Just Because Dr. Oz Says It; Doesn't Mean It's Right For You

Dr. Oz mentions new maximum heart rate (MHR) formulas for men and women.

Here's the problem.

Dr. Oz has a good reputation and millions of followers, mostly women, who read his articles and watch his TV show.  My mom is one of them.  In a recent phone call, she told me that she was clipping an article in the newspaper. (Really - who does that anymore?  Just joking, Mom.)  The article was something that Dr. Oz said, about maximum heart rate and a new formula or something like that.  Interested, I asked her for more details.

Incorrect information, as in this article, will not kill you, but it will not improve your fitness, if your goal is to get fit, get healthy, or lose weight.  Let's look at the article.

Incorrect statement #1:  Dr. Oz says when you're working out to keep your heart rate at 50-75% of maximum heart rate.

Obvious Contradiction:  The ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) says "moderate to vigorous" exercise is necessary most days to maintain health.

The problem is that 50-75% of maximum heart rate is NOT considered moderate to vigorous enough to evoke a significant change in health benefits.  One could argue that 75% is moderate, and I'll accept that.  However, Dr. Oz stated a very broad range of 50-75%, and many people are going to interpret that literally, and take the easy road and do the minimal amount and intensity of exercise to meet this standard.  That's not going to work.

Obvious Contradiction:  We're facing an obesity epidemic, stemmed mostly from living a sedentary lifestyle and eating poor foods.

As long as that epidemic continues, we are a society that is spiraling out of control in the wrong direction, towards ill health and lack of fitness.  Telling people to exercise at 50-75% of maximum heart rate may get them moving (and that is a good thing), but it may continue the downward spiral, because the intensity is not enough to change fitness significantly.  In other words, it's just not enough to balance the food intake (calories in) and the largely sedentary life we have created for ourselves.

Obvious Contradiction:  Athletes must work harder.

Most qualified coaches, trainers and athletes will agree that in order to improve performance, athletes must workout at at heart rates well above 75%, and often up to 95% of maximum heart rate.

Isn't it about Getting Healthier and Fitter?

Okay.  So there are some people that are satisfied with the status quo.  Their health is great and their weight is fine.  If all things stayed the same, they may be able to work out at 50-75% of maximum heart rate and maintain their health.  However, most educated health and fitness professionals (and those in the exercise physiology labs) know that in order to IMPROVE fitness, one must exercise above their threshold.  Threshold is (to paraphrase Sally Edwards, Heart Zones USA, and expert in heart rate training) like a doorway.  On one side is comfortable and "aerobic".  But, cross over that doorway threshold, and you enter a world that is slightly uncomfortable and (to use an outdated term), anaerobic.   You must cross that threshold and go above it in order to IMPROVE your health.  Since threshold is a movable number, the good news is that you can improve it with proper and consistent training.  (Please contact Heart Zones USA for more information on training with a threshold system.)

 

Incorrect Statement #2:  Women 40-89 can find their MHR (maximum heart rate) by 200 minus 67% of their age; in men 40-89, it's 216 minus 93% of their age.

Using this formula has the potential to severely underestimate your maximum heart rate.

If I used this formula, my maximum heart rate would be calculated as 200-(67% of 50) = 166bpm.  I know, because I have tested myself, that my maximum heart rate is actually 195.  That's an error of 29 beats.  If I used Dr. Oz's recommendations of 50-75% of MHR, I would exercise in a target range of 86-124bpm.  I can tell you, from experience, that those heart rates are pretty insignificant to me, unless I'm walking my dog.  Working out, in fact, at these heart rates, will make me gain weight, unless I increased my time to at least double, if not triple my current load.  Because my maximum heart rate is 195, I typically (and I know I need to) work out at 125-165 for maximum benefits.  That's actually 65-85% of my real and true maximum heart rate.

I also know of a man, in his 90's, who has a maximum heart rate of 190.  In fact, last I heard, for his 93rd birthday, he rode well above his age-predicted maximum heart rate for 93 minutes!  If he had been using this "new" formula, his "age-predicted max" would have been 130, and he would have been advised to ride between 75 and 97bpm (50-75% MHR). 

