Don't do thousands of sit ups to get ripped

The 6 pack of myths on ab training

By Joan Price 

Chiseled, rock-hard, washboard, killer abs! Contrast these terms of affection and awe with what we may see in the mirror: pot belly, paunch, sag, gut. Athletes are midsection maniacs, obsessed with the dream of the perfect abs that we all know we can have — if we could just do enough sit-ups.

Visit a gym on any given day, and you’ll find men and women working their abs with intensity and commitment. The problem is, they’re often doing it wrong. Real wrong. Waste-of-time wrong. So we consulted with a bevy of exercise experts, who offered their knowledge to help us debunk the following six myths of abdominal training.

myth 1. Abdominal muscle is different from regular muscle

Muscle is muscle. Period. Ab muscle is just like the muscle in your quads, biceps and lats. “The abdominals are different only in location,” explains Alice Lockridge, MS, an exercise physiologist based in Renton, Wash. “They are not resting on a bony surface, like the biceps or quads. Instead, they span the stomach and intestines like a bridge over a cavern. Look at any anatomy book. But that doesn’t change basic physiology or the laws of science.” There’s no structural difference, no physiological difference and no difference in how the ab muscle contracts and gets stronger.

myth 2. You have to train abs at least every other day

Train them at most every other day so you leave time for recovery, just as with any other muscle group, says Ken Alan, BS, a Los Angeles-based instructor of personal trainers and spokesman for the American Council on Exercise. “Your abs can get strong and stay strong when you work them twice a week,” he suggests, but you have to train them hard enough.

The key is to choose exercises that fatigue your ab muscles, so that they actually need recovery time. Include some exercises that use the abs functionally — in other words, the way they’re used in real life. For example, abdominals are used to stabilize the body. Feel this function by holding a push-up position without letting your belly sag. Don’t do the push-up — just keep holding the position and feel your abs going crazy trying to isometrically contract enough to stabilize your body. If that’s easy, put your feet up on a weight bench or, even better, a stability ball. Now you’ll really feel your abs!


Another tough ab variation is “pizza feet,” a reverse crunch that Lockridge recommends: Lie on the floor with your legs up in the air (straight or slightly bent) and the soles of your feet aimed at the ceiling. Imagine that you’re balancing a pizza box on your feet. Lift the box straight up until your hips are off the floor.
Don’t swing the feet, or you’ll lose the pizza. Keep your hands by your hips, helping slightly by pushing, if necessary. If you’re strong enough, keep your arms off of the floor.

myth 3. Ab exercises melt away abdominal fat

Spot reducing has been disproved over and over again, but some athletes still believe that it works. “You can’t get rid of the fat over a muscle by repeatedly exercising that bodypart,” says Douglas Brooks, MS, an exercise physiologist based in northern California. “Study after study has refuted that. Any physiology textbook will tell you that. Spot reducing is a dead dog.”

Think of it: If you chew gum, you don’t get skinny cheeks. You can do crunches with the best possible form, but it won’t whittle your waistline or belly by itself. You may develop abs of steel, but they’ll still be covered by body fat if you don’t watch your diet and do cardiovascular activity to reduce the fat layer.


“Doing ab exercises to reduce the waistline is a fool’s errand. Reducing the waistline has to do with reducing body fat,” explains Bryant Stamford, PhD, director of the Health Promotion and Wellness Center, professor of exercise physiology at the University of Louisville in Kentucky and an editorial board member of The Physician and Sportsmedicine.


Burning abdominal fat is the same as burning fat anywhere on your body: You have to do aerobic exercise and, of course, not eat so many calories that you put the fat back on again. “Your diet and large-muscle activity will accomplish much more than 1,000 sit-ups a day,” Stamford says.

