Heart Zones e-Newsletter

Welcome to the July 2004 edition of The Heart Zones e-Newsletter copyright: Heart Zones, your source of heart rate training information
	Identity Theft Measuring Heart Rate from a Pill High Tech Shirts for Football Players Web Special of the Month – Heart Zone Water Bottles and... Blackout BINGO Fitness Workout Question from the E-BAG: I Can’t Seem to get my Max Heart Rate Up? Strength Training Raises Your Heart Rate but NOT Your Aerobic Training Load Heart Zones Conference Theme: Bringing the Emotional and Physical Together
	1. Identity Theft Actually, this isn’t about how someone can get your personal information and spend up a storm in your name. This is about YOU losing your own identity through the loss of health and fitness. If you have ever felt sluggish and out of shape, it can sometimes be intimidating to get out and join others that you perceive as either looking better than you or being fitter than you. What can you do to get yourself out of the doldrums and out enjoying long summer days of fun filled activity? Each of us has our own way of motivating ourselves and it is really up to us to figure out what gets us on the mark. For some it is designing a fitness plan or getting a workout partner or signing up for an event. These are extrinsic motivators. Check in with the “intrinsic” motivation that comes only from your heart, that incredible muscle. What do you do to get and keep yourself out there enjoying the gift of health and fitness? Send your comments and suggestions to Jessica.menendez@heartzones.com, we will publish a list in our next e-newsletter.
	2. Measuring Heart Rate from a Pill Back in 1998, aboard the space shuttle Discovery, John Glenn swallowed a pill containing a temperature sensor and a radio transmitter to relay his vital signs to mission control. The problem: That pill was nearly an inch long -- and, at $75,000, a bit too pricey to be flushed after use. Now comes nanotechnology that promises an upgrade. Performance Software Corp., a Phoenix-based software-programming shop, is developing "ad hoc network-centric physiological monitors" -- Tic-Tac-sized pills that would monitor everything from core body temperature to hydration levels, chemical toxicities, and more. In the future, the pills could be used with other technologies, such as an external monitor for heart rate, a pressure sensor in the sole of a shoe, or a helmet-mounted infrared camera, to comprise "personal area networks" -- systems that aggregate data and transmit it to a central computer. Performance hopes to have a prototype running within the next year. It envisions football coaches checking in on overheating players from the sidelines, fire chiefs monitoring firefighters from outside a burning building, army medics scanning soldiers' vital stats from remote command centers, or physicians collecting information about the body's chemistry following surgery. The cost: ultimately, perhaps a dollar apiece.
	3. Hi-Tech Shirt for Competitive Athletes Athletes could benefit from a new hi-tech shirt that alerts them or their coaches to high heart rates or low hydration levels. The shirt, which has in-built pulse and sweat monitors was designed by Northumbria University student David Evans. It uses ECG sensors to record the electrical activity of the heart and send signals to a computer on the team bench, alerting managers, coaches and trainers to the player’s heart rate and highlighting any abnormal rhythms. Silicon gel-based strips are connected to the top of the players’ backs and react to sweat loss to monitor hydration levels, indicating when a player is fatigued or dehydrated and could need to be substituted. Additionally, a sensor on the shirtsleeve allows the bench to communicate with players by sending radio waves to a transmitter that gives off a small vibration and alerts the player to look towards the dugout when necessary. The information is sent back to a laptop or PDA handheld computer in the dugout via a small radio-frequency communication panel at the bottom of the shirt, allowing the bench to monitor the team as a whole or select individual players for attention. The shirt is made from electro-textile materials and can be easily washed.
	4. WEB SPECIAL OF THE MONTH: Quench your thirst! Heart Zones water bottles are on sale! Only $3.99! www.heartzones.com This attractive and durable water bottle has the Heart Zones chart printed on it – you will always know your heart rate numbers!
