Although the term "fitness level" is most commonly used to loosely describe an individual's exercise abilities, your aerobic fitness level is every bit as measurable as blood pressure or cholesterol and is a strong indicator of your overall heart health. The American Heart Association includes physical inactivity as a risk factor for heart disease because of a preponderance scientific evidence supporting an inverse relationship between aerobic fitness and heart disease.
Identification
Your aerobic fitness level can be identified in a number of ways. A trainer can predict this from simple field tests or directly measure it during a maximal effort stress test. Most fitness facilities will offer aerobic fitness level assessments as an option for members or as an individual service for non-members. In most cases, your results will be presented to you as an absolute value with a corresponding classification ranging from excellent to poor and as a percentile rank relative to your age and gender.
Function
Regardless of your age, race or gender, your aerobic fitness level will be directly related to the amount of cardiovascular exercise you perform. Examples of cardiovascular exercise include brisk walking, jogging, swimming and bicycling. People who do not perform any cardiovascular exercise will have poor levels of aerobic fitness, whereas if you who perform such activities three to six days a week at moderate to hard intensities, you can expect higher levels of aerobic fitness.
Indication
Maximal oxygen uptake, or VO2 Max, is accepted as the criterion measurement of aerobic fitness. In very simple terms, maximal oxygen uptake represents the rate at which your heart, lungs, blood, and muscles can turn the oxygen you breathe into muscular work. Regular cardiovascular exercise forces your heart to adapt to the imposed increase in demand for oxygen. As a result, your heart becomes a more effective pump, allowing you to sustain more intense cardiovascular exercise for longer periods of time.
Considerations
In most cases a poor aerobic fitness level does not indicate a heart problem. A low level of aerobic fitness simply indicates a need to modify your existing cardiovascular exercise habits to improve your heart function and to decrease your risk of heart disease.
Time Frame
Research has shown that exercise-induced increases in aerobic fitness generally range in magnitude from 5 to 30 percent. Among previously sedentary people, significant improvements in aerobic fitness can occur within as little as three weeks of initiating a fitness routine including adequate amounts of cardiovascular exercise.
0 Comments