Fitness News #9

Fitness News #8
Hi Guys and Gals,   What happened to all the hype about fruit prices with the QLD floods, if banana's were any cheaper, they would be giving them away.
Music
Never found out who got fired, it will remain a mystery.   Don't you hate it when you don't get to the bottom of the gossip   RPM50 will be mailed to me on Friday, so I should get it on Monday.  We haven't been told what the release date is though, hopefully sooner than later.
Heart Rate Monitors
Have you ever felt you would like a reference point to evaluate your workouts with.  Well heart rate monitors can do that,  they show you your heart rate, place that in zones and provide a host of other benefits such as calorie burn and some will even let you upload them to a computer.   But… all is not what it seems… There are a couple of challenges that distort the accuracy of the information; Heart Rate Latency.  When you exercise, your heart does not initially beat at the rate of the exercise, it will beat at a slower rate and build towards the correct beat for the given activity.  It takes 4 minutes to reach that point.  So that means that in almost any group exercise, your heart rate will not fully represent what you are doing as intervals are usually between 30 seconds and 2 minutes. Assumptions.  Figures such as calorie burn are based on information that you provide such as age, gender, weight and height.  Then a formula is applied to provide an average figure.  Are you average?  If not the figure is going to be out and by how much, who knows.  Also different hearts pump differently, some have smaller beats more frequently and some have larger beats less frequently.  The heart rate monitors make an assumption that all people beat the same.   So does this mean you shouldn't bother to have one?  That depends on what you get out of one.  I saw this posted the other day and its not too bad a list of advantages;   The ADVANTAGES of a HRM include its use: • as a motivational tool • to analyze race efforts and design a personalized training program. • to spot overtraining (HR 10% higher than normal on awakening for several consecutive days). The DISADVANTAGES of a HRM are: • inconsistency - at the same heart rate you're not always putting out the same effort day to day. • no evidence training with a HRM improve competitive performance. • too much data, esp with elaborate HRMs, with little agreement on how to use this information to improve training or performance. • the lag time in heart rate response to a change in exertion - 15 to 30 sec lag with 2 to 3 min to stabilize at the new level of exertion.   If you read the list above, its not entirely in agreement with what I wrote above, that is like many things in life there are different analysis and different views on things, but the underlining communication is the same.
Classes
On Tuesday Stuart and I did our CPR refresher course and then he wanted to try out an RPM class so we sneaked into the back of a class, the objective was that no one spotted us.  The instructor didn't spot us, but some of the members recognised us.  Anyway Stuart gave it a shot, took it really easy but he's still not ready to resume his classes, so I'll be continuing doing his Thursday morning RPM class for a few more weeks.   Wednesday mornings I'm no longer doing Luana's Wednesday 6.15am cycle at  Rockdale, I'll be doing the same time slot at Bond st in the CBD   If I look dead on Saturday morning that will be because in addition to the cycle classes, I have the NSW Individual Track championships on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights   Mon 7/03/11 5:45 PM             5Dock Mon 5.45pm Tue 8/03/11 6:45 PM              Rock Tue 6.45pm Wed 9/03/11 6:15 AM            Bond Wed 6.15am Wed 9/03/11 5:45 PM             N Strath Wed 5.45pm Thu 10/03/11 7:00 AM           Market Thu 7.00am Sat 12/03/11 8:15 AM            Rock HiPf Sat 8.15am
Ask Mike
If you have any questions or things you would like to see in the newsletter, then let me know   See you at the Gym   Cheers Mike
Sleep Ride Eat Repeat