'Aerobic exercise'... a myth..?

[Deleted User]

I can tell you what moderate is for a normal healthy person, but only your doctor can tell you what is suitable for you. It surprises me not at all that you can't get any answers from them though, I have a heart arrhythmia, and I couldn't get any help either.

There are two ways of measuring exercise intensity, % of maximum heart rate, and % heart rate reserve. The former is most common, and the latter supposedly more accurate. Maximum heart rate is calculated as 220 minus your age, and 30 mins at 70%MHR might be a typical starting session for a healthy beginner.

Warburton et al mention that 45% HRR as the minimum intensity for recovering heart patients, so perhaps that might be a place to start if you still can't wring anything out of the docs. To calculate your HRR you need to know your resting heart rate too. You need to count your RHR in bed when you wake up first thing in the morning whilst laid completely relaxed. If you subtract this from your MHR that is your HRR.

For example, if your MHR is 170, and RHR 60, your HRR is 110.
45% of that would be 49.5, so your exercise intensity for 45%HRR would be :

60+49.5 = 109.5

peachyprice

Voltaire7 wrote: »

Follow the guidelines, it's not rocket science:

Moderate intensity aerobic exercise is where you're working hard enough to raise your heart rate and break into a sweat. You're working at a moderate intensity if you're able to talk but unable to sing the words to a song.
Vigorous intensity aerobic exercise is where you're breathing hard and fast and your heart rate has increased significantly. If you're working at this level, you won't be able to say more than a few words without pausing for a breath.

As Voltaire has said, it's not rocket science.

fairy_lights

I see, so your question is not actually "what is aerobic exercise" but rather "what is a suitable level of activity for someone recovering from heart disease?" which changes the topic completely.

tomtontom

Why not ask for an exercise referral? They have specialist instructors that can design a plan suited to your needs.

parking_question_chap

What?

There is lots of technology to measure aerobic adaptations to raining. Just because your gym does not have it, doesnt mean it does not exist.

Examples of possible changes

- Cardiac volume
- Single Cardiac stroke volume
- Haemaglobin levels
- Oxygen uptake
- Resting heart rate
- Lung capacity

etc etc

stephen77

have you done any exercise in the last few years?

Generali

Get sweaty and out of breath. It's not hard.

Alan_Cross

Generali wrote: »

Get sweaty and out of breath. It's not hard.

Not precise enough, sorry. Nowhere near.

Everyone's always lectured about the benefits of aerobic exercise but none of the 'experts' wants to define what it means for any given individual.

As such it's almost useless as a suggestion.

Yes, they can give you fairly good guidelines about when you're overdoing it BUT nobody wants to tell you about when you've left the 'underdoing it zone' and are into the 'aerobic'.

That, apparently, is a black art not to be shared with the common people. I have beaten my head against the brickwall reticence of cardiac physios and doctors for years over this and I sympathise totally with the OP.

theoretica

I hadn't thought there was a lower point where you switch from underdoing exercise to doing it - rather a continuous change where strolling is better than lying down and brisk walking better than strolling etc. Even minor and desultory exercise will be aerobic, if not giving much benefit for the time spent.

cherryblossomzel

theoretica wrote: »

I hadn't thought there was a lower point where you switch from underdoing exercise to doing it - rather a continuous change where strolling is better than lying down and brisk walking better than strolling etc. Even minor and desultory exercise will be aerobic, if not giving much benefit for the time spent.

I thought this too: your cells work aerobically until you get to such a level of exertion that they switch over to anaerobic. I always work on the "increased heart rate, still able to talk, but not able to sing" principle, which someone else mentioned above.


Doesn't it also change with fitness and age? Which is why they can't give any one answer that'll work for everyone.