Exercise Equipment Tips
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.
Exercise Challenge of the Week - Find Your Focus If you've caught yourself zoning out the same way, maybe you're ready for a new challenge: Focusing on your workouts. I know, it's a crazy idea, but stay with me here.
Zoning out isn't always a bad thing. If you're doing a steady, rhythmic workout, you let your body go through the motions while your mind roams free. You can solve problems, make mental to-do lists or list all the things you would say to your boss if only you didn't have to worry about getting fired.
But there are times when distraction can actually keep you from getting an effective workout. You see, the body is awfully sneaky and it will cheat if given a chance. During squats, your body will think, "Gee, these squats make my butt burn. I wonder how I can make them less painful?" Next thing you know, you're only squatting a few inches, your shoulders are rounded forward and we won't even discuss what your knees are probably doing.
Bringing a little focus to your form and exercises can make them more effective. Yes, it's harder to do the exercises correctly but, in the long run, that good form is what you need to get a strong, fit body.
With that in mind, your challenge this week, should you choose to accept it, is to find focus during each of your workouts:
Are you ready for the challenge? Leave a comment and tell us how you did or how you keep yourself focused during your workouts. Exercise Challenge of the Week - Find Your Focus originally appeared on About.com Exercise on Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 at 05:00:13.
The other day I was working out at the gym and I caught myself doing about 10 things to distract myself from my boring treadmill workout. Not only was I listening to my iPod, I was watching TV, monitoring a woman in the weight room (had to make sure she was doing all her reps) and watching the guy in front of me as he methodically and endlessly flipped through 100 or so channels on his little treadmill TV. There's never anything good on, is there?
Vote in this week's poll: How do you feel about exercise? Exercise is sort of the same way. Until you feel the benefits for yourself, you may understand intellectually why it's important but that does nothing to motivate you to actually do it. I've had clients who claim to hate exercise and I can talk about how great it is until I'm blue in the face, but no one likes a blue-faced trainer who talks too much.
The truth is, you have to exercise for awhile before you experience the many, many perks - More energy, better sleep, a sense of self-satisfaction and, of course, losing weight. Many people give up before get to that point. Maybe it's frustration, maybe it's confusion, maybe they really do hate to exercise - or, it's all of the above.
I'm curious about you? How do you really feel about exercise? Do you have a love/hate affair or perhaps there's no love there at all? Maybe you're on the other side, someone who loves physical movement and couldn't imagine your life without it. Vote in this week's poll and tell us about it.
Vote in this week's poll: How do you feel about exercise? originally appeared on About.com Exercise on Monday, July 26th, 2010 at 05:00:49.
Trying to convince someone of the importance of exercise is probably a lot like trying to teach kids the importance of learning things math and English. Some day, they appreciate those things but, until then, they usually think it's a big waste of time.
Weight Loss Backlash Unfortunately, not everyone will respond to your weight loss in a positive way. They may be jealous or they may be a little confused if your appearance has changed dramatically. They may not even realize they're not being supportive, but whatever the case, it's possible you'll get one or more of the following reactions to your weight loss:
What about you? Have you experienced a weight loss backlash when you expected support? What reactions have other people had to your weight loss? Leave a comment and tell us about your experiences. Weight Loss Backlash originally appeared on About.com Exercise on Friday, July 16th, 2010 at 05:00:19.
When you lose weight, you probably expect, or at least want, people to be supportive and complimentary. It's nice to hear things like, "Wow, you look amazing!" or "You look so good, I kind of hate you!"
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