart that will function effectively throughout the suggested cardio and strength training program.

Training programs for the improvement of cardio fitness

The importance and benefit of cardio training to a healthy lifestyle has been demonstrated by both science and practicum for many years. However, in my opinion, not much has been said about the roll of cardio training for those of you who are approaching retirement or who have already retired. Let me examine two major health aspects of cardio training as they relate to aging:

How sedentary lifestyle affects the health of your heart

The heart is probably the most vital organ for baby boomers and individuals with a sedentary lifestyle. Heart-related illnesses account for one third of the mortality rate in North America. The lack of physical activity, smoking, alcohol and a poor diet are among the main culprits for such a high mortality rate. This trend will never change unless individuals alter their mental attitude and lifestyle habits. In fact, this is the crucial reason I have decided to write this book and organize the training programs; to help you change the state of your health, sedentary and dietary habits into an active and healthy lifestyle. This includes strengthening your heart, a determinant element in your desire to increase your health, vitality and longevity.

The heart is just an ordinary muscle. When the heart contracts blood that is rich in nutrients and oxygen is pumped throughout the body so that all the organs of the body, including the mind, can function effectively. A weak heart is not a healthy heart! The only way to make the heart healthier and avoid the risk of heart illnesses, including high blood pressure, is to make it stronger, and therefore, healthier. Let me explain:

Physically active individuals, especially the ones involved in cardio training, have a stronger, thicker heart wall (figure 3.2, the left ventricle wall of the right heart,). Why? Simply because during cardio training you need an efficient and stronger heart, capable of supplying the body with higher amounts of nutrients and oxygen. This is possible only if the amount of blood reaching the vital organs and muscles is increased. To do so, the heart must increase both the number of heartbeats per minute as well as its power of pumping more blood to the body per heart beat (stroke volume). The pumping power of the heart is directly dependent on the strength of this muscle, especially left side (left ventricle wall) of the heart (figure 3.2). The more active the individual in cardio-type of training, the more powerful the heart is. A strong heart is a healthy heart!  

Fig 3.2. A comparison between two hearts: a weak heart (left) and a healthy, strong heart (right). Please observe the thickness, and, as such, the contraction power of the left wall of the heart on the right.

A sedentary lifestyle weakens even a previously strong heart since it is not stimulated to pump more blood to the system, and as such, to increase or maintain the pumping power of the heart wall. Therefore, as compared to an active person, the strength of the heart of a sedentary person is much thinner and therefore, much weaker (figure 3.2, the left heart). Yet, even a sedentary person needs a certain amount of nutrients and oxygen for daily activities. Since the wall of the heart is thinner, its pumping power becomes weaker. Yet, the heart still has to supply the body with nutrients, and since the weaker heart is incapable of pumping more nutrients per contraction, it has to compensate for the lack of power by increasing the heart rate, or the number of heart beats per minute.

As the heart rate increases, a weaker heart will fatigue faster. This is why many sedentary individuals often complain of fatigue, lack of energy and get tired even when they perform simple tasks. This feeling is compounded when an individual is overweight or obese. Why do these individuals tire when they haven’t even performed any strenuous activities? Because a weak heart doesn’t rely on the strength of the heart but rather on the number of heart beats to compensate for the lack of power in the heart muscle. The weaker the heart, the harder it has to work, the faster it will fatigue.

Let me give you a simple example; a healthy and active person may have a resting heart rate of 54 bets per minute, while a sedentary individual has a resting heart rate of 66 beats per minute. An individual with a stronger heart will have 77,760 heartbeats in 24 hours as compared to 95,040 beats for a person with a weaker heart. The weaker heart, therefore, has to work harder by 17,280 contractions per 24 hours. Chances are that a weaker heart will get weaker, unhealthier and fatigue faster, not really conducive to postponing aging and eliminating the probability of contracting heart illnesses.

The remedy is to change your lifestyle, to become an active person, to engage in a long-term, well-organized cardio training program. Just follow my suggested cardio training and your heart will become stronger and healthier again. Your heart rate per minute will decrease and your heart will improve its pumping power. The more active your lifestyle, the more vigorous your cardio training, the healthier your heart will become. Inactivity, along with high blood pressure, unhealthy diet, smoking and cholesterol, is listed among the highest risk factors contributing to heart disease (The US Surgeon General Report, 2004).

Respiratory capacity changes with aging

As compared to sedentary people, physically active individuals, especially those involved in cardio fitness, have a larger lung capacity. Why is this so important? Simply, that the larger and more elastic your lungs are, the more air you can inhale and as a result, supply your body with more oxygen. The body needs a constant supply of oxygen not only for bodily functions during physical activity, but for also for other daily activities. Equally important, any intellectually/professionally active individual needs a good supply of oxygen since the brain cannot function efficiently without a good supply of oxygen.

