Most Aerobically Demanding Sport Choices
For those of you who don’t know CV (cardio vascular) fitness refers to the ability of the heart and lungs to provide the body with enough nutrients (mainly oxygen) for it to function during activity and remove waste products such as carbon dioxide and lactic acid also. A CV system that is in good shape will allow an athlete to work harder and for longer periods of time. Some sports such as weight lifting don’t develop the CV system very well as very little oxygen is required by the muscles. However, there are a good few sports that require the CV system to be working well. Below we look at three of the best sports for developing CV fitness.
Skiing. The variety of this sport known as cross-country skiing is actually the most demanding off all sports on the CV system. The is partly due to the cold air reducing the amount of oxygen that can be absorbed by the lungs (forcing them to be even more efficient), but also races take place over many miles and difficult terrain. Also, cross country skiing uses nearly every single muscle in the body which means energy demands on the heart and lungs is very high. So if you’re looking to build your CV system, switch your snowboards for skis next time you’re on the slopes.
Cycling. Racing bikes at high level puts vast amounts of pressure of the heart and lungs due to the large muscle groups that are required to work. The 7 time Tour De France winner Lance Armstrong is testament to that, having one of the highest VO2 max scores of any athlete. VO2 max is the maximum amount of oxygen that can be delivered and used by muscles in one minute. Based on that evidence, if you’re thinking about getting rid of your old cycling machine or mountain bikes, you might want to think again.
Kayaking. Although kayaking does not use the lower body as much as other sports do, it still punishes the heart and lungs more than most. This is due to the fact that large amounts of energy are required by the upper body for quite long periods of time, which not only means high oxygen demand, but also lots of bi-products that need removing. For second hand kayaks and surfboards check out EST.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 at 3:02 pm and is filed under Boating. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.