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TRAINING
GUIDELINES
(eont'd)
Sp eeifics
Different
forms of exercise
produce different
results. The type of exercise that is carried out is specific both to
the muscle groups being used and to the energy source involved.
There is little transfer
of the effects of exercise, i.e. from strength training to cardiovascular
fitness. That is why
it is important
to have an exercise program
tailored to your specific needs.
Reversibility
If you stop exercising
or do not do your program
often enough, you will lose the benefits
you have gained.
Regular
workouts
are the key to success.
Warm
Up
Every exerciseprogram
should start with a warm up where the body is prepared
for the effort to come. It should
be gentle and preferably
use the muscles to be involved
later.
Stretching
should be included
in both your warm up and cool down, and should be performed
after 3-5 minutes
of low intensity
aerobic activity or callisthenic
type exercise.
Warm Down or Cool Down
This involves a gradual decrease
in the intensity
of the exercise
session.
Following
exercise,
a large supply of
blood remains
in the working
muscles.
If it is not returned promptly
to the central circulation,
pooling of blood
may occur in the muscles.
Heart
Rate
As you exercise, the rate at which your heart beat increases.
This is often used as a measure
of tahe required
intensity of exercise.
You need to exercise hard enough to condition
your circulatory
system, and increase
your
pulse rate, but not enough to strain your heart.
Your initial level of fitness is important
in developing
an exercise
program
for you. If you are starting off you
can get a good training
effect with a heart rate of 110-120 beats per minute (BPM). If you are more fit, you will
need a higher threshold
of stimulation.
To begin with, you should exercise at a level that elevates your heart rate to about 65 to 70% of your maximum.
If you find this is too easy, you may want to increase
it, but it is better to lean on the conservative
side.
As a rule of thumb, the maximum
heart rate is 220 minus your age. As you increase in age, your heart, like other
muscles,
loses some of its efficiency.
Some of its natural loss is won back as fitness improves.
The following
table is a guide to those who are "starting fitness".
Age Target heart Rate
25
........... ....
35
40 ..........................
45
50
..........
55 .......
60
65 .........................
10 Second Count
23
22
22
21
20
19
19
18
18
Beats per Minute
Pulse Count
138
132
132
126
120
114
114
108
108
The pulse count (on your wrist or carotid artery in the neck, taken with two index fingers) is done for ten
seconds, taken a few seconds
after you stop exercising.
This is for two reasons:
(a) 10 seconds is long enough for
accuracy,
(b) the pulse count is to approximate
your BPM rate at the time you are exercising.
Since heart rate
slows as
ou recover,
a loner
count isn't as accurate.
BI
ADEZ
°
AEROPRO
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