This is the second of a three part series dealing with numbers in fitness.
Another way to help us gauge how physically fit we are is to pay attention to our heart and what it is telling us when we exercise. If your heart is strong, you can exercise harder and burn more calories. But you can also build more muscle which in turn burns more calories. Really, cardiovascular health is the key to helping you increase your metabolic fire. Here are some of the heart related numbers that you can measure to see how your fitness level stacks up:
- Resting Heart Rate–As you work your cardiovascular system, your heart gets stronger and more efficient and can pump more blood with each heart beat. Because of this, when you’re not taxing your body, your heart doesn’t have to work as hard. Your resting heart rate (heart beats per minute when the body is at rest) should decrease over time if you are increasing your cardiovascular capacity.
- One-Minute Heart Recovery Rate–This particular cardiovascular litmus test is my favorite. Here’s how you do it. At the end of a particularly taxing cardio session, use your heart rate monitor to determine how many bpm (beats per minute) your heart rate decreases in one minute. A decrease in 30 bpm is considered good and 40 is excellent
- Lactate Threshold–To the average athlete, lactate threshold is probably the most difficult concept to understand. It is also pretty difficult to measure outside a laboratory setting. Basically, lactate threshold describes the point at which your body can’t clear lactic acid out of your muscles as quickly as it is being made. This build up of lactic acid can cause muscle soreness, fatigue, and decreased performance. To test your lactate threshold, run at as quick a pace as you can sustain for 30 minutes and keep track of your average heart rate during the last 20 minutes. Run the same test one month later to see if you can run it at a higher heart rate. If you can, you’ve increased your lactate threshold and improved your fitness levels as well.
There are lots of different ways to measure your fitness levels. By concentrating on some of the numbers discussed in part one of this series and some of those from this post you’ll get a better understanding of your overall fitness levels and not be so stressed about the numbers you see on the scale.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m going to keep track of how many pushups and crunches I can do in one minute in addition to a whole slew of measurements that I will take monthly. I am going to get a digital scale and weigh myself weekly!
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I track my heart rate during workouts, but I’ve otherwise never paid much attention to things like resting heart rate. I find out what it is when I have doctor’s appointments and the like, and it’s pretty low, but it’s not something I really keep track of.
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Nickel–Like JD and I have always said, “Do whatever works for you!” I’ve found that my resting heart rate at the doctor is always higher than my resting heart rate in my bed each morning. Doctors make me nervous I guess.
Dana–15 pounds in three months is nothing to be depressed about. That’s more than 1 pound per week by my math and I think that’s a healthy, sustainable weight loss goal. Don’t try and take it off too fast because then it comes back real fast too!
CM–Pushups, situps, pullups and other body weight exercises are great and easy weighs to measure fitness progress. Great ideas!
My RHR is always higher at the docs too! Although last time I had my heart rate taken at the doctors he was a bit concerned until he found out I was a runner!
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