•Include an exercise program that provides as least 300 calories or more of activity per day. This is best accomplished with exercise of low intensity and long duration. Many pieces of home fitness equipment give estimates of calories burned while exercising. Remember these are approximate calories burned, exact amounts will depend on type of exercise, your body size, intensity and duration.
•Add resistance training to your program to add muscle mass. Muscle cells are more active than fat cells and will help you burn more calories per day.
•Include use of behavior modification techniques to identify and eliminate
bad diet and eating habits.
You should strive to burn between 300 to 500 calories per exercise session and 1000 to 2000 calories per week in exercise. Remember that sustained aerobic activities that use large muscle groups will cause the greatest energy expenditure.
If overweight or obese, you may want to keep the intensity even lower than 60 percent of maximum heart rate to keep the risk of orthopedic injuries at a minimum. Nonweight-bearing activities such as stationary cycling may be considered for this group, or for those who suffer from orthopedic or arthritis problems.
■A Balanced Workout
All of your balanced home workouts should include three parts:
– Warm-up
–The main aerobic and/or strength routine
–Cool-down
Together, exercise and recovery comprise fitness conditioning: deny either and you invite injury and minimize benefits. Our bodies and minds become stronger and more efficient in response to their use and exercise. Overuse and overload will cause breakdown. You don't want too much, but just enough.
The secret is to know when you are pushing too much or too little. Monitoring your heart rate tells you how much to exercise and when to rest.
■Warm-up
A good warm-up will help you perform better and will decrease the aches and pains most people experience. The warm-up prepares your muscles for exercise and allows your oxygen supply to ready itself for what's to come. Studies show that muscles perform best when they're warmer than normal body temperatures. Warm-up exercises include cycling, walking, skiing slowly until you begin to break a light sweat. This normally takes about 5 to 10 minutes. If using a heart rate monitor, raise your heart rate to about 110 to 120 beats per minute during your warm-up.
Stretching before and after exercise also serves many purposes. By promoting flexibility, it decreases the risk of injury and soreness. It also enhances physical performance by allowing you to maintain a comfortable position on the bicycle longer. Take a few minutes to stretch your legs, shoulders and lower back before you get on your home equipment.
■Aerobic/Strength Exercise
Vigorous aerobic exercise is the core of your workout program. The intensity of your exercise must be strenuous enough to raise your heart rate into your target zone. This is usually between 60 and 90% of your maximum heart rate. Cycling, or any exercise done in this range, is usually called aerobic exercise. It means your body, your heart, and the various exercising muscles
16are working at a level at which oxygen can be utilized. Exercising with a heart rate monitor allows you to constantly receive visible feedback (and on some
models audible feedback) as to what your heart rate is while exercising, and allows you to stay within your selected target heart rate zone.
In addition to aerobic exercise, the ACSM recommends that healthy adults perform a minimum of 8 to 10 strength exercises involving the major muscle groups a minimum of two times per week. At least one set of 8 to 12 repetitions to near-fatigue should be completed during each session.
These recommendations are based on two factors:
•Most people aren't likely to adhere to workout sessions that last more than 60 minutes. The regimen outlined above can be completed in 30 minutes or less, and when combined with 30 minutes of aerobic activity and flexibility gives you a balanced workout.
•While more frequent and intense training is likely to build greater strength, the difference is usually very small.
■Cool-Down
The cool-down enables your body's cardiovascular system to gradually return to normal, preferably over a 5 to 10 minute period. Bringing your workout to an abrupt halt can cause light-headedness, since blood will pool in your legs if you abruptly stop working. Lower your exercise intensity gradually over a period of a few minutes. When your heart rate has returned to below 110 beats per minute you can stop exercising on whatever piece of equipment you are on.
Always keep in mind that warm-up and cool-down are just as important as the activity phase. Both can prevent many common injuries from occurring.
■How To Determine Your Maximum Heart Rate
The best way to determine your maximal heart rate is to calculate your target heart rate zones. Simply record your heart rate several times when you are putting out a maximal effort, such as when you are going all out on
a stationary bicycle, or during a hard session of stair climbing.
The easiest option is to estimate your maximum heart rate based on a formula which has been well-established for reliability: take the number 220, and subtract your age. For example, a 45 year old would have an estimated maximum heart rate of 175 (220 - 454 = 175). The target heart rate zone for aerobic training would be 105 to 149 beats per minute (60 to 80 percent of the maximum).
■Target Heart Rate Training Zones
There are three primary heart rate training zones. The first is often referred to as the "fat burning zone", because the intensity is moderate enough to require your body to primarily use fat as the fuel source for the exercise. You should exercise at 50 to 65 % of your maximal heart rate to achieve this level of intensity. While you workout in this and the other zones, your heart rate should fall somewhere between these two figures. People just starting out on an exercise program or who want to lose weight should concentrate on maintaining their heart rate in this zone for 20 to 30 minutes per day, 3 to 5 days per week.
The second zone discussed above is known as the "aerobic exercise zone" or is shown on many charts as the "target heart rate zone." In this zone you should exercise at 60 to 85% of your maximal heart rate. Training in this zone helps you build aerobic endurance and constructs a base upon which you can progressively add more demanding workouts as your cardiovascular fitness increases.
A higher level of training can help increase both your speed and tolerance for the buildup of lactic acid, the primary waste product of anaerobic metabolism in your muscles. This type of workout from 85 to 100% of
maximum heart rate usually consists of short, hard sprints or repeated hill17 running and is referred to as "anaerobic training."
Varied training in all three of these zones will add to increased levels of