The Perfect Crunch Here’s how to do your basic crunch, with help from Bryant Stamford, PhD. Pay careful attention to your technique to get the most benefit from this abdominal workhorse.1. Lie on your back with your knees bent. Your hands can be crossed on your chest, relaxed beside your head, relaxed at your side or crossed behind your head. Do not interlace your fingers behind your head — this makes it too easy to pull on your head. 2. Contract your abs as you exhale. Focus on the contraction: Imagine that you are pulling your rib cage toward your hipbone. 3. Let the contraction pull your shoulders, chest and shoulder blades slowly up off the floor. Do not use momentum to lift your body, and never put your hands behind your head. 4. Pause when your upper body is about halfway to an upright position. (Your shoulders should be six to 12 inches off the floor.) Hold the contraction for a moment. 5.Slowly lower your body to the floor, resisting gravity’s pull while you inhale. 6. Don’t relax when your head touches the floor. Maintain the tension in your abs and begin the next contraction. Continue until you are fatigued. If you can do 20 of these crunches slowly and with good form, make them harder by adding resistance. Hold a weight plate or dumbbell on your chest or behind your head, or keep a couple of light dumbbells by your ears. The farther away the weight is from your abs, the harder the crunch will be. You could also do your crunches on a decline slant board or over a beach ball, so that your shoulders are lower than your hips. And don’t cheat by anchoring your feet. If your feet rise off of the floor or board, you are getting too aggressive with your weight load. Ease up for now until your abs have a chance to grow stronger.

myth 4. High repetitions are required to make gains

Let’s say you want to work your biceps. Would you do 100 concentration curls with a 2.5-lb weight or 10 with a 25-lb weight? The key to abdominal gains is the same: overload. The reason we think that we have to do so many reps is because we’re not working them hard enough. “If you find that you have to do 50 to 100 crunches before fatiguing, slow down and work on perfecting your technique,” says Candice Copeland Brooks, a fitness expert who, with her husband, Douglas Brooks, gives abdominal-technique workshops to fitness instructors. Here are some of her tips:

• Pull your shoulder blades together during crunches so you can’t cheat by pulling your head forward or rounding your upper back.
• Make your abdominals contract before anything moves. First the rib cage moves, then the rest follows.
• Slow down. If you go too fast, you use momentum to perform the movement — not your muscle.

Sure, if your aim is abdominal endurance — to see how many crunches you can do — then the more you do each time, the more volume you’ll be able to do later on. But why you would want to spend your time on this is a mystery. It doesn’t strengthen the abs very much, and it can fritter away a big chunk of your day.

myth 5. All you need to do is lots of sit-ups

Forget full sit-ups. They may be hard, but they primarily strengthen muscles that are already strong, and these are not even abdominal muscles. “If you come all the way up, you work your hip flexors, which have nothing to do with your six-pack at all,” Alan says. “It’s better to do a variety of exercises to attack the six-pack muscle from different angles and to engage other abdominal muscles.”

That six-pack muscle is the rectus abdominis, today’s glamour bodypart. Although it’s the most prominent muscle, the most important reason to train your abdominal muscles is for back health, and just working the rectus abdominis won’t protect your back as well as doing a variety of exercises that also strengthen the external obliques, internal obliques and the transverse abdominals. So variety is the key.

myth 6. Barbell twists are great to trim your abs

Barbell twists are a great way to help your chiropractor send his kid through college at your expense. “You have to rate barbell twists up at the top of the stupid things that people do when they’re in the gym,” Stamford says. “You’re creating momentum with weight on your back. There’s extraordinary stress placed on the lower back area. That’s potentially very damaging to the lower back.”

Besides being risky, they’re ineffective. You may think that you’re working your obliques, but the force of gravity brings the weight toward the floor rather than countering the direction that the muscle fibers are contracting. So this exercise is useless as well as dangerous.


Instead, Lockridge suggests this super-hard exercise for developing your obliques:
1. Kneel beside (not facing) a stability ball, and drape one arm over the ball with your armpit resting on it.
2. Put your feet flat on the floor in a wide stance. Your body will now be draped even farther over the ball.
3. Put your hands behind your head in the international signal for “I’m doing abdominals now.”
4. Do a lateral lift, like a windshield washer action, pivoting up on your hips, not twisting. (As you get more advanced, bring your feet closer together.)
5. Repeat the exercise for the obliques located on the other side of your body.

