Fitness test

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Smart Exercise: Burning Fat, Getting Fit Covert Bailey See book keywords and concepts

Covert's Home Fitness Test I'm going to describe a home fitness test that costs nothing, is self-administered, and doesn't hurt. In a sense, "my test" isn't mine at all because joggers use it already. When those who jog for fitness (not competition runners) discuss their daily jog, it is common to hear them discuss their "pace." They are referring to the average number of minutes it takes them to jog a mile. Some of them jog two miles and some seven miles. Some jog once a week, others every day.

Active Wellness - A Personalized 10 Step Program for a Healthy Body, Mind & Spirit Gayle Reichler, M.S., R.D., C.D.N. See book keywords and concepts

If you have had a stress test or a thorough fitness test within the last month, you may have been given your MHR at that time. You can use this as your MHR number. If you don't know your MHR, here's a simple calculation: MHR = 220 - your age For example, if you are 40 years old, your maximum heart rate is 180 beats per minute, or 220 - 40 = 180. Determine your maximum heart rate now and record it on your Personalized Exercise Program Worksheet. To calculate your Target Heart Rate range, multiply your Maximum Heart Rate by .60, which represents 60 percent of your Maximum Heart Rate: MHR x .

The Origin Diet: How Eating Like Our Stone Age Ancestors Will Maximize Your Health Elizabeth Somer, M.A., R.D. See book keywords and concepts

You'll need to complete a monitored fitness test, which will help you identify where you need to focus your fitness efforts, such as increasing your cardiovascular fitness level and upper body strength. Or maybe balance and flexibility are a high priority. Your physician can also help you decide at what level you should start a fitness program and if there are any undetected health risks that should be considered, such as high cholesterol or blood pressure. • Have a plan.

Smart Exercise: Burning Fat, Getting Fit Covert Bailey See book keywords and concepts

I have a Home fitness test on page 175 that doesn't use heart rate at all. Instead, you rely on breathing and comfort level to determine the intensity of your exercise. If you're breathing comfortably and talking easily during exercise, you're probably below the aerobic level. If you're breathing deeply but not gasping, talking haltingly but not gabbing, you're exercising aerobically. If you're wheezing and unable to string more than three words together, you're above the level of aerobic exercise and into the anaerobic level.

Most important, occasionally check your pace, as described in Covert's Home fitness test (page 175) and then apply the rule: if your pace is slowing down even though you're exercising more, then ease off — you're probably overtraining. Alternate long, gentle exercise with short, hard workouts. Too little food Loss of appetite is a typical sign of overtraining. Just when your muscles need calories and glycogen the most, you don't feel like eating. If you're exercising hard and long, be sure you get plenty of calories and, in particular, plenty of complex carbohydrates.

Here is a perfect example of why it's better to swim at the pace that is comfortable for you (see "Covert's Home Fitness Test") than to try to follow some heart rate chart. I know of one man who kept trying to swim at 80 percent of his on-land maximum heart rate and couldn't figure out why it was so exhausting. His poor muscles were having enough trouble trying to suck up oxygen from partially constricted capillaries, and he was compounding the problem by swimming at an anaerobic pace! Elite swimmers, like other highly trained athletes, can do very intense work yet still remain aerobic.

That's my entire fitness test — determine your pace. Find out how fast you can cover a mile comfortably, repeatedly, and consistently. I don't care if you run, jog, or walk. If you're too fat or out of shape to even walk, lie down and roll! For one week, do that mile every day at a speed that feels comfortable. Can you talk haltingly? Are you breathing deeply but not panting? By the end of the week you should know your pace. You should know how many minutes it takes you to go one mile comfortably.

I want everyone to do my fitness test. If you are very fit but don't like running or jogging, do the test anyway. If you are superfat and intimidated by runners, do the test anyway. It will be a boon to the fitness movement when everyone talks about his pace, even those who do not routinely jog. If a stranger told you on the phone that he weighed 170 pounds, you might not think much about it. But if that stranger turned out to be a deep-voiced five-foot-one woman, you would think about it. Similarly, if a stranger on the telephone told you his pace was ten, you would not be impressed.

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