	5. Blackout Bingo Fitness Workout: This is a challenging and FUN workout to do on your own or to energize your next indoor cycling class. Download the bingo card at www.heartzones.com and follow each prescription from each of the boxes. You get to pick which ones to do first (hint, based on your understanding of your fitness and heart rate, you will have an advantage AND you will more than likely pick the order of exercises based on your recovery) and the first person to complete ALL of the squares wins! Have fun with this one and create your own! www.heartzones.com
	6. Question from the E-Bag: I can’t seem to reach my maximum heart rate. I have seen 183 bpm on my monitor once before, but I can’t seem to get it to budge past 173 and I really feel like I am putting forth a huge effort. My training has been inconsistent in terms of always getting 3 to 4 sessions in a week, it’s more like 2 to 3 times per week. Has my fitness fallen that much because I haven’t been as regular? ANSWER: Your maximum heart rate may be 173 bpm and the one reading at 183 bpm may have been an error. Perhaps you experienced “cross talk”, which is when your monitor picks up interference from either another monitor or from other interference and you get unacceptable data. As to whether or not you have lost fitness due to missing a session or two each week – likely not. It could be that your maximum heart rate is simply 173 bpm. It’s not how high that number is but what percent of it you can maintain and sustain. Your maximum heart rate is genetically determined. I recommend that you test yourself by doing sub maximum heart rate checks (check out the Heart Monitor Guidebook at www.heartzones.com) or go out and do your favorite workout with a hard effort and see what your peak exercise heart rate is for that session and use that as a beginning marker for your maximum heart rate. The more you learn about your body and how your heart reacts to heat, intensity, stress and load – the more you will be able to pinpoint where your maximum heart rate is. Good luck!
	7. Strength Training Raises Your Heart Rate but NOT Your Aerobic Training Load Wear your monitor during your next weight lifting session and you will see your heart rate increase during the lifting periods. Does this improve your cardiovascular fitness level because you can lift in Zone 1 or Zone 2? ANSWER: No. As Heart Zones Master Trainer Bev Robinson, President of Heart Zones Canada explains, “This increase in heart rate does not bring about the same cardio training effects as activities that involve running, swimming, skating, skiing, or cycling. This increase is your bodies response to the high-tension occlusion of blood flow. Because blood flow is impeded the heart's stroke volume is low. Thus the oxygen delivery and consumption during strength training are too low to contribute to cardio fitness.” Try it for yourself and see or contact Bev at BevRobinson@shaw.ca
	8. Heart Zones Conference Theme: Bringing the Emotional and Physical Together What started as a small gathering in Seattle three years ago has quickly grown to an international conference of hundreds in the Chicago suburb of Naperville, Illinois, this Fall. On October 1st-3rd, an expected 500 teachers, health specialists, athletes, and fitness trainers from around the world will gather 30 miles west of Chicago for the Heart Zones International Fitness and Educators Conference. Fitness trainers and teachers need to stay current or run the risk of being out of phase with what clients and students are demanding. According to fitness educator Dan Rudd, Ph.D., author of the just-released book Health in a Heartbeat, one of the most important components of healthy living is to develop healthy emotions. "Stress not only makes us emotionally dumb, it has been proven to make us fat, too. You can't address heart health of any kind without dealing with the issue of stress. And one of the best ways to overcome stress is through 'emotional fitness training,' developing an individualized health and fitness program directed towards the emotional heart muscle.” The opening event is a town meeting titled “Health in a Heartbeat: Emotional and Physical Fitness in America” led by Dr. Rudd. Throughout the event, over 21 faculty members will lead 10 certifications, 25 workshops and workouts, and three levels of seminars. Participants can earn continuing education credits for many of the industry's major certification organizations such as ACE, AFAA, and ACSM. Examples of the days' events include: Indoor Cycle and Personal Training primary and advanced certifications and professional applications Workshops on how to get fit and fitter Ways to use technology such as heart rate monitors and speed + distance monitors to improve fitness Swim, walk, bike, and running programs to reach individual goals Faculty members include Mary-Clayton Enderlein, MPH, RN, the developer of the health promotion program “Energy and Weight Management”; Sally Edwards, MA, MBA, the founder of the Heart Zones Training System and author of 20 books on health and fitness; Deve Swaim, MA, teacher and author of "High School and Middle School Healthy Hearts in the Zones"; and Dr. Alinda Perrine, one of America’s leading fitness experts.
	Click here to send this newsletter to a friend or sign up to receive this free monthly e-newsletter or send an email to subscribe@heartzones.com To unsubscribe, send an email to unsubscribe@heartzones.com and make your subject line read: unsubscribe If you would like to contribute to the newsletter content, or have ideas, questions, or concerns for us to address, please contact the editor by email at: jessica.menendez@heartzones.com copyright: Heart Zones staff@heartzones.com http://www.heartzones.com Phone: (916) 481-7283 Fax: (916) 481-2213 Mailing address: Heart Zones 2636 Fulton Avenue Suite #100 Sacramento, CA 95821 The Heart Zones e-Newsletter is a Heart Zones publication Publisher: Sally Edwards Editor in Chief: Jessica Menendez PLEASE forward this e-mail to friends and colleagues who are also interested in fitness and sports training using the heart. THANK YOU!