Don’t Waste Time

You have probably seen people who spend a half-hour or more working on their abs every day. You have to give them credit for perseverance, but they’ll never make it to the top of the class on ab development. Don’t waste time by falling victim to the six main ab myths. Train intelligently in accordance with scientifically based training techniques. In the long run, you’ll make greater gains, and your ripped six-pack will be the envy of those around you.

Having said that, exercises that make your abs stronger will increase their size and definition. So when you melt away the fat covering your abs they will look even more spectacular. Also, ab training can improve posture, stabilize the back so that back pain is prevented and of course having bigger ab muscles means more calories are being burned.

Brown Fat, the Cold, and You: How to Make Your Fat Burn Calories

Cold, and You: How to Make Your Fat Burn Calories
 
Not all body fat is created equal, at least according to two new studies reported by the New York Times last week. One study found that brown fat burns calories "like a furnace" when you're cold, and another found that regular white fat can be converted into calorie-burning brown fat while you exercise.

The first study found that brown fat burns glucose as well as other stores of fat when its own are depleted in order to keep the study participants warm. The other study found that in mice exercise creates a hormone that may be turning those dangerous white fat stores into fuel-burning brown fat. These studies aren't the first to identify the seemingly magical properties of brown fat. Brown fat has been known for years to be a calorie-torching element found mostly in those who are leaner, younger, or women (compared to older or obese people or men).

More research is necessary to see just how brown fat can help promote weight loss, but even so, by making a few simple changes you can take advantage of the findings. How can you possibly increase your own store of brown fat? Read on for some metabolism-boosting tips.

Turn down the heat: A recent study found that Americans who used their heaters more weighed more than their colder counterparts. The study found that temps in the low 60s are perfect for activating calorie-burning brown fat as a way for your body to keep you warm, but the increase in the use of central heat means many people don't experience cooler temperatures for very long. Before you turn the thermostat dial up on the next chilly day, let your brown fat work for you (if you're still cold, try warming up by doing heartbeat-raising exercises like jumping or push-ups instead of increasing the thermostat temp).

Exercise in the cold: If brown fat is activated both when you're cold as well as when you exercise, why not do both? Shivering burns 200 calories for 30 minutes, and a study found that exercising in the cold can burn 13 percent more calories than exercising in room temperature. But that's not to say that you should be uncomfortably (or dangerously) freezing just for a few extra calories burned. Even when you're bundled up appropriately, you'll still be able to find the effects of brown fat when the temperatures are low. And you'll also be able to use resistance from the wind or snow to up your exercise's effectiveness. So when you can (and if it's safe), take advantage of the outdoor temps and move your workout outdoors.

The dangers of visceral fat and how to get rid of it

Exercise Keeps Dangerous Visceral Fat Away A Year After Weight Loss, Study Finds

ScienceDaily (Oct. 29, 2009) — A study conducted by exercise physiologists in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Human Studies finds that as little as 80 minutes a week of aerobic or resistance training helps not only to prevent weight gain, but also to inhibit a regain of harmful visceral fat one year after weight loss.

The study was published online Oct. 8 and will appear in a future print edition of the journal Obesity.

Unlike subcutaneous fat that lies just under the skin and is noticeable, visceral fat lies in the abdominal cavity under the abdominal muscle. Visceral fat is more dangerous than subcutaneous fat because it often surrounds vital organs. The more visceral fat one has, the greater is the chance of developing Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

In the study, UAB exercise physiologist Gary Hunter, Ph.D., and his team randomly assigned 45 European-American and 52 African-American women to three groups: aerobic training, resistance training or no exercise. All of the participants were placed on an 800 calorie-a-day diet and lost an average 24 pounds. Researchers then measured total fat, abdominal subcutaneous fat and visceral fat for each participant.

Afterward, participants in the two exercise groups were asked to continue exercising 40 minutes twice a week for one year. After a year, the study's participants were divided into five groups: those who maintained aerobic exercise training, those who stopped aerobic training, those who maintained their resistance training, those who stopped resistance training and those who were never placed on an exercise regimen.

