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Protecting Your Heart
Is Your Workout Intense Enough?Here’s how you can measure whether you’re putting the right effort into exercise.You want to burn calories and build endurance so you can do the activities you love—but how hard must you work to get there?“If you don’t challenge yourself, you won’t reach your goals,” says Eric Witzel, exercise physiologist at Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network. “But if you exercise too hard, you’ll increase your risk for injury, run out of energy or lose interest.” To find the right intensity for your aerobic workout, there are various tools you can use: Option 1 – Target heart rateThe classic way to measure workout intensity is how many times your heart beats in a minute (count the beats for 15 seconds and multiply by 4). Charts say that to achieve fitness, your target heart rate should be in this range: subtract your age from 220, then take 60-85 percent of the resulting number.“But that assumes everyone is at the same fitness level, and of course, they’re not,” says Cathy Odom, exercise physiologist in cardiac rehabilitation at Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network. “The standard target may be too high for an unconditioned person, whereas an athlete can get a challenging workout at a target below the range. And someone on certain medications, such as beta blockers, will never reach the target because of the effects of the drug.” Talk to your doctor about an appropriate target for you. Option 2 – The conversation testThe beauty of this option is its simplicity. “You’re at the right pace if you can carry on a conversation while exercising,” Witzel says. “If you can’t talk without gasping for breath, slow down,” Odom says. “If you can sing, pick up the pace.”Option 3 – How do you feel?While exercising, you should feel like you’re working hard, breaking a sweat and slightly winded, Odom says. “You shouldn’t be short of breath and unable to finish the exercise.”How you feel is called “perceived exertion.” You can measure it with various scales, including the 20-point Borg scale posted in many gyms. The idea is to rate the effort you’re putting out. “To get the most from your workout, be honest about your effort,” Witzel says. “Find exercises that you enjoy, listen to your body, and you’ll do just fine.” This page last updated 2/12/08 04:08 PM
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