A Manual Treadmill, a Watch, and a Pulse a Cardio Fitness Program Make

You want to start an effective cardiovascular fitness program but you are put off by the high cost of personal trainers, club memberships, and fancy exercise equipment. You could always get a pair of properly fitted running shoes and hit the pavement, but that is impractical for many.

Even if cost were not a concern there are always the questions about how much and how hard you have to workout to get a positive training effect. Complicate your training effect questions with your desire to sensibly lose 20 or 30 pounds in a reasonable amount of time, and your fitness and weight loss program becomes either expensive or hit and miss. There is nothing more discouraging to continuing a fitness program than doing the work and not getting the result.

Here is a specific plan for an effective cardio fitness and weight loss program that will cost you from nothing to a couple hundred dollars, and that provides you with the specific information you need you know about "how much" and "how hard."

The plan includes a manual treadmill that sells new for between $100 and $200. I assume you have a watch or a clock with a second hand, so if you want to go for a no cost program you can dump the manual treadmill and substitute running in place, or jumping rope if you want. The equipment is not critical. You exercise your body after all, not the equipment. By the same token if you already have a motorized treadmill that works too.

Your ability to monitor your heart rate is the key to success in cardiovascular training. Your heart before and during exercise will tell you exactly how hard you have to train to get a beneficial training effect. Generally, any activity that works the large muscle groups (legs) continuously for 20 minutes or longer can produce some effect.

But why generalize or guess when you can know for sure what heart rate, within a few beats per minute, you need to maintain during exercise. This specific heart rate is called appropriately your Training Heart Rate (THR), and it varies by age and physical condition.

Here is the quick formula to determine your THR in beats-per-minute. Subtract your age from 220. Call the answer your MHR (maximum heart rate). If you are in excellent physical shape your Training Heart Rate is 90% of your MHR; in good physical shape 80% of MHR; and if in poor shape 70% of your MHR. If you feel any discomfort exercising at 60% of your MHR then stop and go get a complete medically supervised physical exam. Exercising at less than 60% of your MHR would have almost zero cardiovascular training effect anyway so why take the risk.

You can go with an electronic heart rate monitor, or you can take your own pulse to get your heart rate. Do not take your pulse until five minutes after beginning your aerobic exercise. You can put your hand over your heart, or the tips of your fingers on the radial artery, which is on the wrist just above your thumb. Count your pulse for 10 seconds and multiply by six to determine your heart rate in beats-per-minute. You can pick up the pace or slow down to get to your THR. Exercising at more than 90% of THR can be dangerous.

Here is another simple and accurate formula to determine how much exercise you have to do to lose weight. This assumes no change in your normal diet or weekly caloric consumption. 1 pound of fat = 3,500 calories. To burn 2 pounds of fat per week (a realistic and sensible goal) you must burn an above-normal 7,000 calories of energy per week.

Picking up and putting down your feet on the treadmill at about 75 counts per minute burns .078 Calories/Minute/Pound of Body Weight, or more easily remembered, 7.8 calories per minute, or 468 calories per hour, per 100 pounds of body weight.

A 200 pound person would require about 7 1/2 hours per week of exercise that put their feet on the treadmill 75 times per minute. Use this formula to convert for your situation:

(Your Body Weight/100) * 468 * (Steps Per Minute/75) = Calories Per Hour. Divide 7,000 by the Calories Per Hour figure and that is how many hours of exercise per week you must do to lose 2 pounds of body fat.

You can play with the number of hours of exercise per week by changing the steps per minute or by changing your caloric consumption per week. Make sure that you get your heart rate to THR for 20 minutes during three sessions, and you know for a scientific fact that by continuing your program you will accomplish your cardio fitness and weight loss goals.

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This Aerobic Exercise Program Could Change Your Life

It was about 100 years ago that I was first introduced to my first aerobic exercise program.

