When I think of how I wanted to share what I knew about a body’s response to exercise and how problematic that turned out to be, I still laugh. As I wrote in my last column, during my career we physical educators had to rely on the kids to count for themselves and record it accurately. In thirty-one years of teaching I had both funny and shocking stories about kids doing their own scoring (stories which happily found their way into Too Dangerous to Teach) and was frustrated when I wanted results to be meaningful. Then heart rate monitors appeared, but they were expensive and not widely used. Thanks to my sister, a health enthusiast, who didn’t care about cost, I became the proud recipient of my own. I used it religiously at first, and then learned my body so well, that I felt when I was out of my zone and knew whether to speed up or slow down to get back to it. Once I could understand my own biofeedback, I left the monitor in the drawer, unused until I realized that even my one monitor could serve a good purpose in class.

I’d been having kids take their resting pulse, working pulse and recovery pulse during the fitness unit for years, but suddenly it didn’t seem that the feedback they were getting from the effort was working as anticipated. So, one day I brought in my monitor, offered it to whomever wanted to wear it, and asked the volunteer to share what it read during different phases of our dance–aerobic routine—warm-up, moderate–energy, high-energy, cool down and stretching. I did the same with the kids during weight training. That peeked some curiosity and during subsequent lessons, different students volunteered to wear it. In the end, with even one monitor, the accurate and immediate feedback provided a valuable lesson. What made that most clear was when, later that year, several students, who had seemed apathetic about fitness, came to my office asking if they could borrow my monitor for a research project.

I don’t think that heart rate monitors are necessary to be a good teacher or be able to provide a good lesson. I do, however, suggest their use in the beginner, intermediate and advanced fitness units in Complete Physical Education Plans for Grades 7–12. Personally, with all that said, I would opt for a sports monitor instead. Users can read time, measure heart rates, count steps, distance and calories and have a built in count-down timer and stopwatch in one device. With that kind of versatility, I simply cannot imagine a physical educator without one. Not, when they provide immediate feedback, display reliable results and are easy to wear. What is more, given all that they do, they are reasonably priced.

Still, I must share that I do not believe that they are what some of their advertising claims them to be—a multifunction item that “can take good care of your health.” You see, I believe that it is you and your students who have to take good care of your health. A sports monitor can’t.

Isobel R. Kleinman
Secondary Section Editor

Compliments of Cardiosport.com

Exercising at the right intensity is the key to meeting fitness goals. Different heart rate zones do different things. Some more effectively burn fat, others improve performance, and others improve stamina. The basic variable is the maximum heart rate (MHR) one trains at and the fitness goal being aimed for.

Determining Maximum Heart Rate

• A treadmill test with a cardiologist or qualified exercise physiologist is preferred if over 35, overweight or with a family history of heart disease.
• Sedentary individuals should use 220 minus one’s age to determine MHR. If you exercise aerobically 3 or more times a week, use 205 minus half your age.
  

Intensity of Exercise

• Beginners who was to improve overall fitness, lose weight, or reduce stress, should exercise in the healthy heart zone which is 50–59 % of their maximum heart rate (MHR).
• For regular exercisers who want to lose body fat, use the fat burning zone – 60-69% MHR
• To improve aerobic capacity or athletic performance, use the aerobic zone - 70–79% MHR.
• Competitive athletes who push into an anaerobic threshold—80–89% MHR—train muscles to handle lactic acid. Exercising regularly at a heart rate that is too high does not provide additional aerobic benefit, but does increase their possibility of athletic injury. Such training (interval training) requires a high degree of fitness and is not necessary for general fitness.

Target Zone Chart

• http://www1.shopping.com/ xDN-Watches--sport-heart_rate_monitor/linkin_id-3027041
  
  
• http://sportsmedicine.about.com/ library/weekly/aatp_hrmonitors.htm
  
  
• http://walking.about.com/cs/ measure/gr/timexspeed.htm
  
  
• http://walking.about.com/Cs/ hrmsales/index.htm