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Introduction

The Open University — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 11:29:59 GMT

Aerobic fitness is important for sports performance and health, but what sort of exercise should you be doing to develop your aerobic fitness? This unit will help you to answer this question by introducing you to principles of aerobic exercise prescription.

This unit is an adapted extract from the Open University course Introduction to sport, fitness and management (E112).

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Learning outcomes

The Open University — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 11:29:59 GMT

By the end of this unit you should be able to:

begin to identify exercise prescriptions aimed at increasing aerobic fitness.

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1.1 Exercise prescription fundamentals

The Open University — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 11:29:59 GMT

You are probably already familiar with the term prescription in a medical context (i.e. a doctor might prescribe a medication). Exercise prescription is the term used to describe the exercise programme that an instructor gives to a participant (i.e. the exercise they prescribe). When prescribing aerobic exercise there are four key factors to consider, which can be remembered by the acronym FITT: frequency, intensity, time (or duration) and type (or mode) of exercise. We will look at each of these factors in turn, with reference to the American College of Sports Medicine’s Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription (ACSM, 2006) and their position stand on ‘The recommended quantity and quality of exercise for developing and maintaining cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness, and flexibility in healthy adults’ (Pollock et al., 1998). This document is recognised worldwide as the ‘gold standard’ for exercise prescription.

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1.1.1 Frequency

The Open University — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 11:29:59 GMT

Frequency refers to how often or how frequently someone should exercise. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends an exercise frequency of three to five days per week to improve or maintain VO₂max (ACSM, 2006). They suggest that people training for sport may need to exercise more frequently.

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1.2 Intensity

The Open University — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 11:29:59 GMT

Exercise intensity can be measured using either heart rate or the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) method. We will look at each of these methods in turn. There are two methods of using heart rate to measure exercise intensity: the percentage of maximal heart rate method and the heart rate reserve (HRR), or karvonen method.

As its name suggests, the percentage of maximal heart rate method involves prescribing exercise at a certain percentage of maximum heart rate. To find out a person’s true maximum heart rate we need to measure it in a laboratory. However, for most people this is impractical; therefore we can estimate maximum heart rate using the formula ‘220 – age’ (see Box 1).

Box 1: Percentage heart rate method

Case study: ‘Mariella’, age 30

Step 1 – Calculate maximum heart rate (HR_max)

Estimated HR_max = 220 – age

= 220 – 30

= 190 bpm (beats per minute)

Step 2 – Calculate exercise intensity

ACSM guidelines = 55–90% of HR_max

Lower target (55%) = 190 × 55%

= 190 × 0.55

= 104.5 bpm (we would round this up to 105 bpm)

Upper target (90%) = 190 × 90%

= 190 × 0.90

= 171 bpm

This formula gives us an idea of maximum heart rate, but we must remember that it is just an estimate and not completely accurate. Therefore using this method, according to ACSM guidelines, Mariella should exercise at a heart rate somewhere between 105 and 171 bpm. This is quite a wide range so, depending on her fitness levels, you would need to decide whether to prescribe Mariella exercise to the upper or lower end of this scale.

Please note that there are online calculators available to calculate all of this information for you. Once such calculator can be found at:

fitlinxx

The HRR method is thought to be more accurate than the percentage of maximal heart rate method because it takes the individual’s resting heart rate into account. The formula for calculating HRR can be seen in Box 2. The ACSM recommends that to improve aerobic fitness, exercise intensity should be set at either 40–85 per cent of (HRR) or 55–90 per cent of maximum heart rate (HR_max) (Pollock et al., 1998). These ranges are deliberately broad to reflect different levels of fitness; that is, someone with relatively low levels of fitness who has just started an exercise programme may need to work on the lower end of the scale, whereas someone who has a higher level of fitness, perhaps who has been exercising for a while, may need to work at an intensity towards the upper end of the scale. This demonstrates the importance of progression in an exercise programme.

Box 2: Heart rate reserve method

Case study: ‘Mariella’, age 30

Step 1 – Calculate maximum heart rate (HR_max)

Estimated HR_max = 220 - age

= 220 – 30

= 190 bpm (beats per minute)

Step 2 – Measure resting heart rate (HR_rest)

You would measure this either using a heart rate monitor or manually, using your fingers. Ideally it should be measured first thing in the morning. Let's imagine that Mariella's HR_rest has been measured at 70 bpm.

