That's Fit

I was running on a new treadmill at my local gym yesterday, and I had really exerted myself and my breathing started getting a little out of control (I'm asthmatic, so I'm careful not to overdo). I slowed to a walk, and as I did so, I put my hands on the heart rate monitors, and ... according to the display, my heart rate was at only 112, but I know from monitoring it at other times, at a similar intensity, it has shown 180+. Huh?

I've noticed before that my heart rate fluctuates considerably depending on the day, but never looked into it. Yesterday, though, it made me realize that I really have no idea what heart rate I reach at my peak, and what I maintain.

Scientists in Britain think so. According to them, the position in which you hold your body plays a major role in maintaining your blood pressure.

New Scientist magazine reports that the studies suggest that good posture could help keep blood pressure levels normal while bad posture could increase it.

Posture is the position in which a body is held upright against gravity while standing, sitting or lying down. And good posture involves training a body to stand, walk, sit and lie in positions where the least strain is placed on supporting muscles and spine during movement or weight-bearing activities.

Scientists had earlier suspected the link between the muscles in the neck, blood pressure and heart rate. Now, they have found a direct connection between these neck muscles and a part of the brain stem, which plays a crucial role in regulating heart rate and blood pressure. Researchers also claim that their findings could explain why blood pressure and heart rate sometimes change when the neck muscles are injured.

Similarly, it is possible that hours spent hunched over a computer may raise blood pressure.

Ever wonder why you work out day after day, yet you don't really see any results? Or, maybe you were getting results before, only for your body to sort of reach a stand-still in terms of progress? Aside from fitness plateaus -- which occur when you do not vary your workout enough, your lack of jack may be due to the mere fact that you, my friend, just plain ain't trying hard enough.

Here are five ways to tell if you're not giving it your all:

1 - You are able to easily chat with a friend, either on your cell phone or in person, for the duration of your supposed high-intensity workout.

2 - Your heart rate remains at just about the same place from start to finish.

3 - You're bored as hell.

4 - Instead of feeling a sense of mental clarity when finished, you instead feel even more stressed.

5 - You haven't increased the speed you've been going or the weight you've been lifting in more than two months.

What do you do first -- cardio or weights? Me, I've always done the following: stretching, a 10-minute warm-up on a cardio machine, 25 minutes of weights, followed by 35 minutes (or more) doing cardio. I do it this way because a personal trainer told me that I would burn more fat if I revved my heart rate with weights and then did cardio. Plus, I enjoy doing cardio more than weights, so the cardio session is what motivates me to keep going.

The reason I bring it up is Fitsugar posted on this exact question. There are good arguments for doing both cardio and weights first, but I'll stick to my routine. How about you?

Like most of you, I've ridden many a roller coaster in my time. While I don't seek these thrilling rides out at amusement parks, I do admire the amount of engineering that goes into these machines, and how infrequent accidents actually happen on them. It's quite impressive, really.

In most cases, I do see warnings at the entrances of roller coasters that give warnings to those with breathing and heart difficulties. Those warnings have once again been vindicated, as a new study out of Germany says that the heart rates of most roller coaster riders does indeed spike during those twists and loops. This can naturally be dangerous to many riders.

In the study, the heart rates of roller coaster riders averaged 89 beats per minute before the ride began. Once the ride began, an average of 155 beats per minute was taken from the studied riders, with the largest spike coming during large ascents. Talk about mind over body - -the anticipation of a fall caused the highest rates -- not the actual fall." the doctors write.

I think sometimes it's important to treat yourself for doing well with your fitness and exercise goals and get yourself something fun and fancy, and for those people who are into gadgets this Garmin Forerunner 50 sports watch could be something to make your workouts that much more interesting. It's a watch that can track all the basic stats like your pace, distance, calories, etc., along with a heart rate monitor and wireless foot pod. It's similar to the Nike+ and iPod collaboration, except you don't need special shoes and it doesn't play music. It has lots of fun features but the Forerunner 50 isn't exactly cheap at $199.

