Aerobic fitness

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AERABYTE

If you're serious about becoming aerobically fitter, merely recording time, steps or distance is useful, but not sufficient. You've also got to include effort into the aerobic fitness equation.

An aerabyte is a byte of aerobic fitness activity.

To calculate the number of aerabytes you've used up in a workout, multiply the actual time (T) in minutes by the level of effort (E), rated on a scale of 1 to 5.

Whilst you can make a subjective assessment of effort, it's highly recommended that you use the heart rate guide below. Get yourself  get a heart rate monitor and measure the intensity of your work-outs with greater precision. If you're diligent in your training, over the weeks and months you'll notice an improvement in your level of aerobic fitness. ie, the fitter you are the longer you will be able to maintain your heart rate at a higher level.

*The figures have been derived from the formula; maximum heart rate = 220 – age. For a 40 year old person the maximum heart rate is said to be about 180 BPM. There's a bit of variation either way depending on your genetic make-up, your training history and how fit you are

The experts say that to stimulate an improvement in aerobic fitness you need to exercise with your heart rate over 60% of its maximum. 60% of MHR for a 40 year old is about 110, level 2 on the aerabyte scale.

125 BPM is about 70%. 140BPM is around 80% of MHR and if you’re in reasonable shape you’ll be able to sustain that level of effort for 40 minutes of more.

The aerabyte figures work well for regular folks between the age of 40 and 60. If you're younger or fitter you can up the heart rate scores accordingly. If you're over 50 you may like to adjust them down a bit. It all depends on how fit you are.

THE AEROBIC FITNESS RULE OF THUMB

* If you're fat, diabetic, (type 2), get headaches and feel tired all the time, have a low libido, sleep apnoea. have an elevated blood insulin level, have high blood pressure, have elevated cholesterol and various stages of coronary insufficiency, or are depressed we recommend you exercise twice a day. These are the symptoms of general metabolic disorder. They're telling you you're not in great shape. If you've got any of the symptoms of general metabolic dysfunction, 6 sessions a week would be good, 8 better and 10 best. Too much you say? Well not if you want to fix up the body system dysfunctions caused by lifestyle neglect. You can mask the symptoms with a pill, but you can treat the underlying metabolic dysfunction with exercise, a better diet and stress management techniques. You can vary the sessions, some hard, some easy, some long, some short.

HOW LONG WILL I NEED TO EXERCISE TO GET MYSELF BACK IN GOOD SHAPE?

First of all we need a definition of good shape.

Click here and go to the 20m run test of aerobic fitness. If you're a regular sort of person, if you can do 40 laps in 5 minutes you're in good shape. 35 laps would be reasonable and achievable for most people under the age of 60, men and women.

The test is weight sensitive, so as you become lighter you'll get more laps. Really good scores for regular folks would be 45 laps for women and 50 for men.

But back to the question, 'How long will I need to exercise to get back in good shape?'

It all depends on how long and how hard you train.

5, 40 minute sessions a week with your heart rate over 140 will set you up for 1000 aerabytes. Do that for a few months and you'll soon be as fit as a trout, lean as a greyhound and toey as a Roman sandal. You'd need to build up to it gradually.

If you're in poor shape, start with the 21 minute aerobic fitness program.

What this means is that the higher the energy density of your workouts the less time you have to spend each week getting your aerabytes. Of course there will be hard and easy days, so the time each week will vary.

200 minutes is close to 3 and a half hours. There are 168 hours in every week. Can you find 4 or 5 to keep yourself aerobically fit?

If you're in an occupation where you're moving around all day - you're a gardener, lawn mower, brick layer, parcel deliverer ... - then you'll get your aerobic activity during the 40 hours that you work.

Some of the fittest and healthiest people I've seen in the last few years were staff in a botanic garden who spent all week wandering around tending the plants, digging up weeds, carting rubbish... They just about all got 40 laps in the 20m run without a specific aerobic fitness training program.

However, for most people this is not possible because they're cooped up in a cage, chained to a desk all day, sitting on their backsides.

Most of us don't have jobs where we can keep moving around all the time so we have to find some 'artificial' activity that can be done in short, sharp and vigorous bursts. (Definition of 'short', between 20 and 40 minutes. Definition of 'sharp and vigorous', heart rate over 120 BPM.) Only that way can we hope to make up for the movement our species was designed to do naturally (and which, by and large we've stripped out of our lives) and stave off the myriad body system dysfunctions that are the result of motion starvation.

And only that way will we bring a halt to the spread of those most rampaging symptoms of general metabolic dysfunctions; headaches, tiredness,  obesity, sleep apnoea, hyper insulinemia, diabetes, hypertension, elevated cholesterol, various forms of cardiac insufficiency and depression.

If you've got a sedentary occupation then you need to make extra provision - running, cycling, swimming or using the aerobic equipment in the gym - to get the amount of aerobic exercise your body needs. If you don't, sooner or later you can expect key body systems to become dysfunctional. Then its ambulances at the bottom of the cliff for the rest of your life, or until you wake up to yourself.

Trotting off to the doctor won't help, you'll just get sucked into the medico/pharmaceutical vortex, spending your money (and that of your fellow taxpayers) pouring drugs down your throat that mask the symptoms without fixing yourself up. While all that's happening you're getting worse.

The enemy is within. Fix yourself up.

You need help. Make an appointment at your local gym and get some good advice.

YOUR EQUIPMENT

To make this system work all you need is a pair of sandshoes, a pair of shorts (tracksuit or bathers), a tee shirt and a heart rate monitor. I recommend a Polar heart rate monitor because a lot of the aerobic fitness equipment in fitness centres is Polar compatible. If you've got your heart rate strap on, your heart rate automatically appears up on the console.

USE THE AEROBIC FITNESS DIARY TO RECORD YOUR SCORES

Keep track of the number of aerabytes you do per session, per day, per week and per month. Over the weeks and months, you'll have objective evidence of whether or not your training program is working. (You can then go to your health insurer and demand that you be charged a lower premium!)

Aim for a minimum of 400 aerabytes a week. 600 is better and 800 is best. You'll keep yourself in exceptionally good shape on 1000 aerabytes per week.