Target Heart Rate Watch

 

I am trying to get my heart rate in the 130’s and keep it there. 

Each time I go for my 6 mile ride I end up in the 170’s. 

This is not the zone I need to be in as it is the":

Red Line (Maximum Effort) --- 90 - 100% of maximum heart rate: Although this zone burns the highest number of calories, it is very intense. Most people can only stay in this zone for short periods. You should only train in this zone if you are in very good shape and have been cleared by a physician to do so.

I have always had a difficult time keeping my heart rate down….no type A personality here!

I am striving for this zone:

Fitness Zone (Fat Burning) --- 60 - 70% of maximum heart rate: This zone provides the same benefits as the healthy heart zone, but is more intense and burns more total calories. The percent of fat calories is still 85%.

What I have realized is that I must keep my pace slower….frown…I like to ride fast!  But I am learning to pace myself in order to get the best workout and not overdo it.

So, no more 22 minute rides, back to 3o.  And a slower heart rate.'

 

What’s your target heart rate?’

Spark it!

Sandy

Distractions

 

Week 4 of my bike routine.  I am definitely growing stronger leg muscles…good thing as my left leg was  pretty weak.

My heart is getting stronger as well.  I just need to watch my target heart rate. More on that later.

During my ride today I was constantly distracted by tin cans on the side of the road.  Here in the North a soda can is worth 10 cents.  And 10 cents can add up!

So, as I pass my 3rd can my mind starts to wander off course thinking about how I can continue to ride, keep up my speed and pick up these cans.

I am envisioning myself with my daughter’s butterfly net and a plastic grocery bag.  I could swoop down with the net, grab the can, fling it into my left hand and stuff it in the bag….all the while watching the road and keeping up my speed.

Does that sound ridiculous or what?  I was actually picturing myself do this and trying to work every angle to figure out how I was going to accomplish it!

Hey don’t scoff….I’m sure you’ve done this a time or two!

Well, the oncoming large gravel train truck brought me back to my senses…..gravel spewing all over the road, causing me to swerve and almost lose my balance!

As I regained my composure and hoped no one was looking out their window at this “seasoned” bike rider, I began to think…..yea….I know, that’s what got me in trouble the first time.

Anyhow, I realized that those tin cans were a distraction to my focus. I was very focused before that on my breathing, my speed, my heart rate and the road!

But! They those tin cans are worth 10 cents each! There was 7 of those puppies on the ride!  I coulda had 70 cents!

I was willing to give up my focus for 70 cents! P.A.T.H.E.T.I.C.!

How many distractions are on your road to health? How many look like they are valuable distractions but really add no value at all?

Valuable distractions look like this:

God

Spouse

Children

…and in that order

Mine were tin cans…they simply don’t compare…and I almost lost my entire focus.

Are you distracted today?

 

Stay focused,

Sandy

Target Heart Rate

YOUR TARGET HEART RATE

You should know your Maximum Heart Rate and your correct training zone to know if you are training at the right pace. Here are a few ways to figure your target heart rate.

You can easily find your Target Heart Rate (thr) with this simple method. Subtract your age from 220 (226 for women) to calculate your Maximum Heart Rate (mhr). Find your training zone below and multiply that number times your maximum rate. (Your maximum rate times your percentage from below = where your heart rate should be to perform optimally)

TRAINING ZONES
Healthy Heart Zone (Warm up) --- 50 - 60% of maximum heart rate: The easiest zone and probably the best zone for people just starting a fitness program. It can also be used as a warm up for more serious walkers. This zone has been shown to help decrease body fat, blood pressure and cholesterol. It also decreases the risk of degenerative diseases and has a low risk of injury. 85% of calories burned in this zone are fats!

Fitness Zone (Fat Burning) --- 60 - 70% of maximum heart rate: This zone provides the same benefits as the healthy heart zone, but is more intense and burns more total calories. The percent of fat calories is still 85%.

Aerobic Zone (Endurance Training) --- 70 - 80% of maximum heart rate: The aerobic zone will improve your cardiovascular and respiratory system AND increase the size and strength of your heart. This is the preferred zone if you are training for an endurance event. More calories are burned with 50% from fat.

Anaerobic Zone (Performance Training) --- 80 - 90% of maximum heart rate: Benefits of this zone include an improved VO2 maximum (the highest amount of oxygen one can consume during exercise) and thus an improved cardiorespiratory system, and a higher lactate tolerance ability which means your endurance will improve and you'll be able to fight fatigue better. This is a high intensity zone burning more calories, 15 % from fat.

