Aerobic Moves For Each Phase Of Your Workout
Aerobic exercise is good for everyone. Aerobic fitness moves combine rhythmic calisthenics or dance moves with stretching and strength training routines to provide a full-body exercise experience. Read on to discover all the aerobic moves you need to give your body a full aerobic workout.
Warm-Up Moves
Aerobic moves that move the heart from a resting heart rate to a warm-up rate start slowly and build in intensity. Walking or marching in place is the most common warm-up aerobic move, with your steps deepening into lunges at the end of the warm-up to add intensity and increase the circulation of blood to the muscles. Other first phase moves include stepping from side to side and moving the arms at waist level or higher.
Aerobic moves during the warm-up phase should also include a gentle stretch of each of the major muscle groups, including the lower back.
The warm-up phase of an aerobic workout should last from 5 to 10 minutes. The goal during the warm-up phase is to increase the body's core temperature, warm up the muscles and joints, and prepare the body for the training portion of the workout.
Aerobic Moves In The Zone
The next phase of your workout moves your body toward your target heart rate. The intensity of the movement increases and the pace of the movement increases. Certain aerobic moves are universally recognized to increase intensity; for example, stopping the body's momentum and moving the body in the opposite direction is a high intensity move. That is why aerobic routines include a lot of back and forth movements and up and back movements in the middle part of the workout.
Lifting the body's weight is another high intensity aerobic move. Leaping, hopping, and powering through a move are all high intensity actions. This portion of the workout should last from 15 to 25 minutes, with intensity building at the beginning of the session, peaking mid-session, and subsiding toward the end of this phase of the aerobic workout.
Cool-Down Aerobic Moves
The last part of an aerobic exercise workout is the cool-down and stretch period. The intense movements cease, the pace of the workout slows down, and the activity returns to the milder, gentler motions of the warm-up phase. Whatever you do, you should not stop exercising suddenly without this cool-down phase. You could experience dizziness and could faint if you do. Instead, slow the pace of your exercise until your heart is beating fewer than than 100 times per minute.
Finish your aerobic moves workout by stretching all the muscles you worked out to help them return to their normal length, to increase your flexibility, and to keep your muscles limber and toned.