These two examples clearly reflect how formulas can keep you from being fit and may, indeed, keep you fat and in ill health.

What to do about it?

I'm not one to simply complain and not offer a solution, so I simply recommend that you go to the experts in heart rate training for the common individual (and athlete), Heart Zones USA.  Heart Zones has created several simple and easy tests to help you determine your real maximum heart rate.  Once you determine your real maximum heart rate, you can train, not according to a "one shoe fits all" target heart rate range, but with a variety of heart rate workouts that will get you fit and make you fitter and faster, whatever your goal may be.

If you'd like some information on coaching plans that include heart rate, please contact me at kathy@365fitt.com.  I've been a partner with Heart Zones USA on many levels, leading national certifications across the country.  I continue to be an advocate for heart rate training as a means to get you healthy, get you fit and get you faster.  Let me know if I can help you out.

Living 365fitt,

Kathy

Research Supports Training Load or Points

 Study shows that measuring your exercise matters

Why does it matter?

When a study comes out and says, basically, that individuals who monitored and measured their exercise:

• lowered their body mass
• lowered their body mass index
• lowered their body fat
• lowered their blood pressure (systolic)
• lowered their cholesterol
• lowered their resting heart rate
• lowered their blood glucose

It should get you excited.  After all, MOST people want those kind of results

How do you monitor and measure?

The Monitor

In order to measure, you MUST have some kind of device which will accurately monitor your intensity.  This can easily be done with a heart rate monitor, which measures your heart rate.  The best heart rate monitors out there have both a transmitter (chest strap) and a receiver (watch).  Many machines at the health club will also monitor your heart rate wirelessly, or through the use of hand held grippers.  For the most accurate monitoring, however, a heart rate monitor is your best bet.

This is my favorite monitor - the Blink watch.  It's easy to use!  Read more...

The Measurement

Measuring training load comes down to three important factors, each of which can now be quantified.  (This system was first presented - to me, at least - by Heart Zones USA, which uses Heart Zone Training points, or HZT points to measure load.)

Frequency (F) is the number of workouts.  Because we want to do this for each workout, the frequency is "1", even through we might have more than one workout a day.  If, in a boring and monotonous world, we did the exact same workout every single day for an entire week, the frequency would be "7".  But, since we like variety, let's do the calculation for EACH of our workouts, individually.  Thus F = 1.

Intensity (I) is what you're measuring with your monitor.  You're measuring how fast or slow your heart beats.  With a heart rate watch, your intensity is displayed in bpm, or beats per minute.  To make things simpler, we can use a heart rate chart and zones.  Here are two of my favorite charts, both from the leader in heart rate training, Heart Zones.

 

Time (T) is how many minutes you spend doing your activity.

Multiply F x I x T

When you multiply F x I x T together, you get a measurement of load.  In other words, you're quantifying how much physical stress you put on your body in that one workout.  Here are some examples:

Using the maximum heart rate chart with 5 zones:

60 minute hard run in Zone 4 = 240 points
30 minute easy walk in Zone 2 = 60 points
45 minute interval bike class with 15 minutes in each Zone 2, 3, and 4 = 135 points
60 minute power walk in Zone 3 = 180 points

Using the threshold heart rate chart with 3 zones:

60 minute hard run in Zone 3 = 180 points
30 minute easy walk in Zone 1 = 30 points
45 minute interval bike class with 15 minutes in each Zone 1, 2 and 3 = 100 points
60 minute power walk in Zone 2 = 120 points

Regardless of what chart you use, you still get a "total load" factor, which quantifies the amount of physical stress on your body.  It's important to use the same chart to calculate load, otherwise, you'll be comparing apples to oranges.  

Using Load to Reach Your Goals

Once you start giving each of your workouts a "load factor", you'll recognize what the correct amount of exercise is necessary for you to reach your goals.

