Ladies âBirthday Bashâ - Lighthouse Point Yacht and Racquet Club
Ladies âBirthday Bashâ - Lighthouse Point Yacht and Racquet Club
Ladies âBirthday Bashâ - Lighthouse Point Yacht and Racquet Club
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
<strong>Club</strong> Activities & Sports<br />
8<br />
Fitness Corner<br />
The Difference between looking “fab” or “flab”<br />
When using the cardio machines the panels can be confusing. You see everything from your heart rate, speed, mets,<br />
watts, calories per hour, total calories burned <strong>and</strong> distance covered. Most people just look at calories burned. Yet a good<br />
underst<strong>and</strong>ing of your cardio machine could literally mean the difference between looking “fab” or “flab”. Here are<br />
some tips to help you underst<strong>and</strong> what all those readings mean.<br />
Mets<br />
Mets st<strong>and</strong>s for metabolic equivalent,<br />
which simply means the<br />
amount of oxygen you consume in<br />
one minute. The relevance of this<br />
is that your body converts fat into<br />
energy through a process called<br />
glycolysis, in which oxygen is<br />
the major catalyst. This is why you<br />
feel the need to breathe faster when<br />
under physical exertion, like when<br />
you’re running on the treadmill. You<br />
will notice that the met reading<br />
on your console rising as you work<br />
harder, indicating that you are consuming<br />
more oxygen <strong>and</strong>, therefore,<br />
burning more fat. So, if your aim is<br />
to lose fat, it is necessary to maintain<br />
a high met count.<br />
Calories<br />
Most modern cardio machines have<br />
two calorie counters; one that shows<br />
the total calories burned at the end<br />
of the session <strong>and</strong> one that estimates<br />
how many calories you would burn<br />
in an hour at a given level of effort.<br />
They are nowhere near accurate! This<br />
is because the amount of calories<br />
you burn in an exercise session will<br />
generally vary due to several factors.<br />
For instance, heavier people burn<br />
more calories than lighter people<br />
because they use more energy to do<br />
the same tasks. People with a higher<br />
percentage of muscle also burn more<br />
calories because muscle is metabolically<br />
active tissue that burns calories<br />
24 hours a day. Men also tend to<br />
burn more calories than women because<br />
they have higher levels of the<br />
fat-burning hormone testosterone<br />
<strong>and</strong>, more often than not, a lower<br />
overall percentage of body fat. All<br />
these factors count, but your average<br />
machine has no way of computing<br />
this information. My verdict? Don’t<br />
sweat the calorie count too much.<br />
Treat it as an estimate rather than an<br />
incontestable fact!<br />
Watts<br />
Watts refer to the actual power<br />
output of your work-out session at<br />
a given point. During your average<br />
cardio session, you often “generate”<br />
enough energy to light up a 100-<br />
watt electric bulb for a minute!<br />
Heart rate<br />
This is where you need to concentrate<br />
because it measures something<br />
that is tangible. The basic aim of<br />
most cardiovascular programmes<br />
is to keep the participant within<br />
the “aerobic heart rate” zone for as<br />
long as possible. This simply means<br />
the point at which your body is just<br />
about able to meet your body’s<br />
oxygen requirements at a given workload.<br />
If you move any faster, you step<br />
into the “anaerobic zone”, where<br />
your body cannot meet its own<br />
oxygen dem<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong> you burn out<br />
quickly from too much lactic acid<br />
in the muscles. If you move slower,<br />
you are not working hard enough to<br />
significantly stimulate your heart &<br />
lungs enough to reap the benefits of<br />
the exercise. This will happen if you<br />
chat on your cell phone or read while<br />
working out on the treadmill. If you<br />
fluctuate between high & low in your<br />
zone you will burn more calories.<br />
Please wipe off the machines with<br />
you finish. Thank you,<br />
Juliette D. Woodmansee,<br />
Fitness Director<br />
Swimming News<br />
We made it to the National Championships! John Jessel, who trains with<br />
Coach Larry competed in three events at USA Swimming’s Conoco Phillips<br />
National Swimming Championship in Atlanta , GA John swam lifetime<br />
personal records in the 200, 500 <strong>and</strong> 1650 yard freestyle races. John placed<br />
33rd in the 1650.<br />
Our winter swim team will continue in our heated pool. Practice is<br />
offered for all abilities. Our Pre-Competitive Stroke School swims Monday,<br />
Wednesday <strong>and</strong> Friday or Tuesday <strong>and</strong> Thursday from 4-5pm or 5-6pm.<br />
Swim Lessons will begin again in March. We are available for private lessons for beginners or video / technique<br />
analysis for competitive swimmers.<br />
Any questions? Contact Coach Larry Blomberg (954) 788-7300.