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Developing a personal exercise program – POLAR SMARTEDGE User Manual

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Developing

a Personal

Exercise Program

Before beginning, you should ask yourself two key questions:

• How much time do I spend today

participating in physical acivity?

• What are my goals?

The following steps help you answer the two questions, get

the most out of your Polar Heart Rate Monitor, and achieve

your personal exercise goals.

1. CLASSIFY YOURSELF BY

LEVEL OF ACTIVITY

You may have a clear understanding of your present physical

condition. In this case you can move to the next step to

specify your goals. You can also define the amount of your

physical activity by answering the questionnaire which is

modified from the “Code for Physical Activity” developed by

NASA/Johnson Space Center (Jackson et al. 1990).

The questionnaire is an easy and quick way to define weather

you are a beginner, a moderate exerciser, an active exerciser

or a serious exerciser. It is recommended to review the

questionnaire every 1-2 months and revise if the amount of

your physical activity has changed.

For an example of an exercise session for a 35-year-old

person with ‘Improved Fitness’ as a target, please see the

following chart.

It is recommended by ACSM that the exercise session would

last 20-60 minutes in the aerobic zone.

REFERENCES

American College of Sports Medicine. Position Stand. The
Recommended Quantity and Quality of Exercise for Developing and
Maintaining Cardiorespiratory and Muscular Fitness in Healthy Adults.
Med Sci Sports Exerc 22: 265-274, 1990.

American College of Sports Medicine. ACSM’s Guidelines for Exercise
Testing and Prescription. Williams & Wilkins, 1995.

Jackson, A.S., Blair, S.N., Mahar, M.T., Wier, L.T., Ross, R.M. and
Stuteville, J.E. Prediction of functional aerobic capacity without exercise
testing. Med Sci Sports Exerc 22: 863-870, 1990.

Tulppo, M., Mäkikallio, T., Takala, T., Seppänen, T. and Huikuri, H.
Quantitative Beat-to-beat Analysis of heart Rate Dynamics During
Exercise. Am J Physiol 271: H244-252, 1996.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Physical Activity and
Health: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, Centres for Disease Control and
Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health
Promotion, 1996, 147.

TARGET

ZONE

Target Zone

cool

down

Resting

Warm

up

5-10 min

5-10 min

Heart Rate/Beats Per Minute

150

130

20-60 min

Resting

Minutes of exercise