Expert: Ken Alan - 6/12/2009

Question
QUESTION: First off Thanks in advance:

Male
almost 50 [Want to be 'Buff' by my bd. Aug. 13]
200 lbs
6-2
quit smoking 6 weeks ago
health good ++

History:
    Weight training [hour long 2-3 / wk] since Dec. '08
    P90X 3 of the disks [3 hrs. / wk LAST 5 WEEKS]
         Core cinergistics  [heavy core strengthing ++ 50 min.]
         Plyometrics  ['jump' training 50 min.]
         Kenpo X  [punch kicks 50 min.]
    Bike riding as 'fun' sport 10 - 20 miles 4 to 8 times month

    I was worried about having a heart attack while doing my aerobics workout.  I bought a heart monitor and am now trying to learn what it meens and how to work out effectively.  

    My Max heart rate seems to be 174.  Will that go up as i continue to improve my health?
    I THINK i've learned that my workouts should mix intensity of heart rate.  
    My current plan is for 3 hours / week of intense [heart rate of 160 - 173]
    And an additional 3-4 hours of moderate [stamina building] heart rate of 120 - 140

    I just changed my workout to a 2 hour plan of one hour weight training followed by one hour heavy aerobics.  3X Week.
    
    Does this seem like a valid plan?  I know that it is intense and all but the challenge is motivating me.  My goal is to drop off a bit after my BD.

    Any other advice that you can give me is fine.

ANSWER: Glad you're motivated to exercise.  Buff in two months, huh? Since I don't know what you look like, or if you've been working out, or what your eating is like, this may or may not be a realistic goal.  A better goal is to exercise regularly and eat healthfully so that you'll feel better, perform better, and look better. Maybe August 2010 is the birthday for buff, if not this one!

Your predicted max heart rate (PMHR) is estimated in the range of 158 - 182 bpm. (220 - age = 170 bpm, + or - 12 bpm.) Unless you do a max treadmill test, you won't know your exact maximum number, so it's a predicted range.  Working out at 160 - 173 is intense, maybe too intense.  You want to be in the range of 60% - 90% of your PMHR.  160 - 173 may be around 95% - 100% of your maximum.  Although if you can sustain it, it means it is not (your max HR is probably higher than 170 if you can do aerobic training at 160 - 173 bpm). If you want to work at the high end, have a medical check-up, because you're a 50 year old male who smoked.  You need to get a check up to make sure you can safely do high intensity exercise.

Your maximum HR will not go up with training.  It gets lower in fact, over time.  Your resting HR will get lower, and that's a good thing.  And there's all kinds of other positive changes to your physiology and cardiorespiratory system.

Your workout plan is okay, as long as you have the energy to sustain it and it doesn't cause you injury or to feel constantly fatigued.

Hope this helps.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION:      First off THANKS for your answer but i have a few more questions.  Please allow me to answer a cpl that you had first.
    1.  I've been doing weight training since Dec. '08 2x to 3x per week.  [2-3 months a year MOST of my life before that]
    2.  P90X [a HEAVY cardio workout] for almost 2 months now.

    Back to max heart rate, I just hit 177 during my plyometrics workout [only for a moment than a quick drop down to 168-172] So my max heart rate seems to be in the mid to upper 170's and that may be as close as i get without a profesional check.
    QUESTION:  During a workout bike ride monday my heart rate was in the mid. 150's.  Seemed a it high although my breating was heavy / normal and I sustained the pace for miles.  Does that seem high to you?  And do you think [I hope so] that my heart rate will become lower [into the 'fat burining range for me' over time?

    QUESTION:  My weight is rising [even with restricting calories somewhat] to 203 lbs.  6-2 height.  This is 15 lbs heavier than my normal weight [for the past 30 years] and although i usually gain about 5 lbs during weight training i'm wondering if the LEG/MID BODY workout is causing the execive weight.  If so Will it taper off?  Or should it taper off?  I still have a fair amount of weight in my mid section that i'd like to remove.
    Thanks for all your help so far,
         Keith

Answer
Your heart rate is high on that bike ride. You like to push yourself hard obviously.  You said you like to challenge yourself.  Get a medical check-up Keith, because you want to do vigorous workouts. You also have a couple of risk factors for cardiovascular disease.  If you were to do mild exercise, you don't need a check-up.  But you are pushing yourself, and it's a very good idea to make sure it is okay to push yourself without risking your health.  Yes it costs money, but it's your body and health we're talking about here.  You're all motivated to get yourself together for your 50th birthday.  Do it right.  You'll feel a lot better if you have a medical exam and get the A-OK for vigorous cardio exercise.  I'd recommend a max stress test as part of your medical exam since you want to challenge yourself, and you're an x-smoker over 45 and mostly sedentary except for 2-3 months a year.

Over time, your exercise heart rate will decrease slightly as you become more aerobically fit (and with age) relative to the same intensity workout (e.g., biking at 15 mph with resistance at x level, or walking 4 mph for x distance).  In terms of heart rate, it's your resting level to look for changes, not your training level (I know, you bought the heart rate monitor so you want to see the changes when you're using it during workouts!).  As you get more fit, your resting heart rate will gradually go down (that's a good thing).  You may always have the same training heart rate because you may continuously push yourself hard, so don't look for that to monitor your progress because that's difficult to do - you have to maintain the exact same intensity over time to evaluate training heart rate.

I can't speak to your weight issue as I know nothing about your dietary intake, or your resistance program (how much resistance you're using, reps, sets, volume, intensity, etc.).

Hope this helps.