Are you exercising too HARD?
By Michelle Biton
Are you confused about what your Exercise Heart Rate should be? Do you
know what’s safe (and what isn’t!) now that you’re pregnant?
Well, here’s a question I recently received from one of my subscribers:
“Hi Michelle
Based on your heart rate equation, I come up with a rate of 24 beats/10
seconds (which is the number I have heard from many people).
The only problem is that my resting heart rate is 20 beats/10 seconds so
this doesn't give me much wiggle room. Since my resting rate is so high,
would I be able to go higher than 24 when working out?
Thanks,
Leslie”
My
Opinion:
I know that
figuring out your heart rate can be VERY CONFUSING. And you definitely
don’t want to do anything that you might regret – like pushing yourself
too hard!
The first thing you need to know is that the Heart Rate Formula is a
generalized formula for the entire population – meaning
that it doesn’t take individual characteristics (like your high resting
heart rate) into consideration.
So, I’d recommend you focus on one of the other tests that I talk about in
my book - your Perceived Rate of Exertion. This is really
just a technical way of stating, on a scale of 0-10 (zero being the lowest
and ten being the highest), how hard you feel you’re
working out. During pregnancy, you should aim to be working between the
range of 6 - 7.5.
You’ll be amazed at what a good correlation there is between how hard you
FEEL you are working and how hard you ACTUALLY
are working. So, give it a try - I think it will be more realistic for
your situation.
Remember, pregnancy is the time to do moderate activity
only. It is NOT the time to push yourself to your limit. I know that this
can be very hard for those of you who like to “get a workout” but be
patient, it won’t be long before you’ll be able to go at it again the way
you’d like to!
I also want to say that even though you may not feel like
you’re getting a great workout, you probably are. Now that you’re working
for two, your body has to work that much harder (evident when you walk up
a flight of stairs!). If you’d still like to challenge yourself a little
bit more, one thing you can do is increase the duration,
or length of your workout. But always, always listen to your body! Now
that you’re working for two – you owe it to yourself and your growing baby
to exercise SAFELY.
Written by Michelle Biton who has 15 years of
experience as a Health and Nutrition Coach, a Masters Degree in Holistic
Nutrition, a Personal Training Certificate and a Psychology Degree.
For LOTS MORE tips and secrets on safe
exercise, healthy eating and surefire beauty secrets during your
pregnancy, click on the link below to download Michelle's kit:
Pregnancy
without pounds
|
|