Using the example above (we'll use the 5 zone chart of maximum heart rate), add up the points for each of the workouts to get total points for the week for a total of 615 points. If the individual's goal is to maintain weight, all other factors being the same, he/she would have to do 615 points every week.  The fun part of this is adding variety by switching up intensity with time to get different load for different workouts.  If the goal was to lose weight, he or she would need to increase the load.  To increase the load, you have to increase one of the 3 factors:  frequency, intensity or time.

So, we know it works.  Give it a try.  If you have any questions regarding training load, send me a question at kathy@365fitt.com.  Read the full article, below.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23793231

Exercise dose, exercise adherence, and associated health outcomes in the TIGER study.

Miller FL1, O'Connor DP, Herring MP, Sailors MH, Jackson AS, Dishman RK, Bray MS.

Author information

Abstract

PURPOSE:

To effectively evaluate activity-based interventions for weight management and disease risk reduction, objective and accurate measures of exercise dose are needed. This study examined cumulative exercise exposure defined by HR-based intensity, duration, and frequency as a measure of compliance with a prescribed exercise program and a predictor of health outcomes.

METHODS:

One thousand one-hundred fifty adults (21.3 ± 2.7 yr) completed a 15-wk exercise protocol consisting of 30 min·d, 3 d·wk, at 65%-85% maximum HR reserve. Computerized HR monitor data were recorded at every exercise session (33,473 valid sessions). To quantify total exercise dose, duration for each session was adjusted for average exercise intensity (%HR reserve) to create a measure of intensity minutes for each workout, which were summed over all exercise sessions to formulate an HR physical activity score (HRPAS). Regression analysis was used to examine the relation between HRPAS and physiological responses to exercise training. Compliance with the exercise protocol based on achievement of the minimum prescribed HRPAS was compared with adherence defined by attendance.

RESULTS:

On the basis of HRPAS, 868 participants were empirically defined as compliant, and 282 were noncompliant. HRPAS-based and attendance-based classifications of compliance and adherence differed in approximately 9% of participants. Higher HRPAS was associated with significant positive changes in body mass (P < 0.001), body mass index (P < 0.001), waist and hip circumferences (P < 0.001), percent body fat (P < 0.001), systolic blood pressure (P < 0.011), resting HR (P < 0.003), fasting glucose (P < 0.001), and total cholesterol (P < 0.02). Attendance-based adherence was associated with body mass, hip circumference, percent body fat, resting HR, and cholesterol (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS:

The HRPAS is a quantifiable measure of exercise dose associated with improvement in health indicators beyond that observed when adherence is defined as session attendance.

Why I Disagree With this Author, and Why You SHOULD Use Heart Rate Training

I strongly disagree with this article recently written and published on Competitor.com with all due respect to the author Jeff Gaudette. Here's the link to the article "Three Reasons to Rethink Heart-Rate Training".

http://running.competitor.com/2014/03/training/three-reasons-to-rethink-heart-rate-training_47287/2

Please read this to fully understand both sides of the article, and why I disagree.

Jeff Gaudette:  Fluctuations do not correspond to effort level.  Specifically, the author mentions that sleep, stress, dehydration, weather and caffeine will elevate (or lower) heart rate, thus, if you're using heart rate as your guide, you'll not be working at the correct heart rate.

My Response:  While it is true that the other factors mentioned above will affect heart rate, that's all the more reason to use heart rate and be knowledgable about the effect of  outside factors.  In fact, in a case of being sleep deprived or stressed, your heart rate will most likely be elevated and should be taken into account when planning your workout for the day.  A simple heart rate test to determine Ambient heart rate or Delta heart rate (see the tests) would be an excellent way to measure just how much these factors are affecting your physiology.  Adjusting your training downwards (less training load in the form of less duration or intensity) may be necessitated.  If you didn't use heart rate, you wouldn't know if you were truly stressed (by any factor) and how to adjust your training.  Being dehydrated could be a life threatening situation, thus, knowing that your heart rate is elevated, and adjusting your training downwards, could actually save a life.

Jeff Gaudette:  Lack of concrete data to establish training zones.  Specifically, the author mentions the use of numerous formulas to determine maximum heart rate, confusing the consumer, the athlete, and even the coach.  Further, most individuals should not attempt a maximum heart rate test.  

