Fitness Cardiorespiratory Endurance Activities Strengthen the heart, lungs, and muscles with cardio exercise By Catherine Holecko facebook Catherine Holecko is an experienced freelance writer and editor, who specializes in pregnancy, parenting, health and fitness. Learn about our editorial process Catherine Holecko Medically reviewed by Medically reviewed by Sarah Rahal, MD on February 03, 2020 linkedin Sarah Rahal, MD is a double board-certified adult and pediatric neurologist and headache medicine specialist. Learn about our Review Board Sarah Rahal, MD Updated on March 03, 2020 Print ferrantraite / E+ / Getty Images Cardiorespiratory endurance activities test and improve the body's ability to sustain dynamic exercise, using large muscle groups over time. During this moderate- to high-intensity level of exercise, the body's circulatory and respiratory systems—the heart and lungs—must supply fuel and oxygen to the muscles. Overview Activities such as running, swimming, and bicycling improve cardiorespiratory endurance. You will usually hear the term shortened to just cardio or aerobic. You might also hear these activities called cardiorespiratory fitness, aerobic fitness, aerobic endurance, cardiopulmonary fitness, or a cardio workout. These terms refer to this whole category of exercise, in which the primary goal is to boost the heart rate. In contrast, other forms of exercise like resistance training aim primarily to build muscle and bone strength. Exercises that target flexibility and balance are also important. 9 Effective At-Home Cardio Exercises How Much Cardio Do You Need? The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends both aerobic (cardio) and resistance exercise for most Americans. The CDC recommends that children and teens get at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day and most of it should be moderate-to-vigorous aerobic exercise. For adults, the CDC suggests that "adults should do at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) a week of moderate-intensity, or 75 minutes (1 hour and 15 minutes) a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity, or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity aerobic activity." But you don't need to—and in fact, should not—do all this exercise at once. In fact, according to the CDC, aerobic activity can be broken up into chunks and spread throughout the day and/or week. Cardio With Kids Running, swimming, skating, and biking build cardiorespiratory endurance. The same goes for brisk walking and climbing stairs. But if you're exercising with young ones, you may want to turn your cardio workout into a game. Activities like these can help you both collect and enjoy your daily physical activity: Dancing: Remember aerobics classes? Recreate the calorie burn with your own music and movies. Coordination is not required; movement is what really matters. You can also play dancing video games such as "Dance Dance Revolution." For non-sporty kids and parents, this is a great way to enjoy cardio exercise.Hopping, skipping, and twirling: Break out the jump ropes and hula hoops for a cardio workout that is kid-friendly and lots of fun, but also challenges the heart and lungs.Playground games: Many classic, kid-favorite backyard games, especially tag (in its many forms) require plenty of running around, which definitely gets hearts pumping.Sports: Chasing a ball or another player is great cardio exercise. Think of sports such as kickball, basketball, lacrosse, soccer, tennis, and other racquet sports. Winter sports like ice skating, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and even sledding (the walking uphill part) also require and build cardiorespiratory endurance. Your child will also get vigorous-intensity activity from martial arts, such as karate. Top 10 Versions of Playing Tag Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Get expert tips to help your kids stay healthy and happy. Sign Up You're in! Thank you, {{form.email}}, for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. What are your concerns? Other Inaccurate Hard to Understand Submit Article Sources Verywell Family uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. How much physical activity do adults need? Updated January 9, 2020. Fu Y, Burns RD, Constantino N, Fitzsimmons J, Zhang P. Effect of the resistance exercise on elementary school students’ physical fitness. J Sci Sport Exerc. 2019; 1(2):184-191. doi:10.1007/s42978-019-0022-7 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Aerobic, muscle- and bone-strengthening: what counts for school-aged children and adolescents? Updated December 1, 2019.