All Life is Learning - October 2022

Fall 2022 Registration is Open

The fall course schedule is available for viewing on our website now! Registering online is the quickest way to secure your spot for the courses you want to take. If you need assistance when registering online, email us at wmu-olli@wmich.edu or call (269) 387-4157. Please leave a voicemail if we cannot answer – we will see it in our email. 

There is still time to register for October courses! Visit the website for dates and times of the October courses listed below.

• Conversational Spanish for Travelers
• Beginning Mah Jongg
• Mindfulness for Health and Well-Being
• Remember the Ladies
• Why Parties? What’s Wrong – and Right – with Political Parties in the United States
• The Joy of Intergenerational Scrapbooking
• Banned Books 101
• Sit Down? The Story of the Flint Sit-Down Strike of 1936-1937
• Some New Tricks for Old Dogs
• The Stories Behind the Hit Songs 1957-1967
• The Sense of Aging – Empathy Dining Experience, Section 2
• Scams – Origins, Types, Workings, Identification and Prevention
• John Codman Ropes and Theodore Ayrault Dodge: A Story of Napoleonic Scholarship
• Planning for Death – Leave No Stone Unturned

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Tyler Norman, Ph.D.
Manager of Corporate Outreach
ACSM Exercise Physiologist
NCFI Corporate Fitness Specialist
West Hills Athletic Club, WMU
(269) 387-0431

Cardio Goals

I hate it when individuals get discouraged with their workouts because they aren’t seeing results come fast enough. Losing patience with exercise is especially common when it comes to the boring and mundane act of cardiovascular exercise. Walking is one of the most common activities for retiree-aged individuals for recreation and exercise because it makes us feel better and it’s nice to get outside. 

When trainers write exercise prescriptions for cardiovascular exercise, however, to just say “walking for 30 minutes” is too vague. A complete cardio prescription includes 4 variables: frequency, intensity, duration, and mode. You may have heard the phrase “target heart rate” – which refers to the intensity of your cardiovascular exercise. Before I get into that, remember why we are doing cardio. We either want to increase our aerobic endurance and heart health, which relate to the body’s efficiency at transporting oxygen, or we want to lose weight. This is where “target heart rate” comes into play.  

Our bodies select fuel based on the stress we put on them. Most people think that if they want to get a good “cardio” workout they need to be sweating and have labored breathing. This is true if your goal is to improve your aerobic endurance and heart health. If you are exercising at that intensity, your body needs a fuel source that is readily available and easily utilized for fuel, so it chooses carbohydrates because they are easily broken down and are usually easily available (we tend to eat a lot of carbs). If you do cardio at a lower level of intensity, your body doesn’t need a fuel source that’s readily available or as easily utilized, so it selects an alternate fuel source – fat. 

So, here’s the formula:

               220 – age = estimated maximum heart rate

               60 – 70% of estimated max heart rate for fat metabolism

               75 – 85% of estimated max heart rate for aerobic endurance

               Example for a 70-year-old:

               220 – 70 = 150 estimated maximum heart rate

               60 – 75% = 90 – 105 heart beats per minute for fat metabolism

               75 – 85% = 112 – 127 heart beats per minute for aerobic endurance

So now that you know what target heart rate means you can tailor your workout specifically to your goals! Here’s the kicker – it takes the average person 15-20 minutes to get the core temperature of the body to a point where it starts to burn fat, which is when most people stop. I usually recommend a 45-minute duration for the lower intensity cardio and a 20- to 30-minute duration for the higher intensity. Frequency should be a minimum of 3 times per week.

To measure your heart rate during exercise, you can either get a heart rate monitor which usually costs about $100, or you can just take your own heart rate by monitoring your pulse. 5 minutes into your cardio session take your heart rate for 6 seconds and add a zero to get your per minute heart rate – then adjust your workout intensity accordingly to get yourself into your target zone. As for the mode, it doesn’t really matter! Treadmill, bicycle, elliptical, swimming, rowing, alligator dodging, or roller derby are all good forms of cardio.

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