My Response:  Yes, it is true that there are numerous formulas that are used to predict or estimate maximum heart rate and that there is a high degree of error with formulas.  Further, the author is correct that a graded exercise maximum heart rate test is not appropriate for most individuals.  Fortunately, there are some excellent sub-maximal field tests, using actual data (your data) that are substantiated by research, that can help you determine your maximum heart rate and your training zones.  Such tests, developed by Heart Zones, and substantiated by Dr. Carl Foster, University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse (a world expert in this area) have been in use for decades, and are SAFE for a majority of individuals.  In fact, when completing several of these tests, an individual can gain a high degree of confidence in his or her maximum heart rate and training zones.  Additionally, maximum heart rate is not the only basis for training heart rate zones.  Using threshold heart rates and corresponding training zones are  highly effective.  Threshold heart rates can be determined using the "Can You Speak Comfortably Test", by Dr. Carl Foster.  (This test has been substantiated in the lab to be highly accurate.)

Jeff Gaudette:  Faulty readings and inaccurate data.  The author states that many heart rate monitors give errant signals that can skew an individual's training.

My response:  Certainly, some monitors are inferior, and can give you inaccurate readings, but that's not a good enough reason to not use one.  That's a good reason to get a better heart rate monitor.  In fact, the more often you use your heart rate monitor, the more you'll get to know and understand exactly how the most important muscle in your body, the heart muscle, reacts to all factors; stress, exercise and rest.  Knowing that your heart responds a certain way in different situations is invaluable, because when it doesn't respond as you expect it to, you should be concerned.   Take that concern and take a deep look at what's going on inside your body.  Is it overtraining, stress, lack of sleep, heart disease or something else?  If you're familiar with how your heart reacts in different situations, you'll be better armed with information to make an accurate determination.

Kathy Kent is owner of 365fitt, a company that focuses on Healthy Active Living.  Kathy is author of Living 365fitt, A 12-Week Program to Lifestyle Wellness, and is creator of the Living 365fitt Program for Coaches and Individuals.  Kathy is also a Heart Zones Level 5 Master Trainer and is an experienced marathoner and Ironman triathlete.  www.365fitt.com

Information on the various heart rate tests mentioned in this article can be found at www.heartzones.com.  

Free Workout Friday: ZONING Fitness

It's not often we get to learn how to do cardio exercise.  After all, don't we know how to exercise?

Not according to Sally Edwards, owner of Heart Zones USA and ZONING Fitness.  I've worked with Sally a lot over the last couple decades.  We've poured over volumes of fitness journals and books and have done exhaustive internet searches on the subject.  We've talked to the experts in the physiology lab, P.E teachers in the schools, and the medical community.  We've talked to dozens of manufacturers of fitness equipment and accessories.  

Together, we've trained thousands of people to use their heart as their guide to exercising.  

So, why their heart?  Because, it's the heart that pumps blood throughout the body, supplying blood to the working muscles and organs of the body.  It's the heart that responds to exercise by beating faster, and responds to rest by beating slower.  The human heart is an amazing organ that can be trained to be stronger.  

It's called cardiovascular fitness, and it can be measured by a simple device called a heart rate monitor.  The heart rate monitor actually measures the activity of the heart, as measured in beats per minute.  It's intensity is really the only way to know if you're working out hard enough.

For many people, just getting the heart pumping is the goal. 

Here's how:

When you take your new heart rate monitor out of the box and strap it on (follow directions - it's pretty easy), take note of your heart rate.  This is called Ambient heart rate and it is a measure of your current heart rate at rest, but in an awake and alert state.  Now, walk around for the next couple minutes.  Your heart rate should increase slightly.  You're doing it!  You're getting your heart to speed up and pump more blood throughout your entire body!  That's the goal.

Now, Sally in her exercise video above, wants you to see how easy exercise really can be.  Watch the video and you'll get a good idea.  

