Why accessing cardio intensity is so important
21 July 2005If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
I take my cardio outside be it August or February. Nowadays with the thermometer busting 90 each day it takes less effort to generate the same heart rate. Too many fitness devotees confuse the cardio goal (systematic and protracted elevation of the heart rate) with the cardio mode. The mode is a means to an end and not an end in itself. Our cardiovascular exercise goal is not to become a better jogger, swimmer or exercise bike user; our goal is to use these exercise modes to elevate the heart rate. This is a key, critical distinction and the purchase of a heart rate monitor puts mode and goal into crystal clear perspective. Before every cardio session I know what it is I am seeking to achieve in terms of my cardio benchmarks. I use the heart rate monitor, regardless the exercise mode I select, to inform me how close to this preconceived mark I have come.
One thing a heart rate monitor can tell you, as Bobcat can attest to, is quite often a heart rate monitor can give you permission to slacken the pace or take a periodic rest during the session. Bob Kat has a powerlifters physique, built low to the ground and powerful. When he visited I explained how we apply creeping incrementalism (my made-up phrase for stair-stepping the human body into shape) to our cardiovascular efforts. It is easy to see and grasp how to use incrementalism, AKA periodization cycling, in weight training weights are numbered and if you can handle 200 (pounds) x 10 (reps) in a particular exercise then its only logical in subsequent sessions to try and hit either 200 x 11 or 205 x 10. It is less obvious how to apply creep to cardio.
Again, unless you have a heart rate monitor it is virtually impossible to quantify intensity. As all true Purposeful Primitives are aware, in the art & science of physical transformation exercise intensity trumps everything. Better to use a lame fitness program with great intensity than a sophisticated routine in half-ass lackadaisical fashion. Back to cardio: performing aerobic exercise without a heart rate monitor is like lifting weights without knowing the poundage. Cardio has three benchmarks: frequency how often we perform the exercise; duration how long the sessions last and intensity how hard do we apply ourselves. What the Kat discovered early this month was we can hit the predetermined cardio goal and oft times actually take a mid-session rest! We determined before starting out that his session goal would be to operate at between 70 and 80% of age-related heart rate maximum. Folks in great cardio shape might want to operate at between 80 and 90% of heart rate max and folks out of shape and just getting into the mix might want to operate at 50 to 60% of ARHR max the point being we establish a range and duration ahead of time and use the monitor as an in-flight tool to tell us how we are faring in relation to our predetermined goal.
When Bobcat, Vonda and I took to the steep foothills at the base of the Catoctin Mountains, it was July and hot as hell. We decided the session would be 40-minutes and he would operate between 70-80% for the entire session. The goal was clear and the session parameters established ahead of time.
I like to start all my aerobic sessions with some free-hand calisthenics in order to jump start the heart rate and get it into the proscribed zone. After 50 jumping jacks and pushups to failure, Roberts heart rate had pierced the 70% floor. Once the heart rate is initially elevated it is relatively easy to keep it elevated. On the flat sections we concentrated on walking as fast as possible with as much arm and hip rotation as possible: a lot of fitness adherents dismiss power-walking as exercise but by exaggerating the arms and hips and seeking out hills and gradients walking can be extremely effective, particularly for those of us over 200-pounds in body weight. After hiking up the 70-degree steep foothills Roberts heart rate would spike to 85% or 90% of ARHR max. When these spikes occurred I instructed him to stand still, take in the scenery, suck in the clean air until the beats-per-minute simmered back down to 70%. When the heart dropped to 70%, off we would go once again but now rested and capable of intense effort. Spike, settle, spike, settleback and forth for 40-minutes: I believe he ended up with between 77% to 83% of ARHR max for his blended session average.
The revelatory rest periods allow lactic acid to dissipate and muscles, now cleared of toxins, could be called upon to push hard. If he had tried to maintain a steady state, continual movement without respite, there is no way his muscles could have cleared the acid and been able to burst over and over. You mean Im getting cardio benefit just standing here? He asked. Sure, look at the watch; while we are standing around recovering our wind and allowing legs and arm muscle to recover your heart rate is still zooming along at 80%.
This degree of precision exercise would be impossible without using the monitor. The monitor also allows us to compare one form of exercise to another. How does 40-minutes of interval power-walking compare to 40-mimutes of flat track jogging or 40-minutes of swimming? How does a fast-paced playground basketball game compare to a volleyball game or a kettlebell session? Again without the HR monitor it is impossible to access intensity with any mathematical precision. With the HR monitor we can actually forecast our sessions ahead of timeto wit.
Frequency Duration Intensity
Week I three times weekly 25 minutes 60% of ARHR max
Week II four times weekly 30 minutes 65%
Week III four times weekly 30 minutes 70%
Week IV five times weekly 35 minutes 75%
Week V five times weekly 35 minutes 75%
Week VI five times weekly 40 minutes 80%
…Strictly hypothetical but this gives you the flavor and tone of what we are seeking to accomplishThe HR monitor allows us to apply periodization principles to cardio training and that my friend, is HUGE!
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