What do they mean by doing Cardio?
Cardiovascular exercise simply means that you're involved in an activity that raises your heart rate to a level where you're working, but can still talk (aka, in your Target Heart Rate Zone).

Here's why cardio is so important:
• It's one way to burn calories and help you lose weight
• It makes your heart strong so that it doesn't have to work as hard to pump blood
• It increases your lung capacity
• It helps reduce risk of heart attack, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes
• It makes you feel good
• It helps you sleep better
• It helps reduce stress
• I could go on all day, but you get the point

Bottom line: you need cardio if you want to get your weight under control and get your stress to a tolerable level.

The first thing you need to do is decide what kind of activities you'd like to do. These days, there are so many choices, there's no reason you can't find something you enjoy. If you like to go outdoors, running, cycling, hiking or walking are all good choices. If you like the gym, you'll have access to stationary bikes, elliptical trainers, treadmills, rowing machines, stairmasters and more.

How often should I exercise?
The frequency of your workouts will depend on your fitness level and your schedule. Beginners should start with about 3 non-consecutive days of cardio and work their way up to more frequent sessions.

The general guidelines are:
• To maintain current fitness level: 2-4 days a week (at least 20 minutes)
• To lose weight: 4 or more days a week (at least 30 minutes)
• To train for a triathlon: You don't want to know.

But, what if you can't follow the guidelines? Then do it for however many days you DO have. If you only have two days to workout (and you'd have to work really really REALLY hard to convince me you can't find another day to exercise, but whatever), then that's what you do. It's certainly better than nothing.