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The more you want to use it, the more we would recommend that you go for high quality treadmills.
When you understand the basics of a quality treadmill, then it will be easy to find one that is perfect for your home and budget.
Long or short workouts determine the quality of motor you need for your treadmill.
I usually end my treadmill routine with about 15 minutes of quality stretching.
Researches have shown, that during exercising most people forget to breath deeply or they are unable to integrate their breathing pattern with the exercises causing them muscle pain and fatigue after the workout.
Fit Fact: Women Have a Different Heart Rate Response to Exercise In a recent study experts decided to ask an important question - are the heart rate formulas we use, largely based on men, accurate for women?
The answer: Not really. After some study, they realized that the traditional formula used to calculate maximum heart rate, (220-age or the updated version, 206.9 - (0.67 x age)) actually overestimated maximum heart rate for women.
With this information, experts have come up with a new formula to calculate maximum heart rate for women. 206 - (.88 x age) = MHR
Now, the experts in this study were actually more interested in finding an accurate peak heart rate for women in order to predict future health and to make sure women recovering from heart problems were given the right exercise intensity to recuperate. If the numbers were too high (as the experts suggest in this study), they might be doing women more harm than good by trying to make them work too hard.
Now, I've always promised there would be no math on this blog, but I lied, so bear with me. Let's take a look at how target heart rate zones would be different using the new max heart rate formula along with the karvonen formula. Say you're a 49 year old woman with a resting heart rate (RHR) of 65:
Old Formula
206.9 - (0.67 x 49) = 174 New Formula
206 - (.88 x 49) = 163 You can see how different these numbers are and this suggests that some women may be struggling to get to a certain intensity, not because they're not in shape, but because their max heart rate has been overestimated.
So, what about you? How does this formula change your numbers and do you think it's more accurate? How heavily do you rely on calculations like this anyway? Leave a comment and tell us about it.
Source: RJ Gibbons, GJ Balady, J Timothy Bricker, at al. Heart Rate Response to Exercise Stress Testing in Asymptomatic Women. The St. James Women Take Heart Project. Circulation. 2002;106:1883. Fit Fact: Women Have a Different Heart Rate Response to Exercise originally appeared on About.com Exercise on Wednesday, July 21st, 2010 at 05:00:31.
It's taken the medical and fitness world some time to figure out that women aren't just small men (and if they'd just read "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus," they would've known that) but they are getting there. We know that women's bodies work differently from men's - woman have different heart attack symptoms, they tend to lose weight differently and they also have a different response to exercise.
174 - 65 (RHR) = 109
109 * 65% (low end of heart rate zone) OR 85% (high end) = 71 (65%) or 93 (85%)
71 + 65 (RHR) = 136
93 + 65 (RHR) = 158
The target heart rate zone for this person would be 136-158 beats per minute.
163 - 65 (RHR) = 98
98 * 65% (low end of heart rate zone) OR 85% (high end) = 64 (65%) or 83 (85%)
64 + 65 (RHR) = 129
83 + 65 (RHR) = 148
The target heart rate zone for this person would be 129-148 beats per minute.
Vote in This Week's Poll: Did you eat too much over the 4th of July? I did okay this year, but what about you? Did you overdo it? Vote in this week's poll and tell us if you overate this weekend.
Vote in This Week's Poll: Did you eat too much over the 4th of July? originally appeared on About.com Exercise on Monday, July 5th, 2010 at 05:00:36.
The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays and not just because of the endless supply of beer and barbecue (although that's a nice plus). Not only do we get to celebrate our independence, we get a day off to go outside and play. You can't beat that with a stick, although the food hangover the next day can be brutal.
Exercise of the Week: Curtsy Squat I like this move because it targets the outer thigh, along with the quads, but the crossover can put strain on the knee if you're not careful. There is an awkward angle and doing this on a step can exacerbate it, so skip this move if you have any knee problems or if you feel any pain doing this exercise.
Do it right: Stand on a step or platform and cross the left leg behind the right, taking it down to the floor. Try to avoid twisting the right knee as you lower into a squat (the range of motion on this will be small, particularly if you're on an elevated platform). Push back to start and repeat for 1-3 sets of 8-16 reps.
Exercise of the Week: Curtsy Squat originally appeared on About.com Exercise on Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 at 05:00:35.
"How many squats, lunges or step ups can a person do before her head explodes?" This was what one of my clients said recently and I give myself credit for not saying, "Gee, I don't know. Let's find out!" Actually, her comment was understandable since squats, lunges, deadlifts and step ups are often the foundation of any lower body routine. It's easy to get into a rut but, sometimes the smallest adjustment can change an exercise and make it feel like something new and wonderful (or, at least, effective). The curtsy squat falls into that category because it's almost like combining a crossover step up and a squat into one exercise.