Coach Miller would "suggest" that we jog around the track for a while, suddenly break into a sprint for about 40 yards, and then slow down to a walk as our lungs cried out "Please don't do that again." In the beginning we looked upon this activity as an extreme form of punishment but we later learned that these alternating intensity workouts dramatically improved our energy and performance.

Of the three key exercise variable--how often you exercise, how hard you work and how long you last, intensity has the most powerful effect.

Your body responds to short bursts of intensity by releasing a cascade of fat-mobilizing hormones and anti-aging growth hormones that supercharge your metabolism and burn extra calories for 24 hours or longer.

Here's a good example of the powerful effect of exercise intensity on heart health. A new study by British researchers tracked 1,975 healthy men over ten years.

The men who exercised the hardest had a 47% percent lower risk of death from all causes and a whopping 62% lower risk of death from heart disease, compared with those who reported very little or no intense exercise.

The best part however is that the benefits of this aerobic exercise program were achieved with as little as nine minutes per day of vigorous activity.

I'm Gene Millen. Fifteen years ago a heart surgeon, sawed open my chest and stitched in bypasses to six of my favorite heart arteries. It wasn't as much fun as you might think...and started me on a journey to helping others avoid my mistakes.

My experience in aerobic exercise programs includes working with hundreds of people in the Vital Life Center, a health and wellness club for the "over 50 crowd.

I thought I knew all the right aerobic exercise programs, but after trying Dr. Sears' new PACE® program, it was soon apparent that there was more to learn.

This program is extremely effective and takes far less time than the "conventional" programs which coax you into spending hours in the gym to achieve your goals.

Dr. Sears new patented aerobic exercise program builds on the principle that long-duration exercise isn't natural.

Our ancient ancestors didn't run for mile after mile without rest or recovery. Their exercise was primarily hunting, or on some occasions being hunted. Their daily exercise "routine" consisted of short bursts of exertion, followed by periods of very welcome rest.

By using this system you recreate exactly what your body needs for optimum health.

The unique feature of PACE® -- progressively changing your routine over time -- ensures maximum fat loss with a "bulletproof" heart and "super-sized" lung power.

By boosting your heart's "reserve capacity," Dr. Sears reveals that you can nearly eliminate your risk of heart attack.

One of Dr. Sears' insights into how the human heart functions is the fact that it doesn't need "endurance training." Your heart was designed to keep beating far into old age.

Heart attacks don't happen because your heart lacks endurance. They happen during times of stress, when your heart needs more energy and pumping capacity, but doesn't have it.

By building reserve capacity -- which the PACE® exercise weight loss program does quickly and easily -- you create a "reserve account" your heart can draw upon during times of emergency.

PACE® is the best fat burner I've ever seen. It works just as well for the novice exerciser (I've used it on people with congestive heart failure) as it does for the extremely fit.

According to Dr. Sears, the big mistake with aerobic exercise and jogging is that it causes our bodies to store fat. Once you pass the 15 to 20 minute mark, you start burning fat during exercise.

But this tells your body you need fat to burn as fuel during exercise. As a result, your body will make and store more fat to prepare for your next run or aerobic workout -- a never-ending cycle making it impossible to get rid of that stubborn fat that never seems to go away.

PACE® exercise weight loss routines are never more than 10 to 20 minutes.

That means your body burns carbs during exercise, not fat. After you finish the routine, your body starts burning fat to replace the carbs it just burned.

In fact, your body will burn fat for up to 24 hours after your PACE® routine. It even burns fat while you are sleeping! After a few weeks, your body gets the message that it doesn't need to store excess body fat at all.

The extra lung power the PACE® exercise weight loss program gives you is more important than you may realize. Dr. Sears tells us that lung volume is your number one indicator for risk of death.

The bigger your lung volume, the longer you'll live. It's critical for preventing disease and boosting your immune system. Not to mention that big lungs transport fresh oxygen to every cell in your body.

The PACE® aerobic exercise program starts improving your heart health and supercharging your metabolism in a matter of days.

Dr. Sears has a very successful medical practice in Florida and a remarkable track record. He produces results for thousands of people from around the world.

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