"What we found was that those who continued exercising, despite modest weight regains, regained zero percent visceral fat a year after they lost the weight," Hunter said. "But those who stopped exercising, and those who weren't put on any exercise regimen at all, averaged about a 33 percent increase in visceral fat.

"Because other studies have reported that much longer training durations of 60 minutes a day are necessary to prevent weight regain, it's not too surprising that weight regain was not totally prevented in this study," Hunter said. "It's encouraging, however, that this relatively small amount of exercise was sufficient to prevent visceral fat gain."
The study also found that exercise was equally effective for both races.

Top 10 Fat burning foods

Ask The Ripped Dude: What Are Your Top Fat-Burning Foods?

I've graced more than 20 magazine covers in the past three years. My nickname says it all: 'The World's Most Ripped Fitness Model.' Obi Obadike

Obi, I'm ready to rock 'n' roll 2012, but I need to know what foods are best-suited to help me burn fat while also building the muscle I want. Give it up, man - what are your top 10 choices?

Happy New Year! Yes, soaking yourself in champagne and dancing the night away could be a great way to ring in 2012, but I'm glad you're thinking about your New Year's resolution to get fit and stay healthy.
One of the best ways to begin reaching your goals is to learn which foods do good things to your body. These 10 fat-burning foods should be included in the diet plan that will help make 2012 your best year.

1 Oatmeal

Aside from being easy to cook, oatmeal is a great fat burner because it is rich in insoluble and soluble fiber. Read the label on those pre-measured packets though, most of them have lots of sugar.

Oatmeal Macros

1 cup (cooked):

• Calories: 111
• Fat: 2g
• Carbs: 19g
• Protein: 5g

2 Chicken Breast

Nope, it's not your momma's fried chicken, although I'm sure that was delicious. I'm talking about lean chicken breast without skin or bone. It's one of the best fat-burning foods you can eat.

Chicken Breast Macros

In 1 breast (3 oz):

• Calories: 142
• Fat: 3.1g
• Carbs: 0g
• Protein: 26.7g

3 Egg Whites

Egg whites are low in calories and high in protein. This equation equals energy for fat burning and building muscles.

Egg Whites Macros

In 3 egg whites:

• Calories: 34
• Fat: 0g
• Carbs: 0g
• Protein: 7g

4 Brown Rice

Packed with fiber and essential nutrients, brown rice slowly absorbs in the bloodstream. You can't go wrong with this fat-burning carbohydrate.

Brown Rice Macros

In 1/2 cup:

• Calories: 109
• Fat: 0g
• Carbs: 23g
• Protein: 2g

5 Fish Oils

Omega 3 fish oils have some incredible qualities. They increase your thermogenesis, making you burn more calories; they have an anti-catabolic effect, which prevents muscle breakdown; and they are anti-lipogenics, which means they reduce fat-storage. What more reason do you need to include them in your diet plan?

Fish Oil Macros

In 1 tablespoon:

• Calories: 113
• Fat: 12g
• Carbs: 0g
• Protein: 0g

6 Asparagus

Asparagus contains the plant chemical asparagine, an alkaloid that directly affects cells and breaks down fat. It also contains a chemical that helps remove waste from the body, which in turn helps reduce fat.

Asparagus Macros

In 4 spears (cooked):

• Calories: 13
• Fat: 0g
• Carbs: 2g
• Protein: 1g

7 Almonds

Loaded with Omega-3 fats, Almonds have been proven to increase fat-burning properties in the human body.

Almonds Macros

In 4 spears (cooked):

• Calories: 216
• Fat: 19g
• Carbs: 8g
• Protein: 8g

8 Garlic

One of the best components of garlic, besides its flavor, is Allicin. Allicin is a compound that helps flush fat from the body. Garlic has also been known to help maintain healthy blood-pressure levels.

Garlic Macros

In 1 clove:

• Calories: 4
• Fat: 0g
• Carbs: 0g
• Protein: 0g

9 Tomatoes

Tomatoes are soldiers in the war to stay healthy! Not only are they great oxidizers and metabolizers of body-fat, but they might also help lower blood pressure and fight certain types of cancers.