Via Gizmodo

If you're going to spend valuable time exercising, make sure you do it right. Did you know that heart rate training could help you reach your fitness goals faster? Here are some facts:

• In order to reach your fitness goals, you need to exercise at the right intensity.
• Heart rate is the only accurate measurement of your intensity or your exertion level.
• A heart rate monitor is the easiest and most accurate way to continuously measure your heart rate.
  

A heart rate monitor is a tool that will help pace you at your suggested target heart rate and it can be easily used by anyone. If you exercise too hard, you will most likely quit before you get the real benefit. On the other hand, if you work out too lightly you won't get the exercise benefit either. So using a heart rate monitor during your workout can help you set and maintain the proper pace. It's like having a personal trainer telling you to slow down or speed up ... it's an excellent motivational tool.

So to get started, check out this article from About.com -- they list the top 5 monitors from the most basic model for beginners to the most complicated models for athletes and coaches.

The body has an infinitely intricate set of mechanisms that all work together for your body to function on a day-to-day basis. Most of the time we're completely unaware of all these small adjustments our bodies are making, and, subsequently, wouldn't know how to replicate them on purpose. But by understanding these mechanisms, you can manipulate, or "trick," your body into better performance.

Eco Dialogues has created a list of 18 useful "tricks" -- such as how to "make your heart stand still." Apparently, you can calm a racing heart simply by blowing on your thumb. They interviewed an emergency medical services specialist at the University of Pittsburgh who says the vagus nerve -- which governs heart rate -- can be controlled by breathing. So when you're nervous before a big speech, or on a first date, breathing on your thumb can get things back to normal.

Other interesting "tricks" include how to tickle your throat by scratching your ear, experience supersonic hearing, unstitch your side and breathe underwater. Some are more useful than others, but all of them are certainly interesting!

It's always good to remember the basics, especially when it comes to your fitness and exercise routine. And thanks to our friends over at FitSugar we have this handy reminder of 5 things all good workouts should include:

• Warm-Up. If you're excited to get started it's easy to jump right in to your routine, but skipping this step could result reduced calorie-burning or worse, injury.
• Cardio. It has great benefits not only for weight loss and weight management, but also for your heart and cardiovascular system, reducing your risk of disease and health problems.
  
• Flexibility training. Stretching and keeping flexible is good for preventing injury, reducing muscle soreness, and getting/keeping healthy joints.
• Strength training. Also a major player in weight loss and weight management, resistance training also enhances strength and posture, reduces the risk of back injury, and has been shown to help with bone health.
• Cool-down. It's never good to start anything physical and/or quit abruptly, so a cool-down is necessary to get the most health benefits from any workout. Cooling down helps the heart rate slow down more naturally, can help prevent blood from pooling, and reduces the chances of dizziness or fainting.

Does your workout have all these pieces? Honestly, I don't always do cardio and strength training in the same session, but I'm thinking that's okay. I hope so anyway!

So if today is becoming a world of both computers and health problems, why not combine the two? Yanko Design has a new concept for a computer mouse that reads the user's heartbeat and other vitals while they work. It tracks the information on the computer itself and can, if it needs to, then send that information to family, caregivers, or even to the hospital at regular intervals for monitoring.

Although I'm sure no doctor would recommend bypassing regular vital checks by a professional for this little mouse gadget, it would be a nice way to stay on top of things and possibly even keep tabs on your stress levels while working. I think my productivity might take a hit, though, since I'd probably get all distracted checking the reading all the time and running little experiments!

Ah, the infamous "zone." Somebody's always "in the zone," "feelin' the zone," "trying to find the zone" -- but who knew the elusive "zone" is actually a pretty concrete idea: the actual physical measurement of your body's most effective level of exercise. If you're going to bother working out, you might as well try to make it as effective as possible, right? Don't want to waste a perfectly good effort!

I'm sure by now you've at least heard the phrase "level of perceived exertion," and this article takes that idea and combines it with measuring your heart rate to figure your optimal level of exercising to get the best results. While none of this is drastically new information, what I really like about this article is that it gives a thorough break-down of all 10 levels on the "perceived exertion" scale, and puts them in an everyday context that makes the rating system and numbers really easy to remember.

So next time somebody brags about being in the zone, you can say "yeah, me too."