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Heart Education
Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness
by Deve Swaim
256 Pages
Capitalize on teens’ fascination with technology! Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness uses heart monitoring technology to help students learn concepts of cardiovascular fitness in a fun and innovative way. With the benefits of immediate and constant feedback, heart rate monitoring technology provides an engaging way for students to monitor their exercise sessions.
Heart Education is based on the author’s principles of Heart Zones Education, a comprehensive cardiovascular fitness program for physical education that examines wellness from the viewpoints of health, fitness, and athletic performance. Designed for students ages 11 to 18, Heart Education incorporates key aspects of the middle school and high school texts of Healthy Hearts in the Zone with the most current information on training and technology.
Heart Education’s 10-step program provides a series of modules with lesson plans, making it simple to present and easy to learn. The program gets students using heart monitors from the start, letting them experience the rush of seeing their heart rate display. Students will learn functions of heart monitoring, how to apply them based on individual heart rate data, and how to set realistic physical activity goals. Teachers and students can choose from over 20 health and fitness workouts and apply strategies for athletic performance training using heart zones.
Heart Education also tackles emotional fitness with structured plans to reduce stress, build positive connections with others, and contribute to a stable emotional outlook throughout the turbulent adolescent years. Also featured are lessons incorporating heart zones concepts into popular outdoor recreation activities such as adventure racing, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, geocaching, and orienteering.
This guidebook features
• a lesson plan finder for easy reference to each lesson and its accompanying student materials;
• a web resource containing all worksheets, station cards, training logs, and other forms for easy printing;
• additional resources including a hardware guide for heart rate monitors, troubleshooting tips, and a series of circuit training stations for reassessment; and
• recommended health assessments that support the strategies of the Heart Zone Training (HZT) system.
Although some forms of technology may be viewed as contributing to an overall decline in physical activity, heart rate monitoring technology can provide a way to empower students to reach their personal health and fitness goals. Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness can help you maximize students’ activity time with appealing, technology-based tools and scientifically sound strategies to positively affect their cardiovascular fitness.
Module 1 Jump-Start: A Quick Reference for Getting Started
Monitoring Heart Rate
Using a Heart Rate Monitor for the First Time
Lesson Plans
Module 2 Measuring and Recording Heart Rate Data
Taking Your Pulse
Determining Training Load
Understanding Heart Rate Assessments
Submaximal Heart Rate Tests
Lesson Plans
Module 3 Monitoring Heart Rate
Programming a Heart Rate Monitor
Precise Heart Rate Monitoring
Sources of Error in Heart Rate Assessments
Increases in Cardiac Output
Changes in the Heart
Ratings of Perceived Exertion
Lesson Plans
Module 4 Heart Zones Methodology
Heart Zones Characteristics
Five Heart Zones
Zone Workouts
Maximal Heart Rate
Lesson Plans
Module 5 Setting Fitness Goals
Setting SMART Goals
Small-Change Goals
Training Tree: A Wellness Continuum
Using the Training Tree
Setting Weight Loss Goals
Managing Weight
Losing Weight
Understanding Weight Gain
Visualizing to Achieve Goals
Lesson Plans
Module 6 Heart Zones Training
Ten Steps of Heart Zones Training
Rules for Training
Putting the Plan Into Action
Module 7 Heart Zones Workouts
Tailoring Your Workouts
Interval Workouts
Steady-State, or Continuous, Workouts
Deciphering the Color-Coding System
How to Read a Workout Outline
Choosing and Designing Workouts
Lesson Plans
Additional Workouts
Module 8 Sport Applications
Fitness Training Principles
Performance Training Principles
Sport Specificity
Cross-Training
Aerobic and Anerobic Energy Contributions
Assessing Fitness Levels Throughout the Sport Season
Measuring and Monitoring the Intensity Requirements of Player Positions
Lesson Plans
Module 9 Periodized Training for Sport Performance
Training Phases
Setting Individual Plans and Goals
Progression of Training Load
Workouts
Tracking Training Load and Logging Workouts
Lesson Plans
Module 10 Training the Emotional Heart
Emotional Fitness Zones
Emotional Fitness Training
Strengthening the Emotional Heart
ZAP Your Stress
Connecting With Others
Choosing Happiness
Lesson Plans
Module 11 Enhancing Health Through Outdoor Recreation
Integrating Outdoor Adventure Activities Into Physical Education
Adventure Racing
Discathalon (Cross Country Skiing and Disc Throwing)
Geocaching or Point-to-Point Orienteering
Lesson Plans
Deve L. Swaim, MS, is president of Heart Zones Education, a company devoted to the development of innovative physical education curricula for schools. Swaim is the creator of the Heart Zones Education program and curriculum as well as two associated texts, Middle School Healthy Hearts in the Zone (2002) and High School Healthy Hearts in the Zone (2003), both published by Human Kinetics. Recognized both nationally and internationally as an expert on applications for heart rate technology in school programs, Swaim has presented her curriculum throughout the United States, Japan, and Australia.