Tomato Macros

In 1 tomato:

• Calories: 15
• Fat: 0g
• Carbs: 3g
• Protein: 0g

10 Apples

Apples are a great fat-burning fruit, in part because they are high in fiber. Moreover, the pectin in apples restricts fat absorption and encourages water absorption in your body's cells. Other great fat-burning fruits are oranges, peaches, grapefruits, and other citrus fruits.

Apple Macros

In 1 apple:

• Calories: 91
• Fat: 0g
• Carbs: 24g
• Protein: 0g

Remember, 80 percent of obtaining your fitness goals comes from your diet, so pay close attention to what you put into your body. We've all heard the saying, "You are what you eat." Eat these awesome fat-burning foods and become a fat-burner yourself!

Circuit Training: What is it? Why do it?

What is circuit training?

Circuit training involves performing a series of strength training exercises with less than the normal amount of rest. The rest between sets is purposefully not enough for complete recovery.
There are many ways to design a circuit. You could pick ten exercises and do one set of each with no rest. You could go several times through a circuit with no rest. You could do a series of exercises with work intervals and rest intervals. Circuits can be intense and as short as 12 minutes or they can be as long as an hour. The variable are limitless so it may seem confusing but the main point is to do more work in less time than you would in a “normal” weight training session.

What is circuit training good for?

• increasing work capacity (the amount of work you can do and recover from)
• some increase in cardiovascular fitness
• increasing strength endurance
• adapting to acid buildup in the muscles
• mental toughness
• team building
• favorable changes in body composition (can lose fat without losing muscle)

Sounds great! Is there anything circuit training can’t do?

• you will not get much stronger on circuit training unless you are a beginner
• circuit training will not make you faster
• nor will it help you jump higher
• in my opinion, circuit training becomes less useful as athletes accumulate years of training

How does it work?

Circuit training falls under the broad category of metabolic training. Metabolic training responds to the volume of work done. Cardiovascular training is a type of metabolic training for example. In contrast, max strength and max speed training are not metabolic in nature. In general metabolic training and maximum intensity (central nervous system) training are incompatible with one another. This is why circuit work will not make you faster or help with your power production. Circuit training DOES accomplish two goals.
1. Circuit training causes buildup of lactic acid in the body. Circuit training is challenging because accumulating lactic acid is unpleasant and can even make athletes nauseated.  The benefit is that the body learns to better buffer the acidosis and this leads to much better strength endurance.
2. Circuit training causes growth hormone release in the body. It is theorized that the growth hormone released allows fat loss with minimal muscle atrophy and this is why circuit training is effective at creating favorable changes in body composition.

When should I do circuit training?

Circuit training is best used:

• in the off season to maintain work capacity,
• in the pre-season to increase work capacity
• to foster team unity/mental toughness if needed
• if you are out of shape and looking for gains in general fitness

Two Protocols for Circuit Training

1. The Survivor Circuit

This protocol is based on training that Mike Arthur did with the University of Nebraksa football team in the 80’s. The premise is that performing sets of 10RM intensity with one minute of rest releases the greatest amount of lactic acid and induces growth hormone release.

Nine exercises are chosen. Athletes to three sets of 10 reps with a minute rest in between each set. One minute of rest is allowed between exercises. The Survivor Circuit should take about 36 minutes to complete.

Michael Boyle describes a modification of the Survivor circuit in Advances in Functional Training.  In Boyle’s modification he uses more full body exercises that use large muscles (like squats) rather than single joint exercises (like bicep curls).

In my modification of the Survivor circuit I found it to be difficult to stay on time but it was a challenging full body workout.
Here is my modification of the Survivor Circuit:
1. squat
2. hip thrusts
3. bench press
4. pullups
5. right leg lunge
6. left leg lunge
7. deadlift
8. close grip bench
9. dumbell row

