 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
ARTICLES > 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 |
|
|
A Change of Heart Rate
The new way to find your ideal training zone
Yvan Marston
For years now, weekend warriors have used the standard age-based formula (220-minus-your-age) to determine their maximum heart rate and figure out how hard they should be training. It’s never been an entirely accurate method, but unless you were an Olympic athlete, you weren’t likely to get hooked up to a $60,000 metabolic testing machine to get your actual heart rate numbers.
Now, a smaller version of the medical grade machine is making its way into gyms across Canada. Designed by New Leaf Health & Fitness, the device links a gas analyzer and heart-rate monitor to a laptop to measure your lung capacity (by reading your O2 and CO2 output) and heart rate to figure out how many calories you are burning at what exercise pace. This allows testers to pinpoint more specifically at what heart rate your body moves through aerobic and anaerobic thresholds.
Hamilton-based chiropractor Paul Ziemer, whose company FitMed Solutions distributes the machines in Canada, first used the system to work with obese patients, but soon began testing his wife’s adventure-racing teammates.
You start the test by sitting still for 15 minutes to determine your resting metabolic rate-that is, the minimum amount of calories you need for basic life functions. Then you perform physical activity, to determine how many calories you are burning when you are working out. This gives you your anaerobic threshold- the point at which you are no longer efficient in your fitness. Based on this information, the tester can give you an accurate number for your maximum heart rate.
Unfortunately, at $150 (plus a one-time $50 fee for the mask), the test, which is offered at about 35 fitness facilities throughout Canada, still isn’t cheap. But for most athletes, this kind of personalized fitness info is, well, priceless. |
|
|
 |
|
 |
 |