Red Line (Maximum Effort) --- 90 - 100% of maximum heart rate: Although this zone burns the highest number of calories, it is very intense. Most people can only stay in this zone for short periods. You should only train in this zone if you are in very good shape and have been cleared by a physician to do so.



Stay Sparked Up!

Green Smoothie Madness

 

I have been drinking green smoothies for over 10 years now and have been thoroughly enjoying the benefits of good health because of them!

Below is an article by Victoria Boutenko….raw food pioneer.

Enjoy

Ode to Green Smoothies
By Victoria Boutenko
www.rawfamily.com

As the Russian proverb says: New- is something old, that has been long forgotten. This summer Ire-discovered green smoothies. What do I mean by green smoothie? Here is one of my favorite recipes: 4 ripe pears, 1 bunch of parsley and 1 big cup of water. Blended well. This smoothie looks very green, but it tastes like fruit. I like green smoothies so much that I bought an extra
blender and placed it in my office, so that I could make green smoothies throughout the day.More than half of all the food I’ve had in last several months have been green smoothies. I have so much more energy and clarity that I have removed green juices from my diet. (Juicing has been something that I´ve been doing regularly for years.) Green smoothies have numerous benefits for human health.Green smoothies are very nutritious. I believe that the ratio in them is optimal for human consumption: about 60% - ripe organic fruit mixed with about 40% - organic green vegetables.
Green smoothies are easy to digest. When blended well, all the valuable nutrients in these fruit sand veggies become homogenized, or divided into such small particles that it becomes easy for the body to assimilate these nutrients, the green smoothies literally start to get absorbed in your
mouth.Green smoothies, as opposed to juices, are a complete food because they still have fiber.Green smoothies belong to the most palatable dishes for all humans of all ages. With a ratio of fruits to veggies as 60:40 the fruit taste dominates the flavor, yet at the same time the green vegetables balance out the sweetness of the fruit, adding nice zest to it. Green smoothies are
simply the best tasting dishes for the majority of adults and children. I always make extra smoothie and offer it to my friends and customers. Some of them eat a standard American diet.They all finished their big cup of green smoothies with complements. They were quite surprised that something so green could taste so nice and sweet.By consuming two or three cups of green smoothies daily you will consume enough of greens for the day to nourish your body, and they will be well assimilated. Many people do not consume enough of greens, even those who stay on a raw food diet. The molecule of chlorophyll has only
one atom that makes it different from a molecule of human blood. According to teachings of Dr.Ann Wigmore, to consume chlorophyll is like receiving a healthy blood transfusion.Green smoothies are easy to make, and quick to clean up after. Many people told me that they do not consume green juices on a regular basis because it is time consuming to prepare green juices
and clean the equipment after juicing, or to drive to the juice bar.
Green smoothies are perfect food for children of all ages, including babies of six or more months old when introducing new food to them after mother´s milk. Of course you have to be careful and slowly increase the amount of smoothies to avoid food allergies.When you consume your greens in the form of green smoothies, you can greatly reduce the consumption of oils and salt in your diet.
Regular consumption of Green smoothies forms a good habit of eating greens. Several people told me that after a couple of weeks of drinking green smoothies, they started to crave and enjoy eating more greens. Eating enough of green vegetable is often a problem with many people,especially in children.
Green smoothies can easily be freshly made at any juice bar, restaurant or health food store for the great convenience of health-oriented customers.
I encourage the readers of this article to start playing with green smoothies, and to discover the many joys and benefits of this wonderful delicious and nutritious addition to the menu.Here are more ideas for your green creations.
Some of my favorite greens to add to green smoothies: parsley, spinach, celery, kale and romaine. My favorite fruits for green smoothies are: pears, peaches, nectarines, bananas,mangoes and apples. Strawberries and raspberries taste superb in green smoothies, when combined with ripe bananas.