2. 30s work/30s rest

The premise behind this protocol is that a 30s work/30s rest ratio is what invokes the largest release of human growth hormone. This protocol is endorsed by Vern Gambetta in Athletic Development. There are a large variety of example circuits in his book.
I modified one of Gambetta’s power endurance circuits and found it to be very challenging. I chose three exercises (db high pull, db pull to press, and squat and press). The circuit was repeated three times the first week, four times the second week and five times the third week. Doing three rounds of the circuit takes only 9 minutes. The first week I was surprised at how difficult the workout was. In the fourth week, I was surprised by how easy (relatively) it had become.  Overall this protocol feels more difficult and has more of a cardiovascular training effect than the survivor circuit.
(*note. The high pull to press is slightly more technical in nature. Do not do this circuit without proper training and supervision)

Summary and application

Circuit training involves a series of strength training exercises with incomplete recovery. The goal of circuit training is to accumulate lactic acid and release growth hormone in the body. You can expect to see increases in work capacity and muscular endurance but not increases in speed or strength.
In designing a circuit, choose exercises that work the large muscle groups and that do not require much skill or coordination. Form will be difficult to maintain under conditions of fatigue. If you feel nauseated, stop the workout early and increase your rest intervals next time you do the workout.

Low calorie dressing to make any boring salad a pleasure to eat

3 delicious sauces that will make a boring salad a pleasure to eat. Good food flavour in food can often be attributed to an excellent sauce. The problem is most sauces are ladden with fat and sugar which add to calories significantly. So the challenge is to find sauces that are delicious yet low in calories.


Mock salad cream  
1/2 c. low fat cottage cheese 
1/2 tsp. lemon juice 
3/4 tsp. chopped onions or chives, optional

 
 
 **Balsamic Dressing**
 
 3/4 c water
 1/4 c balsamic vinegar
 3 tsp. capers
 2 tsp. Dijon mustard
 1-1/2 tsp. dried basil
 1 Tbl. fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
 
 Combine the ingredients.  Adjust vinegar to taste, since it has a stong
 flavor.  Store in a covered container in the refrigerator.
 Makes 1 cup

ff dressing from Susan Powter's recipes

 From the New McDougall Cookbook
 
 CHILI-CILANTRO DRESSING (fantastic!wonderful!use on anything!-ac)
 
 1 4oz. can chopped green chilis
 1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro
 1/4 c water
 1/4 c fresh lime juice
 1-2 cloves garlic
 2 t honey
 freshly ground pepper to taste
 
 Place all of the ingredients in a food processor or blender.  Blend until
 smooth.  (one of those Braun hand blenders works really well-ac)
 

These are only a sample that you should try. The last two have no added fat.

Basics of heart rate to aid with fat loss.

What Is Heart Rate?

Very simply, your heart rate is the number of times your heart beats per minute. You can measure your heart rate by feeling your pulse - the rhythmic expansion and contraction (or throbbing) of an artery as blood is forced through it by the regular contractions of the heart. It is a measure of how hard your heart is working.

Your pulse can be felt at the wrist, neck, groin or top of the foot - areas where the artery is close to the skin. Most commonly, people measure their pulse in their wrist. This is called the radial pulse.

How To Measure Your Pulse

Taking your pulse is easy. It requires no special equipment, however, a watch with a second hand or digital second counter is very helpful.

1. Turn the palm side of your hand facing up.
   
2. Place your index and middle fingers of your opposite hand on your wrist, approximately 1 inch below the base of your hand.
   
3. Press your fingers down in the grove between your middle tendons and your outside bone. You should feel a throbbing - your pulse.
   
4. Count the number of beats for 10 seconds, then multiply this number by 6. This will give you your heat rate for a minute.

Example:

If you count 12 beats in the span of 10 seconds, multiply 12 X 6 = 72.

This means your Heart Rate or pulse, is 72 (or 72 beats per minute).

Another popular way to measure pulse rate is by measuring it at the neck (carotid pulse). This is especially convenient during exercise. The formula is the same as above, however, when taking the pulse at the neck, place your fingertips gently on one side of your neck, below your jawbone and halfway between your main neck muscles and windpipe.

Taking your pulse upon rising in the morning, or after sitting without activity for about 10 minutes, is know as your Resting Heart Rate.

What Is A Normal Heart Rate?

