To improve your cardiovascular level, you should understand what Vo2max is and how you can improve it. The V stands for Volume, o2 for Oxygen and Max is for Maximum. Vo2max is short for the Maximum amount of Oxygen in liters that you can consume in one minute of exhaustive exercise.
You can go to the site, Running for Fitness and find out what your Vo2max is by loading in some data from a recent 10k or 1 mile run. This is only an estimate of your Vo2max as most elite endurance athletes go to a facility that measures Vo2max to get an accurate reading. If you are a jogger and are interested, the author has a book titled with the same name 'Running for fitness' that can be purchased at Amazon.
One of the best ways to improve your Vo2max is with interval training. This type of training varies the level of intensity of the exercise you are performing which stresses you cardiovascular system and heart. This will enable you to build stamina which will eventually allow you to ride faster and for longer durations.
Interval training has whats called 'splits' which is the difference between the high and low intensity of your exercise. Splits are either time or distance. For distance, you can take a typical jogging track and sprint at 90% of your capability on the straight aways, then jog at 20% of your capability around the corners. Timed splits is where you would sprint at 90% of your capability for a certain time, for example 15 seconds, then slow down to a slow jog for 30 seconds. You would continue this pattern for a mile, two, three.... ect...
Many people have had great success with the P90X Extreme Home Fitness Workout Program
which can be added into your weekly workout routine. This program is run 3 times a week at the gym at work and everyone that has been persistent with this program has seen results.If you are interested in losing a little bit of weight, this video has a few tips to shed a few pounds.
Mountain biking also takes a bit of upper body strength depending upon the trails that you ride and how fast and hard you ride them. I have found that one of the best ways to workout for this is with circuit training where you go from one exercise to the next without stopping for a break. With circuit training, you will finish your workout quickly which is a key as not too many people that I know likes to stay at the gym for hours. (Unless you go to the gym to socialize) The lighter weights tone and slightly build the major muscles in your upper body.
The harder that you bike (All mountain, downhill, free ride), it helps to have upper body strength and you will want to build muscles in bulk. A heavier weight training routine and high protein diet would be best.
