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Cardiovascular training

This is not really part of the program I've laid out for taiso, but I do it and enjoy it. I alternate between two types, jogging (on an elliptical trainer since I have a bad knee and this prevents injury) and swimming. Both of these grow lots of mitochondria in the cells to aid endurance and these address ST fibers. Another really great way to get cardiovascular training is to jump rope. Get a book from the library, since this is almost an artform all by itself. A martial arts belts makes a pretty good jump rope if you want, although if you are going to really get into rope jumping, get a good one. Those plastic ones that kids use are better than the ones made of leather (frays), cable (can hurt you badly) or cloth (tends to disintegrate). Rope jumping is not hard and super-portable, but just to extensive to cover here. Do cardiovascular training as you like.

I would add that cardiovascular training is one of the best ways to keep your weight down. If, like me, you tend to carrying a bit of extra baggage you might consider this.

Walking is something that is also to be considered. I normally keep a weekly goal. I have to refer back to my hip problem since I found a variety of oddball problems arose from an inability to walk. Walking tones all sorts of things and we were designed to walk quite a bit (hunter gatherers have to gather and hunt, don't they?) If you don't like or want to do any cardivascular training, you should really think about walking. One other thought is that walking or running a given distance burns the same number of calories, at least in theory, but I don't think so in practice. When people run they strip down to just the bare minimum for the weather. When people walk, they tend to carry things like full backpacks. I really think that walking burns more calories in practice.