The Fitbit aerobic fitness prescription

For the first time ever, the aerobic fitness prescription
with a dosage based on frequency, duration and heart
rate is now readily available – and can be automatically
monitored and managed using wearable technology.

I use and recommend the Fitbit aerobic fitness prescription and monitoring system. The aerobic exercise prescription based on the ‘equation’, frequency (number of sessions a week), duration (of individual sessions) and intensity (rated against heart rate) is one of the most important prescriptions a doctor, fitness or allied health practitioner can ever write out for someone suffering from metabolic dysfunction.

Fitbit has changed the way I exercise.

METABOLIC DYSFUNCTION

You’ll know metabolic dysfunction by its symptoms:

obesity
elevated level of C-reactive protein
type 2 diabetes
high blood pressure
elevated cholesterol
cardio-vascular dysfunction
sleep apnoea
arthritis
cancer
blue and black moods
headaches
lack of energy
poor sleep

The role of the metabolic health system is to deliver essential nutrients to cells and removes waste products from them. It can be described as the metabolic engine. Its key vehicles are diet and aerobic exercise, both driven by the mind.

There are a host of measures that can be taken to gauge the health of the metabolic engine:

oxygen intake efficiency – using the 20m run test
weight of the body
vitamin and mineral sufficiency
blood pressure
cholesterol
blood sugar
homocysteine
reactive protein
mood
lethargy

Rarely, if ever is oxygen intake measured and rarely if ever is an aerobic fitness program of sufficient dosage prescribed to keeping the metabolic motor running sweetly. Basically you want to turbo-charge the way oxygen is delivered to every cell and how waste products of metabolism, are transported out of the body.

Now, a world first, introducing the
Fitbit Aerobic Fitness Prescription

The Fitbit Aerobic Fitness Prescription concept has been built around the idea that you need to focus on both time and effort if you’re going to improve your aerobic fitness. Just counting steps, while it’s a useful exercise, lacks the essential ‘dosage’ of intensity, based on heart rate.

A BIT OF HISTORY

Never be afraid to change a good idea for a better one.

Some years ago I attempted to develop my own aerobic fitness prescription and monitoring system. I called it the Aerabyte system, coining the word ‘Aerabyte’, as in ‘a byte of aerobic exercise’. The challenge was beyond my physical educator capability.

Enter Fitbit

In 2020 I was a project sponsor for an aerobic fitness project for IT students at Canberra University. Fitbit generously provided us with a number of watches.

The project proved to be illuminating. Wearing a Fitbit Sense I found it to be an inspiring and motivating electronic device. The amount of data it captures passeth all understanding. I’d even go as far as to say it has more computing power than was use to get the first man on the moon, though I may stand corrected.

It changed the way I was exercising, particularly by changing the way I monitored how much aerobic exercise I was doing. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

What impressed me was the Fitbit zone system, where you get 1 point per minute when your heart rate gets over (circa) 60% of your age-related maximum heart rate, and 2 points per minute when your heart exceeds 75% of the age related maximum heart rate.

So, if your metabolic health engine is not running smoothly, the first prescription you ought to take is the Fitbit Aerobic Fitness Prescription.

Fitbit has done the hard work, making it easy for you to get on with your exercise program, knowing just by looking at your wrist how well you are travelling.

You can read more about it in a book I’ve prepared, the ‘Fitbit Aerobic Fitness Prescription.’