ThE BaSiCs..HoW tO BeGiN My PrOgRaM!! First we need to learn some of the basics!! What is a heart rate and what does it mean to me?? How do I take and monitor my heart rate?? Where should my heart rate be? Does my age affect the intensity and power I can put into my workout? I am going to answer these questions and many more, so you will have a basic knowledge of exercise. First we will start with the definition ofCARDIOVASCULAR EXERCISE-simply put it is the training of the heart and it's components.

Heart Rate-

you can monitor your HR in several different ways:

You can find the HR in your Radial Artery: Placing fingers around the wrist, just below the wrist bone, straight down the base of the thumb. Once you have found this site you press (lightly) using the pointer finger and middle fingers to find the pulse. Never use the thumb, because it has a seperate pulse.
You can find the HR in your Carotid Artery: Using the same two finger as you did above, place the two fingers on the outside part of one eye and move your fingers down to your neck. YOu should start to feel the pulse. Again, do not press hard and do not read your pulse on both sides of the neck at once. Also do not place the thumb on the other side of the neck while reading. That could cut off the blood flow.
You can also use the Rating of Precieved Exertion Scale: this takes into account, mainly, how you feel at the time of exercise. Does your body feel good? Are you able to carry on a somewhat normal conversation, if someone where speaking to you? Things like that.

Now what do I do??

Well now you have to count to get that 10sec. pulse and then do a little simple math to get that minute pulse. After locating the HR you want to count for 10 secs. ( using a second hand on a watch ) starting with "1". When you get that number x that by 6 = _____ ( minute HR ). Now if you do this while you are resting you will be getting your RHR (resting heart rate). That tells us approximately how fit you are. The lower the resting HR the more efficiently the heart is pumping blood it and out to the body, while you are at rest. So the lower the better. It is best to do this when you step out of bed and for three consecutive mornings, taking the mean of the 3 HRs.

Now we can plug that resting HR into an equation and get your exercise or Target HR

The Karvonen Formula is a formula which was derived to help find an individuals HR using 220 (the # of heart beats in the average infant per min.) - (minus) your age= your max HR.

Example: 21 yr old...

220-21= 199
Then we would take the 199 and subtract the RHR
199-59= 140 this # would be their Heart Rate Reserve (HRR)
Then the above 140 would be multiplied by three percents:
50% / 70% and 85%
Example: 149 x .50 = 70 + 59 ( RHR)= 129 or the minute working HR at 50% of the person's O2 consumption. Then to get the 10 sec. pulse, all you do is take that # 129 /and divide by 6= 21.5- 22.0 (60 secs = 1 min.).

Now you should have some values to work with. We look at the 50% range as being at the lower end of the workout range (light); 70% in the middle (mild) and 85% at the higher end (hard). For the beginner, I suggest working up to the 50% range first and then progressing to the 70% and onto the 85%. What happen is when the heart becomes stronger the RHR goes down and recover is faster. What I mean by recovery HRis that your HR should only need a minute or less to recover from an exercise HR to a resting HR. The faster your heart recovers the more cardiovascularly fit you are.

Beyond the 85% Range

2 Important Terms to Learn: Aerobic and Anaerobic

Aerobic

operating with oxygen

Anaerobic

operating with out oxygen, which the body can maintain but, only for a short time.

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