Delicious combinations.
Mango-parsley
2 large mangos
1 bunch parsley
Water
Peach-spinach
6 peaches
2 handfuls of spinach leaves
Water
Mango-weeds
2 mangos
1 handful of lambs quarters, stinging nettles, purslane, etc
Water
Strawberry-banana-romaine
1-cup strawberries
2 bananas
½ bunch romaine
Water
Apple-kale-lemon
4 apples
½ lemon juice
4-5 leaves of kale
Water
Kiwi-banana-celery
4 very ripe kiwis
1 ripe banana
3 stalks of celery
Water
.
Pear-kale-mint
4 ripe pears
4-5 leaves of kale
½ bunch of mint
Water
Finger banana-spinach
10 finger-bananas
2 handfuls of spinach leaves
Water
Bosc pear-raspberry-kale
3 bosc pears
1 handful of raspberries
4-5 leaves of kale
Water

 

Stay Sparked Up!

Sandy

Week 3 of the new workout regimen

 

Are you ready to come along with me today? I am going for my 3rd week of bike riding.

I finally mapped the distance for this weeks ride: 6 miles.

I was able to accomplish 6 miles in 30 minutes last week.  My goal this week will be to do it in 25 minutes.

Let’s go!

Oooohhhh, legs a little stiff from all that gardening this weekend!

EEEEKKKK….bug in the glasses. STOP.GET OFF.GET BUG OUT.

Back on track. At the end of the driveway and turning down the country road.

I am out early this morning….7am. The roads are much quieter.

I always love riding here in the country. It’s so peaceful.

Wow…don’t remember this being so difficult! Legs are burning and I’m only 1 mile into this trek!

Puffing, there are beautiful wild flowers in this one yard….gazing…..aaaahhhhgggg! Stay on the road, girlfriend! Rocks flying!

Focus, focus, focus, breath, breath, breath.  Okay, Spark you can kick in anytime now!

Mile 3 closing in on the *yellow sign*! Woo-hoo! Means I get to turn around and go back ~uphill~!

Ever wonder why our trek back always seems to be uphill? Good thing my Spark has kicked in.  Feeling really good now! Getting stronger with each ride!

Ahhhh, the driveway…..look to the driveway from whence cometh all things good.

Off the bike, breathing heavy, rubber legs, dead heading flowers……gardening is looking better all the time!

Now onto day 2 of week 3!

Stay Sparked Up,

Sandy

24 Day Challenge

 

 

IN 24 MINUTES YOU WILL FEEL THE DIFFERENCE

IN 24 HOURS YOU WILL KNOW THE DIFFERENCE

IN 24 DAYS YOU WILL SEE THE DIFFERENCE

 

Are you needing a boost in your weight loss journey?

I began with Advocare 18 months ago.  WOW! What a journey.  My friend Debbie tried for years to get me to look at the Advocare products and I was stubborn.  I was all about using her Spark to gain energy, but I wasn’t about to engage in any kind of “vitamin snake oil business’!

After 6 years of sharing Spark with me, and 6 years of me feeling good (when I took it) I decided to go to one of her mixers.  I spent the night throwing my skepticism around and giving everyone a good show of nutritional jargon…making a complete fool of myself!  (Nutritional research has been my hobby for many years…so therefore I thought I must be an expert! :).

Before the night was over the light bulb went on, I saw the science behind the products, saw the credibility of the company, felt the difference in my body from the products, and  realized that I could combine this with my love for all things healthy and help others attain optimal results with their weight loss or performance journey.

The rest is history. 

SO MANY PEOPLE ARE GETTING INCREDIBLE RESULTS ON THIS CHALLENGE!

Success is so Sweet – check out these stories of people just like you and me that got great results using the products in the 24 Day Challenge!

 

Brian and Stacey Metz

 

 

 

 

Donna Young

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sandra Garr

 

 

 

 

 

 

24 Day Challenge Explained

ORDER YOUR PRODUCTS FOR YOUR 24 DAY CHALLENGE NOW.

Now comment me and you get a free Spark and info on how to get started!

 

To your health!

Butt and Ball Workout

 

I am a part of a great workout community called www.SparkPeople.com.  This is a community of people that come together to journal about their health  and encourage one another. 

You can create your own webpage, visit all the forums, watch exercise videos, chart your fitness workouts, chart your eating habits and so much more.

I am presently working on getting my lower body back in shape after being out of commission for so long. 

I found this great 6 minute workout for the lower body here. 

I just finished the workout and man are my legs feelin’ it!!  It feels good!  I am very excited about these little videos (you can print them off as well) as they are short and concise and work well!

Try it…you’ll like it!

Let me know if you sign up with Spark People….we can be friends!

To your health,

Sandy