However, respiratory capacity is negatively affected by inactivity and aging. These individuals, especially from the age of 50 and older, have stiffer lungs and, as a result, a decreased lung capacity of up to one third. This is quite significant since less air rich with oxygen is able to enter your lungs, affecting your productivity, your ability to concentrate on a task, and feeling a lack of energy. Your overall efficiency is decreased.

The structure of your cardio training

Since an individual’s background in cardio training may differ, the training program is organized into two levels, each of them six months long (24 weeks of training and 2 weeks of transition). The entire cardio program, therefore, is of one year duration. These two levels of cardio training follow a simple, but very necessary progression from low to vigorous intensity. As you follow Level 1, you’ll adjust, or adapt, meaning you’ll get used to the suggested training program. As soon as your body and mind adapt to the training program, you’ll be physically ready to move to the next level (Level 2), where the intensity is more challenging than the one you have just completed. As your cardio capacity is progressively improving, you’ll start losing weight, and as a consequence, your health status will noticeably improve.

The two levels of training can be compared to building a four floor apartment building with a penthouse. As the builder constructs up from the foundation towards the penthouse, so does your program: a progression from an easier program (1st and 2^nd floor) to a more challenging one (3^rd, 4^th floor and the penthouse). As you move up from the foundation towards the penthouse, your fitness potential will also reach higher levels of capabilities. But the key advantage of this program is that you not only improve your fitness potential but actually engage in a healthier lifestyle. You’ll also notice that your body will have a different look: it will be slimmer, look better and healthier. As your fitness level reaches higher standards, you’ll also become more confident in your capabilities. More importantly, you’ll be proud of your fitness achievements, and your self-esteem and self-respect will be higher then ever since the new you will look better then ever. 

Figure 3.3 (or cardio Level1) has the capacity to build the foundation and the first two floors, or levels of your cardio potential. When Level 1 is completed, you can move to Level 2 and work towards increasing your physical potential to superior levels, or floor 3, 4, and 5 or the penthouse.

NOTE: If your fitness background is more advanced than the program suggested for cardio Level 1, you can move to a higher level, such as cardio Level 2. However, do not rush into making quick decisions and move too fast to the next level. Try to evaluate your potential first and then decide to move one stage higher.

Cardio training Level 1: Strengthening your heart

Cardio training Level 1 is a low to moderate intensity training program(figure 3.3) proposed for entry level individuals, for those of you who are just beginning cardio training. Therefore, the entire program is dedicated to the simplest and most accessible activity; walking. This activity can be performed outdoors or indoors, using a treadmill, a stepper, or walking in any environment conceivable from gyms to large hallways, including malls. However, your cardio preference might be a different one, such as swimming, cycling or an indoor rowing machine. Rowing is not just stimulating the strengthening of your heart but it also represents a complex movement, where all the muscles of your body are involved in action.

Suggested training program for Cardio Level 1:

Transition phase. After the completion of Level 1 a two week transition phase is suggested. The extent of this training is to grant yourself a short vacation, where as a result of decreasing the number of training sessions and amount of activity, you’ll be able to remove fatigue, relax mentally, and recover and recuperate physically. The same transition phase is suggested at the end of each cardio Level 2.

The suggested training program for transition is quite a simple one:

• # of sessions per week: 2, maximum 3
• type of training: uniform (U)  training at a comfortable, relaxed pace
• duration per session: 30, maximum 40 minutes 

If, at the end of transition you feel the urge to train more days per week, the purpose of the transition phase has been fully achieved. Now you’ll feel rested, feel good, and be ready to move to the next module: Cardio Level 2.

Both charts, figure 3.3 and 3.4, illustrate six months of the program. Just below the Month # the scope of training is specified, followed by the type of cardio training I have planned  for each training phase.   

Figure 3.3 The foundation of cardio training via lower intensity training: walking, etc.

Cardio training Level 2: Vigorous intensity

The cardio program for Level 2 has the capacity to further improve your overall physical potential via a higher demanding intensity of activities of your choice, such as running, treadmill running, stationary bike, swimming, indoor rowing machines, etc. Please note that the duration and pace of the cardio activity is higher and that interval training (IT) is becoming shorter but also of higher demand.  Since training intensity is higher so is your energy demand. Now your heart will become stronger and healthier, burn more calories, and as a result, you’ll have a slimmer and healthier body.

 Suggested training program for Cardio Level 2:

• # of sessions per week: 3-4, maximum 5
• type of training: uniform (U), but at a higher pace, speed-play, interval training long and short
• duration : 30-60 minutes 

Figure 3.4 illustrates the structure for cardio Level 2, or for floors  3-5,  where activities of higher intensity are planned

Training methods used for cardio training

For the best fitness benefit, selected training methods will be used for both cardio levels. Since each method has a specific meaning a short explanation will be provided below:

Rest interval (RI), is specified in minutes. During the rest interval you have to perform a slow, relaxing activity such as walking to rest before you do another  repetition.