Take Heart
In Exercise Regimen
JACK WILLIAMS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
hen it comes to mea-
suring exercise intensi-
ty and physiological
feedback, there's no
beating the telltale heart.
Labored breathing and burn-
ing muscles may scream that
you're working hard. The heart,
as a rule of thump, tells you how
hard.
Which is why some serious ex-
ercisers consider a heart-rate mon-
itor to be as vital to their training
regimens as a digital watch.
Used extensively in clinical
and cardiac rehab settings, the
heart-rate monitor is more accu-
rate and more convenient than
literally putting your finger on
your pulse.
But, for all their technological
advances, monitors have a down-
side. The built-in sensors on Life-
Cycles tend to work sporadically,
for example, and usually require
moisture (you have to work up a
sweat) for best performance.
Much better are the devices
that strap around your chest and
display your pulse rate on the
face of your wristwatch.
Yet anybody who trains daily
with such a monitor should con-
sider variables other than exer-
cise that can influence heart rate.
Among them: dehydration, in-
sufficient sleep, emotional stress
and the effects of overtraining.
Consequently, at a given heart
rate you're not always exerting
the same effort, says Ed Coyle, a
spokesman for Bicycling maga-
zine's fitness advisory board.
Because it takes 15 to 30 sec-
onds before heart rate increas-
es substantially when intensity
goes up, it is better to rely on cues
such as fatigue during that time
frame when selecting a training
pace, Mr. Coyle contends.
`The real question," Mr. Coyle
says, "is whether heart rate itself
is a valid measure of training
state or intensity."
Ed Burke, a U.S. cycling offi-
cial and fitness adviser, makes a
case for listening to the body —
whether you're equipped with a
heart-rate monitor or not.
"Heart rate may cease to be a
reliable point of reference for mea-
suring intensity when exercising
above 85 percent of your (capaci-
ty)," he told Bicycling magazine.
To fully reap its benefits, an
exerciser needs to be able to in-
terpret the feedback of a heart
monitor and employ it as a train-
ing aid — sort of like an elec-
tronic coach.
W
Jack Williams writes for Copley
News Service.
Some high-tech trainers who
understand the limitations of
such devices find them invalu-
able. "The monitor keeps me hon-
est," marathoner Danny
Gonzalez told Runner's World
magazine.
Knowing that heart rate in-
creases regardless of effort when
the body shows signs of dehy-
dration, Mr. Gonzalez says the
monitor signals him when to take
in fluids.
FLAT CHANCE
Given a choice, what body part
would you most like to sculpt to
exemplary specifications? Chest,
hips, biceps, buns?
If you said somewhere in the
middle, as in the abdominal area,
you may be among the majority.
A survey conducted for Nor-
dicTrack Inc. indicates that 60
percent of respondents picked
the abs as their No. 1 toning tar-
get.
Is it any wonder, then, that an
estimated 2,750,000 ab machines
were sold in 1995, with forecasts
even greater for 1996?
Legs, arms and buttocks were
distant also-rans in the anatom-
ical survey. Meanwhile, Jean
Claude Van Damme out-muscled
Michael Jordan and David Has-
selhofffor male celebrity with the
best abs. Jackie Joyner Kersee
got the nod over Janet Jackson
in the female category.
NordicTrack, which has mar-
keted a host of home exercise
equipment since its signature
cross-country skier debuted two
decades ago, has entered the ab-
dominal apparatus sweepstakes
with AbWorks.
Priced to retail at $119.95, the
36-pound device is designed to
condition the upper, lower and
side abdominal muscle groups
with three forms of adjustable re-
sistance.
Of course, no serious stomach
sculptor would rely on exercise
alone. Watching the fat in your
diet is a given, and author Joseph
C. Piscatella of Controlling Your
Fat Tooth (Workman) is among
the most discriminating of the fat
police. Among his admonitions:
Most ground turkey is leaner
than most ground beef.
An extra-large mocha coffee
has more fat than a glazed choco-
late doughnut.
A well-dressed tuna salad sub
sandwich is more fat-laden than
a sub made with meat and
cheese.
Many veggie burgers contain
more fat than 1 ounce of melt-in-
your-mouth Brie cheese. 0
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