Hola :wave:

I want to improve my overall cardiovascular health, as well as maintain muscle tone. I am a female, 26 years old, eat fairly well (though I'm trying to increase my protien intake to accomodate more muscle growth), and I'm fairly thin already, so I certainly don't want to lose any weight.

How can I do this effectively and safely? I want to start out slow (as I haven't really been involved in any exercise regimen in a long time) and increase it from there.

Any recommendations?? I will take all the advice I can get :) . I recieved a heart rate monitor for Xmas :D , and I plan to use it in my regimen.

~Colleen

High insensity interval training (HIIT) is a good way to increase cardiovascular health. Takes a lot less time than "ordinary" cardio too.
But for real beginners a slower start is better. Normal interval is good: less intense than HIIT but still good for cardiovascular health.

And on the other side of the coin is hard high resistance, low repetition strength exercises. Those are the ones that will build muscle.

Don't overdo the protein. Excess protein in the absence of its need to replace mucle breakdown only adds to the body's depot fat. A few grams a day extra will cover your muscle growth because the body recycles it's broken down protein into new amino acids...perhaps one extra protein shake (30 grams) will do the trick. Much more isn't necessary...just HARD isolated muscle work.

So go both ways. Hard resistance and short reps for strength and attractive muscles and LONG protracted aerobic exercise at the high end of your tolaerable heart-rate for cardiovascular conditioning.

Thanks so much! :cool:

I think I will incorporate that into my training regimen. That should be really good and beneficial to me. I will try to find things to lift that aren't too high resistance (too heavy ;) ), but that will build my muscle.

I was a member of a health club for a little while about two years ago, so I may look into seeing if I can, at some point down the road, do that again. It was really fun for me as I was able to work out with others and feel all the great energy coming from them to egg me on in my endeavors...and just feel like I am a part of a kind of health/wellness team again.

~Colleen