Advanced Exercise Plans for Walking, Jogging, Biking, and Swimming

You can stick to one type of exercise, or you can mix up exercises during the week. I have found that mixing up the exercises makes my weeks more interesting. For instance, say you choose to jog for your aerobic exercise, and once you think you are in pretty good shape (that is, exercising at 75 to 80 percent of your maximal heart rate), try using one of the other types of exercises in place of jogging. You may even wish to use three different types of exercise. I have found swimming, biking, and jogging to be fun.

WALKING

Frequency: 5 to 7 days per week.

Duration: 30 to 50 minutes per day.

Intensity: 75 to 80 percent of your maximal heart rate.

Progression: See the following table.

*Decrease intensity by 10 percent, to 65 to 70 percent of maximal heart rate. **Use hand weights (1 to 2.5 pounds).

JOGGING

Frequency: 5 to 7 days per week.

Duration: 20 to 50 minutes per day.

Intensity: 65 to 85 percent of your maximal heart rate.

Progression: See the following table.

*Walk at about 65 to 75 percent of your maximal heart rate. **Decrease intensity by 10 percent.

SWIMMING

Frequency: 3 to 5 days per week.

Duration: 30 to 60 minutes per day of continuous swimming if you are currently a swimmer, or you can break it up into intervals that you can do easily and work your way up until you can complete the session continuously.

Intensity: 60 to 80 percent of your maximal heart rate. Note that your heart rate will be lower than normal when swimming. With swimming, it has been suggested that you subtract 13 beats per minute from your estimated maximal heart rate before calculating your training heart rate (McArdle et al. 2000).

Progression: See the following table.

*Decrease intensity by 50 percent. **Use a kickboard for part of the session. ***Increase intensity by 5 to 10 percent.

BIKING

Frequency: 5 to 7 days per week. Duration: 30 to 60 minutes per day. Intensity: 60 to 80 percent of your maximal heart rate. Progression: See the following table.

*Decrease intensity by 10 percent. **Increase intensity by 10 percent.

Putting Your Plan Together