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Nautilus® TreadClimber®, Model TC916 Owner’s Manual
For many years, it was suggested that moderate level cardiovascular activity
(activities that make you sweat and breathe at a moderate pace) should be done
3 – 4 days a week for 15 – 45 minutes at a time. It is now recommended that you
attempt to do some cardiovascular activity EVERY day, if possible.
The good news is that the cardiovascular activity does not need to be moderately
intensive everyday, nor does it need to be sustained for 15 – 45 minutes at a time.
So while it is ideal to challenge your heart and lungs by doing something like a
strong power walk every other day for 15 – 45 minutes, it is more important to make
sure you do at least a little bit of cardiovascular activity every day, even if you don’t
do it for very long or very intensely.
For example, you might try using a Nautilus® TreadClimber® TC916 for a scheduled,
moderate level workout for 20 – 30 minutes on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and
Sunday (see the intensity monitoring section for further details on how hard to
workout). On the other days, you might try going for a leisurely stroll 10 minutes in
the morning and in the evening (or whenever you can fit it in).
Whatever you do, just make sure you get your body moving, and your heart and lungs
pumping for some period of time every day.
Muscular Strength
is training your muscles to remain strong using resistance
such as Nautilus® strength machines, dumbbells, elastic tubing or your body
weight. In the past decade, we have learned that building or maintaining muscular
strength is extremely important for a balanced fitness program. And it is especially
important as we get older.
We have learned through a variety of studies that those individuals who just train
aerobically (without strength training) do maintain their cardiovascular endurance
over the years, but they generally lose lean muscle mass as they get older. However,
those individuals who combine strength training and cardiovascular training can
maintain their lean body mass as they get older. What this means is that if you just
do cardiovascular activity, your body will naturally lose muscle mass as you get older,
and that means that you will actually get “fatter” as you age, unless you incorporate
strength training.
We have also learned that consistent strength training helps maintain bone
and muscle mass as we get older. For women, strength training (along with
cardiovascular training) may also protect against post-menopausal bone loss and
osteoporosis in their later years.
ExErCiSE ANd FiTNESS guidELiNES