Step 3 – Calculate heart rate reserve (HRR)

HRR = HR_max – HR_rest

= 190 – 70

= 120 bpm

Step 4 – Calculate exercise intensity

ACSM guidelines = 40–85% HRR

Lower target (40%) = (HHR × 40%) + HR_rest

= (120 × 0.40) + 70

= 48 + 70

= 118 bpm

Upper target (85%) = (HHR × 85%) + HR_rest

= (120 × 0.85) + 70

= 102 + 70

= 172 bpm

Using this method, according to ACSM guidelines, Mariella should exercise somewhere between 118 and 172 bpm.

Please note that there are online calculators available to calculate all of this information for you. Once such calculator can be found at:

fitlinxx

An alternative to using heart rate methods is the RPE method of measuring exercise intensity. Essentially, the RPE method involves an individual rating how hard they feel they are working on a scale of 6–20. An RPE of approximately 12–16 is recommended to improve aerobic fitness (ACSM, 2006). However, you should note that it is difficult to give a general recommendation for RPE, as it is by its very nature open to personal interpretation; that is, what I consider to be a 12 may be different to what you consider to be a 12.

RPE can be a useful way of measuring exercise intensity when heart rate monitoring is difficult or inappropriate. For example, some types of medication (e.g. beta blockers) given to people with hypertension lower the heart rate, and therefore heart rate measurement is not appropriate for people on this type of medication.

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1.1.3 Time

The Open University — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 11:29:59 GMT

The recommended duration of an aerobic exercise session is dependent on several factors, such as the participant’s goals and fitness levels, and the intensity of exercise. Obviously, the higher the intensity of the exercise, the shorter will be its duration. As a general guide the ACSM recommends between twenty and sixty minutes of aerobic exercise, which can be undertaken either continuously – i.e. all at once – or intermittently – i.e. in shorter bouts accumulated during the day (ACSM, 2006; Pollock et al., 1998). Again, the requirements for sportspeople will be dependent on the nature of their sport.

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1.4 Type

The Open University — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 11:29:59 GMT

The ACSM recommends exercise that employs large muscle groups, is rhythmic or dynamic, can be maintained continuously and is aerobic in nature (ACSM, 2006; Pollock et al., 1998). This type of exercise results in larger increases in VO₂max. Activities that would fit into this category include walking, running, swimming and cycling.

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Next steps

The Open University — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 11:29:59 GMT

After completing this unit you may wish to study another OpenLearn Study Unit or find out more about this topic. Here are some suggestions:

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References

The Open University — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 11:29:59 GMT

American College of Sports Medicine (2006) ACSM's Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription (7th edn), London, Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.

Pollock, M.L., Gaesser, G.A., Butcher, J.D., Després, J.P., Dishman, R.K., Franklin, B.A. and Ewing Garber, C. (1998) ‘ACSM position stand: The recommended quantity and quality of exercise for developing and maintaining cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness, and flexibility in healthy adults’, Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise, vol. 30, pp. 975–91.

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Acknowledgements

The Open University — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 11:29:59 GMT

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Fernando Gardinali [Details correct as of 18th June 2008]

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RSS Feed for the unit Improving aerobic fitness

Introduction

Learning outcomes

1.1 Exercise prescription fundamentals

1.1.1 Frequency

1.2 Intensity

Box 1: Percentage heart rate method

Case study: ‘Mariella’, age 30

Step 1 – Calculate maximum heart rate (HRmax)

Step 2 – Calculate exercise intensity

Box 2: Heart rate reserve method

Case study: ‘Mariella’, age 30

Step 1 – Calculate maximum heart rate (HRmax)

Step 2 – Measure resting heart rate (HRrest)

Step 3 – Calculate heart rate reserve (HRR)

Step 4 – Calculate exercise intensity

1.1.3 Time

1.4 Type

Next steps

References

Acknowledgements

Unit image

Don't miss out

Step 1 – Calculate maximum heart rate (HR_max)

Step 1 – Calculate maximum heart rate (HR_max)

Step 2 – Measure resting heart rate (HR_rest)