A certified K-12 physical education teacher, Swaim has over 40 years of experience as a health and physical educator working with students from middle school through the university level. Currently she is on the faculty in the department of curriculum and instruction working in the graduate teacher education program in the School of Education at Portland State University in Oregon.
Swaim has served on the Oregon Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports and as the Board of Governors representative for the Northwest District American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. She has also served as president of both the Oregon Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance and the Northwest District American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. She is the recipient of the Honor Award from both organizations for meritorious contributions to the organizations.
In her free time, Swaim enjoys hiking, backpacking, fishing, and snowshoeing. She and her spouse, AJ, live in Canby, Oregon.
Take care of yourself with emotional fitness training
The heart sends us vital information about our health and happiness. Emotional fitness training shows us how to listen to our hearts by becoming aware of our emotional states; it also helps us develop the ability to consciously shift to a healthier zone if we happen to be in a toxic zone.
Emotional Fitness Zones
The heart sends us vital information about our health and happiness. Emotional fitness training shows us how to listen to our hearts by becoming aware of our emotional states; it also helps us develop the ability to consciously shift to a healthier zone if we happen to be in a toxic zone. Just as the body is designed to heal itself, emotions can guide us from a condition of stress and disease to a state of peace, health, and compassion. Emotions are important signals that provide information from either inside or outside the body. Emotional fitness training shows us how to use these signals in a helpful and healthy way.
Figure 10.1 illustrates the five emotional fitness zones. As you read about them in this module, take some time with each one to notice which is most familiar to you, and where you tend to spend your time. The purpose of training in the physical heart zones is to elevate your heart rate for improved health and performance. Elevating your heart rate through physical exertion is good for you. An elevated heart rate as a result of emotional stress for extended periods of time, however, is bad for you. The goals of the five physical and emotional zones are different: in the physical zones we want to increase heart rate, and in the emotional zones we want to maintain a lower heart rate.Another way to think of it is that an elevated heart rate in the physical zones indicates positive stress, whereas an elevated heart rate in the emotional zones indicates negative stress.
Zone 1: Safe Zone
Zone 1, the safe zone, gives us energy. It is where we go to recharge our batteries, to calm ourselves, to get peaceful, to refocus our energy. The safe zone is a very personal zone that we design ourselves. For some, zone 1 has a prayerful, or meditative, focus. For others, certain music or sounds of nature create a peaceful inner feeling. A visual memory of a beautiful place, a remembrance of a special moment, or thoughts of compassion toward a loved one can put our hearts at peace. Just as exercise training is one of the best things for the physical heart, a well-developed zone 1 is the greatest gift for the emotional heart.
The color of zone 1 is blue, a calm and soothing color. Some people find this zone hard to achieve because it requires calming the mind and focusing energy internally. This can be difficult to do in a culture filled with busyness and stress.
Time in zone 1 also benefits our metabolic and physical health. Without harmful stress hormones and negative messages from the brain, the body can optimize its metabolism and work to heal itself, which it is designed to do. Many studies have demonstrated that zone 1 activities such as meditation, prayer, deep breathing, and listening to classical music enhance the immune system, reduce the incidence of disease, lower blood pressure, enhance blood chemistry, and generate an overall feeling of well-being.
Zone 2: Productive Zone
Zone 2, the productive zone, includes a range of feelings that should dominate much of our time at work, home, or at play. In this zone, we are getting things done and feeling good about ourselves and our accomplishments. We feel relatively peaceful and focused as we go about our day-to-day responsibilities. In zone 2 we have access to both our emotions and our thoughts.
The color of zone 2 is green. Time in zone 2 facilitates the growth of emotional energy, which we can store in our emotional bank accounts. When we are in zone 2, we can accomplish tasks that require concentration and attention. Spending time in this zone is health enhancing and productive.
Zone 3: Performance Zone
Zone 3, the performance zone, offers all of the benefits of zone 2 in addition to greater focus, concentration, positive intensity, and accomplishment. In zone 3 we strive to achieve peak performance. We are usually in zone 3 when we are doing something we really love, whether at work, at play, or in relationships. Zone 3 accommodates life's big challenges, but it is not a grueling, stressful, frantic place to be. It is a place of focus and hard work, friendship, play, and love.