But, here's what you do:

Strap on your heart rate monitor and get your heart rate to increase 5-10 beats if this is your first time exercising.  If you've exercised before, maybe you can get your heart rate up 10-20 beats while doing an activity of your choice.  Try to keep your heart rate elevated for 5-20 minutes.  Try to keep going, though, even if you feel like stopping.  It's better to slow down and lower your heart rate than to stop moving around completely. 

Do this every day.  Don't stop.  

If you're moving around comfortably now, it's time for the second step, which is programming your new heart rate monitor to actually blink the right colors, and keep you in the right zone for exercising.  To do this, you can program your monitor for YOUR zones.  Watch this other video for those instructions which are pretty easy.  Once you program your monitor, you're really ready for what ZONING Fitness is all about:

5 minutes Blue
20 minutes Yellow
5 minutes Blue

I'm here to help you if you need help figuring out how to exercise, put on a heart rate monitor, figure out your numbers, or how to get going.  It's what I do, and I'm an expert.

If' you'd like to order the heart rate monitor that is recommended in this video, and recommended by Sally and myself, order the Blink 2 from www.365fitt.com, or email me.  I'll be happy to answer your questions.

365fitt is about training for the event called LIFE, focusing on physical, nutritional and emotional wellness through lifestyle adaptations.  Kathy is available for personal training and wellness consultations and corporate wellness.  365fitt invites you to participate in a Healthy Active Living trip to incredible destinations.  Please visit 365fitt for more information.  Live 365fitt!

Free Workout Friday: Total Body

You'll need a little bit of a push to get through today's free workout:  Total Body With Intervals! Tough it out, and you'll be glad you did.  Here's how to adapt it for yourself:

Everyone starts with a 5 minute warm-up that is easy and conversational.  Everyone can also spend the next 5 minutes building intensity.  That means that your effort increases.  Now, here's where we begin to make a distinction;  individuals that are new to exercise, should increase intensity a little, while individuals who have been exercising regularly can increase intensity a bit more.  Your body should be adequately warmed up.

After the build, you'll be 10 minutes into your workout and will be ready to begin the interval set.  The goal of intervals is to give you variety, change your metabolism, and make your heart stronger.  The more you change your heart rate (adding variability), the more your fitness improves.  Here are some tips:

• Beginners should change their heart rate (or effort) just a little, while intermediate and experienced individuals should change their heart rate as much as they are comfortable (or slightly uncomfortable).
• How much you change your heart rate is totally up to you.

• For best results, use a heart rate monitor (see below)

• Use the grips on most machines, if working out indoors and look for a 5-20 beat change, depending on your fitness level

•  If working out outdoors, use a heart rate monitor, or play a game of "fartlek", which is increasing your speed or tempo to the next streetlamp, corner or tree, then recovering to the next corner or tree, etc...

• Use perceived exertion on a scale of 1-10 (modified Borg) for rpe (rating of perceived exertion):

"Easy" is conversational and breathing is fine; 1-3rpe

"Moderate" is more "strained" with increased breathing and conversation more difficult; 4-7rpe, and

"Hard" is where breathing is deep and rapid and conversation is difficult; 8-10rpe

• These intervals are equal parts work and recovery in a 1:1 ratio.  That means that you will "go hard" for 1 minute, followed by a 1 minute easy recovery.

A heart rate monitor is one of the best ways for you to know if you are exercising at the right intensity.  For example, using a Blink heart rate monitor (available on my website), you can pre-program YOUR thresholds (easy to do with my help, or with this youtube demonstration).  Then, your very own heart rate monitor will blink "blue" when easy, "yellow" when moderate, and "red" when hard.  Individuals new to exercise would therefore complete their intervals using just blue (for recovery) and yellow (for moderate).  Individuals who have been exercising for awhile, may choose to use either blue or yellow for the recovery and "red" for the hard.

And...while supplies last, you can get a copy of Sally Edward's newest book, ZONING, Fitness in a Blink with any Blink heart rate monitor purchase on my website.

The rest of the workout is a total body workout, if you're not sure of anything, please let me know and I'll demonstrate it for you with a Youtube video or answer it on the blog.

Have fun!

Kathy