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3. Fitness
What is fitness? Generally it can be described as an fitness exercise that causes your
heart to pump more oxygen to your muscles via the blood from your lungs. The harder
the workout, the more fuel (oxygen) the muscles require to achieve this rate of oxygen.
The heart has to pump harder to get the oxygenated blood into the muscles. If you have a
good stamina, your heart pumps more blood with each heartbeat. The heart will not have
to beat that often to transport the necessary oxygen into your muscles. Your resting heart
rate and heart rate during exercise will reduce.
While training it is important to monitor your heart rate. The heart rate is essential for
the result of your training. Your best training heart rate depends firstly on your age. Your
maximum heart beat can be determined by this. Secondly the most effective heart rate
depends on your training goals. If your training goal is to lose weight, then the most
effective training is at 60% of your maximum heart rate. If your training goal is to improve
your stamina, then you should train at 85% of your maximum heart rate.
The body stores energy in two forms: carbohydrates and fat. When we exercise we use
a combination of these two energy supplies. If the training intensity is at a high level
the body will mostly choose the energy that burns fast: carbohydrates. Since there is a
limited supply of these carbohydrates you can’t continue this for a long period of time.
When training at a low intensity the body will mostly choose to use a long lasting source
of energy: fat. Since this is stored in large quantities in the body, you can continue this
kind of training for a longer time.
Below you will find a schedule allowing you to calculate the best heart rate for your
training. In this schedule each age category has a range that your heart rate should be in
during your training. The middle column has the values you should try to maintain if you
want to lose weight. If you want to improve your stamina you should try to maintain the
rates in the right column.
3.1 Training by heart rate
Age Weight lost
(beats per minute)
60%
Improve stamina
(beats per minute)
85%
20 -24 120 - 118 170 - 167
25 -29 117 - 115 166 - 163
30 - 34 114 - 112 162 - 158
35 - 39 111 - 109 157 - 154
40 - 44 108 - 106 153 - 150
45 - 49 105 - 103 149 - 145
50 - 54 102 - 100 144 - 141
55 - 59 99 - 97 140 - 137
60 and older 96 - 94 136 - 133