The color of zone 3 is yellow, the color of the jersey the leading rider in the Tour de France wears. We are in this zone when we are working hard but feel in the flow, in control of events, and fulfilled. In zone 3 we feel alive in every fiber of our being.
Zone 4: Distress Zone
Zone 4, the distress zone, drains us of energy. This is the zone in which bad stuff starts to happen. Zone 4 is where the fight-or-flight response kicks in—the brain receives the message that life is in danger and the body prepares to fight or run away. It is characterized by feelings of fear, worry, anger, anxiety, depression, overwhelm, guilt, and helplessness. The stress response is triggered in this zone, and physiological changes begin to affect heart rate, blood chemistry, and activity in all the cells and organs. The ability to think clearly declines as the emotions begin to take over. We say and do stupid things when we are in zone 4. We also become much less productive in our work and much more destructive in our relationships.
The color of zone 4 is orange: the color of a warning signal. Our heartbeat tells us when we are in zone 4: as stress hormones pour through the body, heart rate increases by at least 10 beats per minute. Many people in our fast-paced culture are spending far too much time in zone 4, which is definitely hazardous to their health.
Zone 5: Red Zone
Zone 5, the red zone, is a place we never want to go. This is the zone of out-of-control behavior and raw emotion devoid of rational thought. It is characterized by aggression, violence, and hysteria. This is the zone in which abusive and destructive behavior happens. It is highly toxic to the person who is in the zone, as well as anyone else nearby. Zone 5 is the place of domestic violence, irrational and dangerous behavior, and self-destructive activities. Stay out of zone 5, and avoid anyone else who is heading in that direction.
The color of zone 5 is red, the color of danger. Spending time in this zone is toxic and dangerous. Few people who spend time in zone 5 can pull themselves out of it all by themselves. They usually need help from mental health professionals to diagnose the cause of the behavior, as well as prescribe the appropriate treatment.
The field of psychoneuroimmunology (psycho = mind, neuro = nervous system, immunology = the body's natural ability to defend and heal itself) teaches us about the connection between our thoughts and our bodies. Our emotions and perceptions of what is happening in the world cause our hearts and brains to send messages that stimulate physiological responses in our bodies. Our emotional states trigger reactions in our bodies that affect heart rate, blood chemistry, and the activity of every cell in the body. Our immunity is compromised when we are under stress. Fatigue and stress-related complaints account for a high percentage of all visits to primary care physicians. Remember, stress results from our perception of an external situation that brings about an internal response, and stress is a huge energy drain.
Emotional Fitness Training
Emotional fitness training gives us the tools to take better care of ourselves; it encourages and supports us to be more self-accepting. The motivation to use these tools, however, and to make changes in our lives has to come from us.
Change is difficult because the brain wants to repeat emotions and behaviors that are familiar. This is called homeostasis. Most people, from the place of homeostasis, endlessly repeat mood and behavior patterns even if they are destructive. Changing those patterns can create its own stress, but the good news is that as new behaviors are repeated, they eventually become habits.
The amazing benefits to our health and happiness that come from physical exercise are well documented and widely known, but many people remain sedentary. For many years, 80 percent of the U.S. federal health care budget was spent on lifestyle-related illnesses. It seems incredible that people resist physical activity even though the result is a wide variety of physical illnesses. This resistance to exercise is just one of many examples of the power of the brain to resist change.
Human behavior tends to be motivated by either fear or desire. Desire refers to what we want in our lives, what we feel passionate about, what is truly important to us, and the conditions that bring us happiness and energy. Fear is anything that gets in the way of our desires, the behaviors and thoughts that hold us back.
Another factor of emotional fitness is motivation, which can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. Extrinsic motivation comes from the outside and takes the form of things other people think we should do or would like us to do. Extrinsic motivation can come from family members, teachers, doctors, the media, friends, or cultural values. We can experience a lot of pressure from extrinsic motivation, and sometimes we make changes based on these pressures. Intrinsic motivation comes from within, from an awareness of what is truly important and valuable to us. Changes that result from extrinsic motivation tend to be short-lived because there is not enough desire to fuel the effort to maintain the changes. The passion connected to intrinsic motivation provides the energy to keep us going until the new behavior becomes a habit.
