You are about to embark on a new road of fitness that you've never experienced before. For the next 8 weeks you will receive four emails per week which follow a specific and progressive sequence that we want you to follow.

A sub-max or sub-maximum assessment is an easy intensity, brief test that can be used to estimate your maximum heart rate. It is not a maximum heart rate test, which is an assessment that takes you to absolute exhaustion.There are three sub-maximum tests. After finishing these easy activities, calculate your estimated maximum heart rate.

Sub Max Test #1. The Chair Test
Select a sturdy and stable chair and for 60 seconds stand up and sit down 20-30 times for 1 minute. At the end of the 1 minute exercise period, count your heart rate using either a heart rate monitor or manually (called manual palpation) by feeling your pulse in your wrist (radial artery) or the artery in the side of your neck (carotid artery).

Record the highest heart rate number at the end of the 60-second period.

Add to your highest heart rate number one of the following numbers based on your estimate of your current fitness level:

The Fitness Factor

Poor	Average	Excellent	Competitive Athelete
+ 20 bpm	+40 bpm	+ 60 bpm	+ 80 bpm

My maximum heart rate determined by this test:
____ bpm + ____bpm (fitness factor) = Maximum heart rate___bpm.

Sub Max Test #2. The Step Test
Select an 8-12” step with stable landing. Step up and down continuously for 3 minutes, 30 steps to a minute. The sequence is left up, right up, left down, and right down.

At the end of this 3-minute exercise period, record your heart rate.

Add to your highest heart rate number one of the following numbers based on your estimate of your current fitness level:

The Fitness Factor

Poor	Average	Excellent	Competitive Athelete
+ 55 bpm	+65bpm	+75 bpm	+ 80 bpm

My maximum heart rate determined by this test:
____ bpm + ____bpm (fitness factor) = Maximum heart rate___bpm.

Sub Max Test #3. Math Max Heart Rate Equation

With a calculator, complete the following equation:

210 minus ½ your age minus 5% of your body weight (in pounds) plus 4 for men and 0 for women = mathematically predicted maximum heart rate

Example:
Male, 180 pounds, 40 years old

Estimated maximum heart rate
210 - 20 - 9 + 4 = 185 bpm.

Your maximum heart rate is best estimated as the average of these three different assessments:

Chair Test =	= ____bpm
Step Test =	= ____bpm
Math Max formula	= ____bpm
Average of these tests	= ____bpm

To read more about how to take the sub-maximum tests to predict maximum heart rate read either of Sally Edwards’ book Heart Zone Training or The Heart Rate Monitor Guidebook.

All of us have a favorite workout. Sometimes we even name our workouts. If you're a cyclist, it might be the "lunch time ride" or the "river ride" or the "Tuesday night ride". For a runner or walker it might be meeting your training partner for the "Three Mile Loop". Your first workout is to look at your heart rate monitor or count your pulse manually and just observe it. This is called the "Observation Workout".

Workout just like you always do and do so comfortably. Don't change a thing. Just do your favorite weight training or cardio or stretching session and just get to know your heart rate and your monitor. Don't fight with it or fuss. There's a tendency to disagree with your monitor on your first workout and say it's not right or not working. In 98% of the cases the monitor has the right number and the person is wrong. As humans, we tend to want something different, like a higher or lower heart rate number.

During this workout, just look and be detached from the numbers. They don't really have a lot of meaning until they are all put into relationship with each other anyway. Don't have an opinion. It's called "training with detachment". Be in the present and just look, feel, wonder, or think. Don't fight with what you are observing or argue with yourself about it. For now, just accept the information.

When you finish this workout record into your training log the following information:

Average heart rate:
____ bpm (the average through the whole workout - not available on all monitors)

Peak heart rate:
____ bpm (the highest number you see)

Training time:
____ bpm (the total elapsed time during the workout)

That's it. Wear your monitor for every workout this week and observe more as you grow accustomed to it.