A Resting Heart Rate anywhere in the range of 60 - 90 is considered in the normal range. Your Heart Rate will fluctuate a lot depending on such factors as your activity level and stress level. If however, your pulse is consistently above 90, you should consult with your physician. This condition is called tachycardia (increased heart rate).

Many athletes have pulse rates in the 40 - 60 range, depending on how fit they are. In general, a lower pulse rate is good. Sometimes however, one's heart rate can be too low. This is known as bradycardia and can be dangerous, especially when blood pressure gets too low as well. Symptoms include weakness, loss of energy and fainting. If this situation applies, medical attention should be sought immediately.

If the pattern of beats or throbs you count is irregular (i. e. a beat is missed) take your pulse for a full minute. If you experience irregularities in your pulse on a consistent basis, you should consult with your personal physician.

Many factors influence heart rate. These include emotions, temperatures, your position or posture (sitting, standing, laying down), and your body size (if you are overweight for your size, your heart will have to work harder to supply energy to your body).

Reducing your heart rate

A decrease in resting heart rate is one of the benefits of increased fitness due to exercise. Before starting into any exercise regimen, however, be sure to consult with your personal physician.

Your heart is a muscle and will respond just like any skeletal muscle in that it will become stronger through conditioning. If your heart muscles are stronger, then your heart rate will decrease. In other words, your heart will be putting out less effort to pump the same amount of blood.

Target heart rate

When undertaking an exercise program it is important to have a goal and a target range that you are trying to accomplish in each workout. To be of benefit, you want the workout to be neither too hard nor too easy. There is a simple formula to predict your maximum heart rate that is used in the fitness industry:

Take 220 and subtract your age.

This will give you a predicted maximum heart rate.

For example, if you are 42 years old, subtract 42 from 220 (220 - 42 = 178). This means that your maximum physiological limit as to how fast your heart should beat is178 beats per minute.

Most exercise programs suggest that when someone is just getting started that their heart rate during exercise should not exceed 60 - 70% of their maximum heart rate. Therefore, given the example above, 60% of 178 = 107 beats per minute. As you progress in your exercise, the percentage of your maximum heart rate to be set as a goal can be gradually increased.

Calculating a target heart rate zone is often desirable. To do so:

1. Start with your maximum heart rate as shown above.
   
2. Multiply your maximum heart rate by 0.8 to determine the upper limit of your target heart rate zone (divide this product by 6 to get the rate for a ten-second count).
   
3. Multiply your maximum heart rate by 0.6 to determine the lower limit of your target heart rate zone (divide this product by 6 to get the rate for a ten-second count).

Example:

For a person 42 years old:

220 - 42 = 178 Maximum Heart Rate

178 X 0.8 = 142 Upper Limit of Target Heart Zone (142/6 = 24,10 sec. count)

178 X 0.6 = 107 Lower Limit of Target Heart Zone (107/6 = 18, 10 sec. count)

Note: Your maximum heart rate is the most your heart should reach after a strenuous workout.

Your Heart Rate should be measured during warm-up, halfway into your workout, at the end of your workout and at the end of your cool-down period. If during exercise you exceed your upper limit, decrease the intensity of your workout. Conversely, at the end of your workout if your heart rate is much lower than your target, you need to work harder next time.

Recovery Heart Rate

One way to determine if you are reaping the benefits from exercise is to calculate your Recovery Heart Rate, a measure of how quickly you return to your resting heart rate after a workout. To calculate your recovery heart rate:

1. Take your pulse ten seconds immediately after you have finished exercising. Write down the number.
   
2. One minute later, take your pulse again and write it down.
   
3. Subtract the number for the second pulse check from the number for the first pulse check. This number is your Recovery Heart Rate. The greater the number, the better shape you are in!

A Final Word on Exercise Programs

Exercise programs help to increase the strength of the heart. Declines will be seen in resting heart rate, and hopefully, blood pressure, and stress levels as well. Overall body changes will also be experienced including weight loss and increase of lean body mass.

Remember, however, that it is important to check with your doctor and seek out a qualified exercise physiologist before your get started. An exercise stress test may be advised to help ensure the training parameters that are best for you.