Many people think that exercise is a pain in the butt and in some cases after a hard set of squats it literally is. I just wanted to take the time to remind people out there why it’s important.
My client said to me the other day that his heart rate “only” improved fifteen beats per minute since he started exercising a few weeks ago, from 95 BPM to 80 BPM. I answered him…only. Lets take a closer look at that according to the math and you may see “only fifteen BPM” in a different way.
Say a person begins a simple personal exercise program of jogging for 20-30 mins 3x a week. That person would end up losing a few pounds but more importantly, their heart rate would improve at rest from ninety BPM to seventy five BPM in most cases (as they say “your mileage may vary”). So lets take a quick look at how saving your heart fifteen beats per minute effects the number of beats your heart will save over time.
15 beats saved in 1 minute.
In one hour your heart will save 900 beats.
In twenty four hours your heart will save 21,600 beats .
In one week your heart will save 151,200 beats.
In one month your heart will save 604,800 beats.
In a year your heart will save 7,257,600 beats.
In five years, fifteen beats a minute less, will save your heart 36,288,000 beats .
In ten years, fifteen beats a minute less, will save your heart 72,576,000 beats.
In twenty years, fifteen beats a minute less, will save your heart 145,152,000 beats!
That is a lot of beats your heart has saved. Less work equates to a longer healthier life. There are people that change their life completely around and save thirty, even forty BPM! Can you see why exercise is the best tool for anti-aging.
Heart rate is also used to predict many other things like what training heart rate is best for your fitness goals. Many people have no clue how to determine what heart rate training zone is the best to burn fat, improve endurance, improve anaerobic capacity and improve overall health. Many people use a formula called Karvonen, which you can learn more about doing a google search. This formula helps determine percentages of your exercise heart rate that are used to achieve specific fitness related goals, such as:
40-50% -Healthy life style
50-75% -Burn fat
75-85% -Improve endurance
85-95% -Improve Anaerobic capacity
If math is not your thing, my web site has a calculator that does all that for you. On my site, there are other calculators which are useful to determine other fitness related markers. Just hover over the “calculators” tab at the top.
If those beats per minute were turned into dollars made, you would all be exercising right? So what’s stopping you? Your health is the most important thing next to God and your family.
Lets look at a scenario: You feel a little chest pain and go to the doctor thinking you are experiencing heartburn and you’ll get some Prevacid and call it a day. You’ve waited a long time to go because you were so busy. Now the doctor finds your blood pressure is high and sends you for some tests. When the tests come back they confirm something you thought only happens to excessively overweight people and not you. You need open heart surgery!
I don’t know about you but just the thought of that scenario makes that 20-minute treadmill work sound a lot better. Combine that with laying off the extra cheesy nacho’s and beer during the ball game or after shopping with the girls drinking Cosmo’s or wine. I hope that never happens to any of you.
Here are 5 other benefits of exercise. I could name about 50 but I picked these:
- Improved circulation to all organs!!! Did you get that guys over 40.
- Improved brain function and memory, meaning we can remember what our spouse said to us 10 mins. ago. Ladies we know you remember things from 20 years ago so imagine what that means guys. They’ll be like elephants and never forget.
- More muscle tissue means a higher metabolism at rest but it does not mean more beer or wine.
- Better skin from sweating, you have to shower though after the workout.
- Stronger bones, which means better posture and more active life style into our golden years.
Something to try on your own. I know we all love to “tie one over” once in a while but people do not realize how much alcohol affects the heart. So the next time you know your going to go out and pour down a few pints try this. Before drinking, sit and relax in a chair for 5 mins and then take your heart rate for a minute. Write it down. After you start drinking take your pulse when you’re done. I know some of you may be too blasted to even do that but even after two to three drinks take your pulse again. Your heart rate will increase from 15-25 beats per minute just sitting there.
Hope that helped. God bless and remember to workout. If not, ignore your health…it will go away.
Blessings- John