Increased awareness of our own emotional state is the cornerstone of emotional fitness training and leads to all the other benefits. In physical training, we listen to the messages our bodies send to become fitter and avoid injury. If we are exhausted as a result of strenuous training, lack of sleep, or illness, we need to rest. If we have pain or soreness, we need to determine what is causing it and correct the situation. Similarly, our emotions can guide us to greater health and happiness. If we notice that our internal stress level is beginning to elevate, we can take a brief time-out to assess the situation. Sometimes all we need is a few relaxing breaths. At other times, we may need to remove ourselves from a situation to calm down and plan our strategy.
The quickest way to reduce stress and improve mood is to exercise on a regular basis. In his book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (2008), Dr. John Ratey presents research that supports the idea that exercise has a profound impact on cognitive abilities and mental health. It is difficult to communicate in words the energy and joy that come from exercise. The bottom line is: the better our physical fitness is, the better our mental and emotional health will be. To be beneficial, however, exercise needs to be regular.
Most people who exercise regularly have training partners who encourage and support them, or even playfully harass them about maintaining their exercise schedule. Exercising with family members or friends can serve a dual purpose of getting support for exercising and spending time with people we care about.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Teach students to use a heart rate monitor
The body adapts to external and internal patterns of stress and recovery. Exercise stress can be determined from the output data of a heart rate monitor.
Lesson Plans
The following lessons guide students in learning to use a heart rate monitor. The activities familiarize them with a wide range of data output.
Heart Rate Improvement
The body adapts to external and internal patterns of stress and recovery. Exercise stress can be determined from the output data of a heart rate monitor. These data, as understood through the HZE program, help students assess their fitness improvements. Improvements can be quantified by comparing heart rate changes from week to week. Improved heart rate values indicate a positive adaptation to the exercise stress.
Students will monitor their individual adaptations to exercise stress in a quantifiable and meaningful way by doing the following:
- Learning to make various heart rate assessments
- Measuring changes in heart rate as a result of adaptations to their individual programs
- Comparing their fitness improvements to the average improvement of the class
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- One circuit station for each assessment
- Heart Rate Improvement worksheets
- Weekly Logs
Activity
1. Tell the students that they will complete three self-assessments and record the data in their Weekly Logs. These measures will be taken multiple times over the course of the unit to look for adaptations in their personal fitness levels.
2. Explain that to see quantifiable improvement, students should compare all their measurement results, not just certain results in isolation.
3. Explain that comparing heart rate assessments with the class average is not a measure of quality or meant to inspire competition. Rather, this comparison will provide awareness of the variables among students of similar age and environment. (Reinforce the notion of individual differences and variability factors among students.)
4. Set up the following three circuit stations using the Heart Zones Education Circuit Training cards provided on the web resource (circuit training text can be found in appendix C):
- Delta heart rate test
- Recovery heart rate test
- Ambient heart rate test
5. At least twice per week, for three weeks, students complete the three assessments and record the results in their HZE Weekly Logs.
6. Students calculate the difference between the first week's results and each subsequent week's results.
7. Provide a weekly log for the class so that students can record their changes each week.
Assessment
Students write a short reflection on the comparisons of their data over time, noting the changes they observed, what may have caused the changes, and what the changes mean for their physical and emotional health.
Internal and External
Heart Rate Influences
Using heart rate as an indicator of exercise stress results in a reliable assessment. But, certain factors influence each student's response to physical activity. These sources of error, which cause heart rate to be a variable rather than absolute measurement, include both internal stress (e.g., emotion, nutrition, hydration) and external stress (e.g., sounds, humidity, temperature, distracting events).
Internal stress caused by emotional changes may result in a heart rate change that is not correlated to physical fitness improvements. The emotional triggering of muscle contractions in the form of tension, strain, or anxiety results in accelerated or depressed heart rates, which can be seen in the output data of a heart rate monitor. The direction of heart rate response is usually predictable, albeit unique to each person. This lesson teaches students how to use heart rate monitor data to see the relationships of their own unique responses to various conditions.
Outcome
Students will recognize their individual responses to various stressors and will measure cardiac response to those stressors with a heart rate monitor.
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- Selected music
- A short story that stimulates emotion
- Stimulating foods (e.g., chocolate, ice-cold drinks, high-sugar foods such as candy)
- Internal and External Heart Rate Influences worksheets
Activity
1. Explain the internal and external stressors that can cause heart rate numbers to change but that do not elicit a training effect.
2. Tell students that they are going to measure their hearts' responses to several internal and external stresses. Reemphasize that all students will respond in their own ways.
3. Play music that may increase heart rate (e.g., rap, rock and roll, certain types of classical). Then play music that may decrease heart rate (e.g., New Age, children's music). Students measure their heart rate responses to each type of music.
