A normal heart increases very slowly in size to become a high-performance organ. What makes this organ capable of above-average levels of performance is a harmonious balance between the thickening of the muscle walls and the expansion of the ventricles. This has the great advantage that the amount of oxygen transported by the bloodstream can be increased up to double the original volume. We could draw an analogy with the cubic capacity of an automobile engine. If the biological incentives are strong enough to make your heart grow larger, you may find that you are cruising along with powerful 2000 cc valves instead of 1300 cc. If you go on to increase your performance capacity you can even reach 3000 cc. Whatever the case, whether it's your heart or an internal combustion engine, the larger the cubic displacement, the easier it is to reach a high performance level, without the wear and tear of revving up the motor to maximum limits. So keep that pulse rate down!
It is advisable to consult a doctor as soon as possible for a thorough physical examination, especially if you are over thirty. Above all, ask to be given an electro- cardiogram to learn how healthy your heart really is, if only so that you can go on training with a clear conscience.
Now it's time to take a closer look at what we mean by training, especially long- distance or endurance training. First a dictionary definition: training is the regular repetition of body movements with the aim of increasing the body's performance capacity or maintaining it over a relatively long period of time. The particular capacity you train will be improved: those who practice weight lifting in a fitness studio will increase their muscle power.It will amaze you to discover what you train when you run. With endurance training, you improve your resistance to exhaustion. This last sentence bears repetition - aloud, word for word.
Even a ten-minute daily training program, involving 50 to 70 percent of the maximumphysical output of an untrained person, will tangibly increase that person's resistance to exhaustion - within a month. In the late nineteenth century scientists were already racking their brains to find the correct approach to training. Their answer still holds true today: small loads are useless, medium- size loads are useful, heavy loads are dangerous.
To cause a "normal" heart to increase in size it is sufficient to train it a mere ten minutes per day. Our goal, however, is not to give you a strong heart. What we want you to do is to place a load on your heart that will cause it to function with "maximum benefit to health," as defined by today's sports physicians. To achieve this, you should run for forty-five to sixty minutes three or four times a week. This is our ultimate target.
Never overlook one point: at the beginning, it is not intensity - i.e. speed - that improves your performance capacity, but solely and exclusively the duration of the run. If you reduce your speed by ten percent you can double the time you spend running. Because the pulse rises quickly, especially in beginners, you should make sure that you do not wind up being short of breath. Allow me, once again, to repeat the advice you must take to heart: put on the brakes. If you do, you will keep the load on your heart and circulatory system at fifty to seventy percent, whichis ideal for our purposes.
But watch out, if you put yourself under the wrong sort of strain you will achieve absolutely nothing, and I mean nothing. If you only run once a week instead of three times, your heart will not increase its performance capacity, and you will not become physically fit. Norwill it help if you try to catch up on your jogging backlog in one day and run three times as long instead of the allotted thirty minutes. Later, when your heart is in good condition, you will have no trouble taking a long weekend run after a laying off for a week. But at this point it wouldn't help you in the slightest. You would be wasting your time.
What does it mean to train at fifty to seventy percent capacity? Long ago sports physicians discovered that each person has an ideal pulse that effectively stimulates his or her heart. The starting point is your maximum pulse, which is computed by subtracting your age in years from 220. Thus, a thirty-year-old has a maximum pulse of 190. You can write down your own maximum pulse here:
My maximum pulse is 220 minus _____ = ______ Using this figure and your basic pulse (noted below), you can compute your ideal pulse on the basis of the following simple formula. The left-hand column shows our thirty-year-old with an assumed basic pulse of 60 heartbeats per minute. In the right-hand column you can write down your own figures.
Maximum pulse 190 .... minus basic pulse 60 .... yields: 130 .... of which 2/3 is 87 .... plus basic pulse 60 .... yields ideal pulse 147 ....
For our thirty-year-old, 147 is the pulse he or she should reach and maintain as long as possible when running. It is thus this person's ideal pulse.
My ideal pulse while running is _________ So if you aim to take 45- to 60-minute runs to stay healthy, your ideal pulse will gradually drop as your basic pulse begins to slow down. Not only can you feel this boost in performance, you can also measure it in the decrease of your basic pulse. If you want to record your progress in black on white, write down your figures here:
My basic pulse: after first week: .... after first month: .... after second month: .... after third month: .... after fourth month: .... after fifth month: .... after sixth month: ....
After a mere six months you can write down the happy results: running lowered my basic pulse from .... to .... heartbeats per minute, saving me .... heartbeats per hour!
It's getting easier and easier. Now you can already run for ten minutes. In the next Part Winni Mühlbauer talks about the functions of oxygen in the body.
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