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Developing
a Personal
Exercise Program
Before beginning, you should ask yourself two key questions:
• How much time do I spend today
participating in physical acivity?
• What are my goals?
The following steps help you answer the two questions, get
the most out of your Polar Heart Rate Monitor, and achieve
your personal exercise goals.
1. CLASSIFY YOURSELF BY
LEVEL OF ACTIVITY
You may have a clear understanding of your present physical
condition. In this case you can move to the next step to
specify your goals. You can also define the amount of your
physical activity by answering the questionnaire which is
modified from the “Code for Physical Activity” developed by
NASA/Johnson Space Center (Jackson et al. 1990).
The questionnaire is an easy and quick way to define weather
you are a beginner, a moderate exerciser, an active exerciser
or a serious exerciser. It is recommended to review the
questionnaire every 1-2 months and revise if the amount of
your physical activity has changed.
For an example of an exercise session for a 35-year-old
person with ‘Improved Fitness’ as a target, please see the
following chart.
It is recommended by ACSM that the exercise session would
last 20-60 minutes in the aerobic zone.
REFERENCES
American College of Sports Medicine. Position Stand. The
Recommended Quantity and Quality of Exercise for Developing and
Maintaining Cardiorespiratory and Muscular Fitness in Healthy Adults.
Med Sci Sports Exerc 22: 265-274, 1990.
American College of Sports Medicine. ACSM’s Guidelines for Exercise
Testing and Prescription. Williams & Wilkins, 1995.
Jackson, A.S., Blair, S.N., Mahar, M.T., Wier, L.T., Ross, R.M. and
Stuteville, J.E. Prediction of functional aerobic capacity without exercise
testing. Med Sci Sports Exerc 22: 863-870, 1990.
Tulppo, M., Mäkikallio, T., Takala, T., Seppänen, T. and Huikuri, H.
Quantitative Beat-to-beat Analysis of heart Rate Dynamics During
Exercise. Am J Physiol 271: H244-252, 1996.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Physical Activity and
Health: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, Centres for Disease Control and
Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health
Promotion, 1996, 147.
TARGET
ZONE
Target Zone
cool
down
Resting
Warm
up
5-10 min 5-10 min
Heart Rate/Beats Per Minute
150
130
20-60 min
Resting
Minutes of exercise