Ever since the beginning of time…In the health club world, you know, back in the 70’s and 80’s when people started pouring into their local gym, you could always find this chart. It was and still is “The Bible” for selecting your average heart rate zone for whatever your fitness goals are, but nobody really seems to know how to read this chart. The red zone is much like a stop sign. Get moving. The green zone means go. This is your fat burning zone. The yellow zone is a combination of fat burning and cardio training. Think of the blue zone like you would the air, or oxygen. This is your cardio zone, for improving your cardiovascular system, helping you to breath better and improving your athletic performance. This zone can also help to decrease your blood pressure and resting heart rate. The gray zone was explained to me by using the example of someone’s skin tone, while lying on their death bed. It means death and it is very dangerous to exercise with your heart rate in this range, or above. To find your personal heart rate zone to use this chart, there is a basic formula. First take the number 220, then subtract your age. This number equals your maximum heart rate. Determine which zone you’d like to exercise in based on the benefits you’d like to achieve, then multiply your max by the color zone %. There is also a scientific way to determine your exact “fat burning” and your “athletic training” zones. This test is called, a V02 max test but usually only an athletic training facility will have this type of equipment. After completing the 3 months of occupational and physical therapy, about a month of cardiac rehab and a little over a year pumping iron again I’ve put 40 of the 60lbs back on that I lost. I didn’t really need the other 20. In March of 2022 I called my friend Ryan Gillespie, who owns Peak Athletics on Market St, in Wilmington, NC to get a V02 Max test done, so I will know MY exact fat burning zone. At my age, my fitness goals have drastically changed. I have no desire to be the biggest or strongest in the gym anymore. I would really like to enter my 60’s this year, closer to my last competition weight without too much excess muscle tissue. I want to be a lean old man. Of course, Summer of 2023 came and while I’ve done a great job of increasing my lean muscle tissue and keeping my body fat% relatively low, I had another set-back. A basal cell that I had removed from between my shoulder blades in 2019 came back and was bleeding when I worked out, so I stopped pumping iron and scheduled to have it removed in November. I was cleared to start working out again in January, but I just haven’t felt like doing much. Depression from my stroke, closing our Lumina Commons location, and losing a lot of lean muscle mass has had me still not feeling 100%. I understand more now what life gets in the way means. Since January 2024, I have been really dialing my diet back in and doing my morning cardio. I’ve lost 10lbs of fat, but I still have about 15 to go before I reach my goal weight of 175lbs. Now it’s time to start doing what I do best. I am going to get more of my lean muscle tissue back. Not all of it, but enough to keep me from looking like a little “stick boy.” or as Arnold would say, “A girly man”
Stay healthy my friends…