What Are The Best Sports For Cardio Vascular Fitness?

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. The more efficient and well trained the CV system is, the greater the intensity or duration of exercise can be. Sports like sprinting and discus do not work the CV system very much at all, as muscles do not use oxygen in fast powerful events. Some sports however do ask a lot of the CV system. Lets take a closer look at 3 of the most demanding sports on the CV system.

Skiing. The variety of this sport known as cross-country skiing is actually the most demanding off all sports on the CV system. This is down to the fact that not only do skiers have to ski for unbelievably long distances, but also the cold air makes it harder for the lungs to extract oxygen. 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. Riding a bike, especially in competitive road racing, can cause the heart and lungs to work overtime as they attempt to feed the large leg muscles. The 7 time Tour De France winner Lance Armstrong is testament to that, having one of the highest VO2 max scores of any athlete. This refers to the amount of 02 that the body can take in and the muscles can use in 1 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. Despite the fact a kayaker uses their lower body very little in this sport compared to most aerobically demanding disciplines, his or her CV system still gets a pounding. This is largely down to the fact that kayakers use their upper-bodies a vast amount and there are hundreds of smaller muscles here demanding the large supply of oxygen and removal of lots of carbon dioxide. For second hand kayaks and surfboards check out EST.