The time required for an effective cardio-vascular exercise depends on the degree of oxygen consumption during the workout. The greater the amount of oxygen consumption during the workout, the shorter the required duration of a cardio workout. In other words, the quality of the workout determines the time required. The involvement of more muscle cells creates higher oxygen consumption meaning less time required. The ROM enables even totally out of shape people and seniors to achieve much higher oxygen consumption levels and therefore can shorten their exercise periods while getting superior results.
The old, conventional wisdom is that a cardio workout requires at least 20 to 45 minutes per day. The truth is that the volume of oxygen consumption during the exercise determines the length of time required for a cardiovascular workout. The greater the amount of oxygen consumption during the exercise, the shorter the required workout time. Oxygen consumption is expressed in milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute (mlO2/kg/min). With conventional forms of exercise it is nearly impossible for the untrained general public to reach the high levels of oxygen consumption required for a short and effective cardio workout. With the ROM machine untrained individuals will reach the very high levels of oxygen consumption that require only minutes for an effective aerobic workout that yields the same or better cardiovascular benefits than the conventional 20 to 45 minute aerobic workouts practiced by the general public.
The results of a recent study of the ROM were presented at the national convention of the American College of Sports Medicine in 2007.
The study conclusion: “Both VO2max and Wmax increased significantly over the training period. Whole body, high intensity training on the ROM machine is a time efficient way to improve VO2max and especially endurance capacity in healthy, untrained adults.”
To understand this, you need to read and understand the following lengthy technical explanation:
Walking at a pace of 3 miles per hour consumes a low 7mlO2/kg/min and therefore requires about 85 minutes for significant benefits to the cardio-vascular system. Sprinting at a pace of 15 miles per hour consumes a high 50 to 60mlO2/kg/min (this is a 4 minute mile pace) and therefore requires only 3 minutes for significant benefits to the cardio-vascular system . Following is a table showing different activities walking, jogging, running and their oxygen consumption rates and number of minutes required for a good cardio-vascular result.
The amount of oxygen consumed during any activity is determined by 4 factors:
Walking involves 25% of the body's muscles and those muscles are working only through an average of 15% of their full range of motion. This means that only 25%x15%=3.75%, less than 4% of the body's total muscle cells are involved in oxygen consumption during walking. These 3.75% of all the body's muscle cells will consume more oxygen if you walk faster (or jog or run) or if you walk uphill or if you carry two 50 pound suitcases while walking. To get a high amount of oxygen consumption out of only 3.75% of your body's muscle cells those few cells would have to be extremely highly trained, such as in top athletes. To get from A to B, walking is a very energy efficient activity and therefore does not consume large amounts of oxygen. For a cardio workout to be time effective you should engage in an energy wasting activity, an activity that needs a lot of energy to accomplish the task.
The ROM involves 12 times as many muscle cells as does walking or running. Even very out of shape and weak people can get to very high oxygen consumption rates with the ROM because so very much more muscle cells are involved in oxygen metabolism while using the ROM. It engages 55% of all your muscles through an average of 80% of their full range of motion. This means that 55% of 80% or 44% of all your muscle cells are involved in consuming oxygen. That is 12 times as many muscle cells as the percentage of muscle cells involved in walking or running. On the ROM the number of repetitions and the resistance/workload are always at maximum for the user's ability to perform work, because the centrifugal brake on the ROMs flywheel regulates the resistance automatically to match the user's diminishing strength during the workout. The user's strength determines how fast the flywheel spins, which in turn determines the number of repetitions per minute and the resistance/workload applied by the centrifugal brake.