Quick guide for Exercising, Target Zone

To improve your muscular endurance and strength as well as flexibility choose intermittent activities such as tennis, badminton, football, ice hockey, resistance training and gymnastics.

STRUCTURE OF AN EXERCISE SESSION

Begin each workout slowly and give your body a chance to warm up for at least for 5 minutes so that your heart rate is below the selected Target Zone. Gradually increase the intensity of your exercise until you are in your Target Zone.

Remain in your Target Zone for the desired time. After that, gradually reduce the intensity of your exercise and let your heart rate fall below the Target Zone with a 5 minute cool-down period.

For an example of an exercise session for a 35-year-old person with ‘Improved Fitness’ as a target, please see the following chart.

Heart Rate/Beats Per Minute

150

TARGET

ZONE

130


Resting	Warm	Target Zone	cool	Resting
Resting	up	Target Zone	down	Resting
	5-10 min	30-60 min	5-10 min
		Minutes of exercise

REFERENCES

American College of Sports Medicine. Position Stand. The Recommended Quantity and Quality of Exercise for Developing and Maintaining Cardiorespiratory and Muscular Fitness in Healthy Adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc 22: 265-274, 1990.

American College of Sports Medicine. ACSM’s Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription. Williams & Wilkins, 1995.

Jackson, A.S., Blair, S.N., Mahar, M.T., Wier, L.T., Ross, R.M. and Stuteville, J.E. Prediction of functional aerobic capacity without exercise

16testing. Med Sci Sports Exerc 22: 863-870, 1990.

Quick guide for

exercising

Before beginning, you should ask yourself two key questions:

•What is the amount of my physical activity at the moment?

•What are my goals?

The following steps help you answer the two questions, get the most out of your Polar Heart Rate Monitor, and achieve your personal exercise goals.

1.DEFINE THE AMOUNT OF YOUR PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

You may have a clear understanding of your present physical condition. In this case you can move to the next step to specify your goals. You can also define the amount of your physical activity by answering the questionnaire which is modified from the “Code for Physical Activity” developed by NASA/Johnson Space Center (Jackson et al. 1990).

The questionnaire is an easy and quick way to define whether you are a beginner, a moderate exerciser, an active exerciser or a serious exerciser. It is recommended to review the questionnaire every 1-2 months and revise if the amount of your physical activity has changed.