April 2026, Capacity For The Season
Capacity for the season: It’s trout season—fishing season, in fact.
If you haven’t been exercising throughout the winter, you may feel under the gun, tempted to compress your effort to get in shape into a short window before the season begins.
That’s not optimal, but your something is better than nothing. To maximize effectiveness in a short window of time, focus on what matters most.
Cardiorespiratory fitness is known as the holy grail of longevity and health span. It also delivers something immediate—stamina. You’ll be able to fish longer, move better, and stay sharp and engaged throughout the day.
Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is how efficiently your heart, lungs, blood vessels, and muscles work together to deliver and use oxygen. The more efficient the system, the greater your capacity—not just for fly fishing, but for the sport of life.
Capacity For The Season Matters
Consistency builds maximum capacity and in the process, you create a reserve—something you can draw on when life happens: illness, injury, surgery, or the steady wear and tear of daily living.
How To Build It
To improve CRF, aim for:
- 150+ minutes per week of moderate-intensity activity(brisk walking, cycling), or
- 75+ minutes of vigorous activity(running, swimming)
Move consistently. Keep your heart rate elevated.
Your target should be 60 percent of your maximum heart rate. Activities like jogging, rucking, swimming, cycling, rowing, or brisk walking—20 to 50 minutes per session—will get you there.
The described targets are the ideal. But do what you can. Most important is the doing, exercise like your life depends on it, because it does!
Numbers
Your estimated maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age.
At age 50, that’s 170 beats per minute.
Sixty percent of that is 102 beats per minute.
Wear a heart rate monitor or use the “talk test.” If you can carry on a conversation, you are in a low-intensity zone. If you can talk only in short bursts of words, you are at moderate intensity. If you can only say a few words, you are working vigorously.
When You’re Ready For More
After you have developed a solid baseline of aerobic fitness, you are ready for high-intensity interval training (HIIT): Short, bursts of peak activity (e.g., burpees, sprinting, jumping rope, rowing, stair climbing) followed by brief rest intervals. This is a faster, more intense (demanding), way to increase aerobic capacity. Your maximum heart rate here is 80%. For a 50-year-old, that would be 136 beats per minute.
Do an interval to get your heart rate up to around 80% max, then slow down, pedal, walk, or run slowly to bring your heart rate down before you repeat. The recommended time is about 10-minutes for a complete HIIT workout, short in time but intense in effort.
Beware. You must have a great CRF level to attempt HIIT. Get an exercise stress test before starting. I had my first at age forty and repeat it every four years.
Gradually increasing the intensity, duration, and frequency of your workouts will continually challenge your system. Your body will adapt on several levels, building strength, stamina, and a training habit.
The Bigger Picture
If you can manage to get beyond a compressed exercise schedule, you’ll gain the most from a combined aerobic/ resistance training effort.
You’ll build capacity that’s ready for any season.
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