“Helping you achieve your Fitness Goals”
Our bodies are made for moving. Exercise makes us feel good. Exercise makes us strong and healthy. Saying yes to fitness is to increase quality of life. Here are the main benefits associated with exercise.
- It improves overall health and fitness
- It increases well-being, and reduce stress
With increased physical fitness, your body’s ability to take in and use oxygen increases. Your muscles become stronger, you joints more flexible, and the amount of fat in your body decreases. Men and women of any age will experience these benefits.
For you to be successful, you should make exercise a constant part of your life. Exercise needs to be regular to reap its benefits. This is the Golden rule.
Warm up and cool down properly. At the beginning and at the end of every exercise session it is vital that adequate warm up and cool down is undertaken. This should consist usually of 5 minutes both warming up and cooling down at very low intensity.
Exercise in your Heart Rate Target Zone. After you warm up you then ideally should focus on the Heart Rate training zone. Once your heart rate has reached your target zone, maintain that intensity for a set amount of time (typically 20 minutes or so), making sure you stay inside your target zone. To work out your training zone, see the chart on the next page. Most Exercise equipment comes with a Heart Rate Pulse meter which are adequate, however we recommend a Polar Heart Rate Monitor, for a number of reasons. I.e. accuracy, versatility, features etc. There is large range of models available and in stock, please talk to our sales staff or see the Polar website,
www.pursuit-performance.com.au/polar
It’s important to be sensitive to your body’s reactions while you exercise. Be sure to keep your breathing regular. If you feel exceptionally breathless or dizzy, you’re probably working too hard (and pushing your heart rate beyond your target zone), so ease up a little.
Cool down by gradually reducing the intensity of your exercise to bring your heart rate back down to below your target zone. Then, stretch the main muscles you have just worked to prevent injury and stiffness. Whilst stretching be mindful of the following ;
- Don’t bounce
- Stretch slowly and steadily
- Hold the stretch for a slow count of ten
- Don’t push yourself into a painful stretch
It is very important to compliment your regular exercise with a sensible balanced diet.
Age based heart rate formula
220 – your age
The chart is easy to use! Your age is calculated in 5 year increments working downwards on the left-hand side. Put your finger on your age, now one step to the right is your maximum heart rate for your age. Now slide your finger to the right again until you reach your highlighted zone! This is your effective but safe training zone for your age, it is 70 to 85% of your maximum heart rate!
This is your aerobic training zone, by keeping your heart rate in this zone you will achieve all the benefits of aerobic training! |
