A friend posted a statistic recently that close to 90% of people over 30 will never sprint again; he later retracted the statement as the source proved to be a bit hooky.
However, I’m not sure how wrong it actually is, maybe more for the over 40’s rather than 30’s. Having young kids who are a bit hyper means I still have to sprint on a regular basis, sometimes
in races, sometimes for first aid related incidents, sometimes to stop a battle.
Knowing that my heart, lungs and legs will cope with that is a great relief.
It’s not necessary to be able to sprint at full pelt, it is necessary to have an efficient cardiovascular system that can get up a flight off stairs without feeling like your about to keel over.
Being fitter does not prevent you from having heart or lung
problems, it does mean that you are more likely to survive those problems if they occur.
A concern I hear from people thinking about a cardio fitness routine, is that they don’t want to run a marathon or spend hours on a bike etc. It’s hard to run a marathon by accident, you have to actually put aside a lot of time and commit to training for it.
Equally, you don’t need to be able to run a marathon to be fit. You don’t need to even
run.
Cardio fitness should be to simply to get your heart pumping a bit and get out of breath. I can do that with a brisk walk down the canal, I find a run a bit harder, sparring at Kung fu or Jitz are really fun, I used to love a game of tennis, badminton or racquet ball, a dance around the kitchen.
It’s really unimportant the method you choose to get panting, as long as you do for at least 20 minutes, at least a few times per week,
ideally daily.
The easiest thing to do consistently is a 10 minute walk before and after work.
Darren “kitchen Travolta” Checkley