Dakota Beacon

As autumn weather beckons folks are ready to embark on one more physical fitness fling before winter. The over-50 crowd feel like a million bucks and want to prove it. Funny how the mind says “I feel like a kid again” but the body says “Give me a break!”

For all the good intentions, it is wise to ease into physical activity especially for anyone who has abstained for any length of time. Check with a doctor and follow his or her advice. Feeling fine and being fine are two different matters. Your doctor can best assess your ability to handle physical stress.

A dictionary definition of physical fitness goes like this: “An ongoing state of health whereby all systems of the body are conditioned to withstand physical stress and are able to perform at an optimum level without injury.” Fitness encompasses weight control, flexibility, muscle strength, muscle endurance and cardio-respiratory (CR) efficiency. Each of these items is important, but CR tops the list.

The CR system is critical to staying alive. As the term implies, the system is comprised of (1) the cardiac system (heart, arteries and vessels) which moves blood throughout the body and (2) the respiratory system (lungs) which collects oxygen intended for transport by the cardiac system. Together, the CR system moves oxygen and nutrients to every cell in the body. How efficiently this is accomplished depends on a person’s fitness.

Neglect of the CR system entails risks. A common failure of the cardiac system may result in a heart attack. Failure of oxygen to reach the brain produces a stroke. That’s basically what the layman needs to know.

Good aerobic conditioning may be achieved by exercising at your target heart rate for 20 to 30 minutes each day. Swimming, jogging and team sports will do. For many people, walking is even better. It’s cheap and easy. People hike for health, saunter for serenity and ramble for recreation. That’s the beauty of walking.

Physical therapists and physicians have a comprehensive way to determine fitness. The American Physical Therapy Association offers a simple way to measure CR fitness by calculating your TARGET heart rate. The first step is to determine your MAXIMUM heart rate. Do this by subtracting your age from 220. If you are 65 years old, your calculated MAXIMUM heart rate should be 155 beats per minute (bpm).

Next, calculate your TARGET heart rate. Your TARGET heart rate will be between 60 and 80 percent of your MAXIMUM heart rate. Using our example of a 65-year-old person, multiply 155 bpm by 0.6 and 0.8 respectively producing two figures: 93 bpm and 124 bpm. The TARGET heart rate of the person in our example falls between 93 and 124 bpm.

With a doctor’s concurrence, proceed gradually with your fitness program. During your routine workout, check your pulse by placing your fingers gently alongside your voice box. Count your heart beats for 15 seconds, then multiply that number by 4 to determine the beats per minute.

As aerobic fitness improves, three things stand out. First, you may need to recalculate your TARGET heart rate higher as your CR system becomes more efficient. Second, your resting heart rate may begin to drop. This, too, reflects a more efficient CR system. A normal resting heart rate should be between 60 and 100 bpm. And, third, you will recover your resting heart rate from the peak of your target heart rate in less time immediately following exercise.

You may discover other pleasing side effects as well. Your muscle tone will improve and your weight will be redistributed as your muscles strengthen and you control your food intake. All of this contributes to a healthy sense of well-being.

A word of caution. Do not fall victim to the fallacy that exercise is a primary way to lose weight. This is not true. For example, walk or jog on a treadmill that registers the number of calories burned per hour. For the sake of discussion, let’s say you perform an activity on the treadmill (jogging) indicating an expenditure of 500 calories per hour. One pound of human fat contains 3500 calories. To lose one pound of fat you would have to jog continuously for 7 hours without stopping. Most folks do not have the stamina or the willpower to engage in that type of activity. It is far easier and more productive to cut back on calorie intake.

Stay fit. Feel fine. Enjoy life. No one lives forever, but weight control, diet and exercise will enhance your quality of life.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at P. O. Box 337, Stanley, ND 58784 or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).