Manual Glider DCT125 Crosstrainer - 37
3. Fitness
What is fitness? In general a fitness exercise can be described as an activity that
makes your heart pump more oxygen from your lungs to your muscles by means of
circulating the blood. The more strenuous the training, the more fuel (oxygen) the
muscles need and the more work the heart has to do to pump oxygen rich blood to
the muscles. If you are in good physical shape your heart can pump more blood to
the muscle with each contraction. This means the heart doesn’t have to contract as
many times to transport the necessary oxygen to your muscles. Your resting heart
beat and heart beat when exercising will therefore decrease.
While training it is important to monitor your heart rate. The heart rate is essential for
the result of your training. Your best training heart rate depends firstly on your age.
Your maximum heart beat can be determined by this. Secondly the most effective
heart rate depends on your training goals. If your training goal is to lose weight, then
the most effective training is at 60% of your maximum heart rate. If your training goal
is to improve your stamina, then you should train at 85% of your maximum heart rate.
The body stores energy in two forms: carbohydrates and fat. When we exercise we
use a combination of these two energy supplies. If the training intensity is at a high
level the body will mostly choose the energy that burns fast: carbohydrates. Since
there is a limited supply of these carbohydrates you can’t continue this for a long
period of time. When training at a low intensity the body will mostly choose to use a
long lasting source of energy: fat. Since this is stored in large quantities in the body,
you can continue this kind of training for a longer time.
Below you will find a schedule allowing you to calculate the best heart rate for
your training. In this schedule each age category has a range that your heart rate
should be in during your training. The middle column has the values you should try to
maintain if you want to lose weight. If you want to improve your stamina you should
try to maintain the rates in the right column.
3.1 Training by heart rate
