| I bought one of the Polar pulse monitors - the one you wear around your
chest. It works great, and I really like it.
Before that I didn't really know much about exercising by pulse rate,
although the concept seemed intuitive, and I was concerned about
over-exercising because of my age.
Fortunately, the device came with a book that was really quite good,
though geared more toward high performance atheletes (it was written by
a triathloner).
So I started nosing around the net for information, book titles, what
have you to find out more about using pulse as a guide. Unfortunately,
its been very confusing. Everyone seems to have different ideas and
different numbers.
The one I find most intriguing is the philosophy that divides exercise
heart rates into five zones: moderate (50-60%), weight loss (60-70%),
aerobic (70-80%), anerobic (80-90%) and what they call red-line
(90-100%).
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find much more information on
this. It very briefly says that "moderate" is principly for burning
fat, and higher levels are targeted at different types of conditioning.
The implication is that some amount of each is useful in a general
fitness program. However, other sources I've found give totally
different percentages, totally different meanings. And what little
information I have isn't very definitive.
I'd like to find a source of information about this zone concept.
Moreover, I'd like to get more information on how to pace a start-up
program.
<mild flame> EVERYTHING you read says go to a doctor before starting an
exercise program. Okay, been there, done that. I'm not likely to keel
over, generally speaking. But what does that mean????? I've never
found a doctor that will tell me how fast to proceed with a program;
what to do first, second, third. How to measure progress. Must be a
liability thing. It seems like EVERYONE warns us flabby folks to be
"real careful", but then go on to explain what to do once we're "real
fit". What about in between? How fast is too fast? How slow is too
slow? I went to a health fair, and they said I was too high a risk to
do a stress test. Without doing a stress test, they wouldn't give hard
numbers about how much and at what pace to exercise! Catch-22!
<flame off>
I've been using moderate. Even though the doctor says I check out
okay, I know I'm still borderline. BP is borderline, cholesterol is
borderline, BMI is way up there, and I'm middle aged. Even though I
don't have any personal history of problems, my family has heart
disease on one side and stroke on the other. Thats why I bought the
monitor, to insure I don't overdo.
As the material I have says, at the moderate rate (50-60% of MHR) I get
a very light workout, just a touch of sweat, and no out of breath
feeling, or tiredness. Feels pretty good. None of the pain and
exhaustion I had when starting a program in my younger days (when I
probably over did it).
And I've seen progress! I have gradually started going faster while
keeping the same heart rate, and my resting heart rate is starting to
drop! But I don't have a clue when I should begin moving up to higher
heart rate levels, and how to plan a program.
I know that some people will say I'm over thinking. But I'm an instant
gratification type. The only way I can stick with a program is if I
find some way to watch my progress, which the monitor helps me do.
Losing one pound a week is *way* below my interest threshold. At one
pound a week, I'll reach my target weight in OVER a year! For someone
that loses interest in 15 minutes, thats a long time to go without
constant, positive feedback.
So, any information, resources, etc. that anyone could provide would be
great! Thanks!
jeb
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