P&P #31. The Monitoring of Heart Rate as an Indicator of the Effects of Exercise May Be Misleading.
Prescription of cardiovascular exercise is invariably based on some formula relating to heart rate. The simplistic 60% of one's maximal heart rate (often defined as 220 minus one's age) for beginners and 85% of HRmax for advanced athletes is very popular among fitness instructors. If this heart rate is maintained for some 12-20 minutes in a given physical activity, that activity is deemed to be producing a cardiovascular training effect.
Now, telemetered monitoring of the heart action of racing car drivers has shown that their pulse rate may remain as high as 180 bpm for prolonged periods. Does this imply that this type of sport is producing a cardiovascular training effect? Or does this imply that heart rate monitoring is inappropriate in such situations? This prolonged highly elevated heart rate among racing drivers raises another issue. Most fitness and medical professionals would be deeply concerned if their clients maintained such a high HR for so long. Nevertheless, death from cardiac disease or hypertension among racing drivers is not different from that among the general population. Comment.
TOP
Copyright © MCMXCVI by Giedon Ariel & Associates . All Rights Reserved.
Web Site Design by Gideon Ariel. Updated MON 11 Nov 96
TOP