4. Read a suspenseful short story, during which students record their heart rates every 60 seconds.
5. Elicit a change in body temperature by having students sit in the sun and then move into the shade. Have students measure their heart rate responses to each temperature change.
6. Certain foods can elicit an increased heart rate response, whereas others are relaxing to the heart. If feasible, have your students check out their monitors during the lunch period and measure their ambient heart rates during the meal. If not, have some stimulating snacks on hand to experiment with in class.
Assessment
Students complete the Internal and External Heart Rate Influences worksheet. They then compare their results to identify the difference in heart rate response between internal and external emotional and physical stress.
Extension
Students brainstorm other self-tests to measure heart rate response to various internal and external conditions. They might try foods of different temperatures and measure their response (e.g., hot and spicy foods vs. cold or frozen foods). Be sure to explain that heart rate responses caused by food consumption will affect heart rate for an extended time. Thus, they will have to allow time for the initial response to wear off before testing another sample.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Enable students to assess their fitness improvements over time
A steady-state heart rate workout requires that students maintain exercise intensity and heart rate throughout the exercise session.
Ups and Downs
A steady-state heart rate workout requires that students maintain exercise intensity and heart rate throughout the exercise session. In a ladder or interval workout, exercise intensity increases or decreases in a way that is similar to ascending or descending a ladder. This workout is a combination of steady state and ladder.
This workout enables students to assess their fitness improvements over time. They use downloadable monitors with software programs to compare the two portions of the workout. This is a sophisticated level of training and analysis, but it is highly valuable in an HZE program.
Outcome
Students will gain experience using heart rate monitors, including using time functions, assessing heart rate output and input data, and varying speed or load to increase and decrease intensity.
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- Ups and Downs worksheets
- Stopwatch, if the heart rate monitor does not have a timing function
Activity
1. Select an exercise activity, such as a cardio machine workout or a sport activity, that accommodates your students and your facilities.
2. Students program the workout into their monitors (if possible; this is also known as uploading a workout), as follows:
- Time interval (if the monitor has a countdown timer): 5 minutes
- Zone alarms (if the monitor has multiple zone alarms): 60, 70, and 80 percent of MHR
- Record mode (if the monitor can store data for later retrieval): on
3. Students warm up for 5 to 10 minutes, keeping their heart rates below the floor of zone 2. They start the stopwatch timer on their monitor when they begin the exercise activity, after the warm-up.
4. Students slowly increase their exercise intensity until they reach the floor of zone 2 (60 percent of activity-specific MHR). Then they keep up whatever pace is required to maintain this heart rate.
5. After approximately five minutes, students proceed to the next interval. In one minute, they increase their heart rates to the floor of zone 3 (70 percent of activity-specific MHR) and then maintain this heart rate for the remaining four minutes of the interval.
6. After five minutes, students proceed to the next interval, increasing their heart rates (within one minute) to the floor of zone 4 (80 percent of activity-specific MHR) and then maintaining this heart rate for the remaining interval time (four minutes).
7. Now students begin to head down the ladder, dropping their heart rates within the first minute of each five-minute interval to the previous zone heart rate number and then maintaining that heart rate for the remaining four interval minutes. Students first drop to the floor of zone 3 (70 percent of MHR), then to the floor of zone 2 (60 percent of MHR).
8. After five minutes in zone 2, students cool down, lowering their heart rates and maintaining them below the floor of zone 2 for 5 to 10 minutes or until they are fully recovered.
9. If possible, students record the distance they traveled during the workout and complete the worksheet.
Assessment
Students discuss what they experienced during this workout (e.g., what they learned by trying to maintain a specific heart rate) by answering these questions:
- How would you rate the difficulty of this activity? Why?
- Did the monitor present any challenges to you? If yes, what were they?
- Was it easier to descend the ladder? Explain.
- Why do some students move faster (or travel farther) than others yet maintain the same percentage of MHR?
- Besides fitness level, what other factors affect endurance steady-state intervals?
Additional Workouts
The 20 additional workouts on the web resource offer a range of intensity from zone 1 to zone 5. They use a mix of challenges that will help students attain their optimal fitness at a pace that matches their personal goals. The web resource also includes a blank template that you and your students can use to design your own workouts with activities of your choice.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Take care of yourself with emotional fitness training
The heart sends us vital information about our health and happiness. Emotional fitness training shows us how to listen to our hearts by becoming aware of our emotional states; it also helps us develop the ability to consciously shift to a healthier zone if we happen to be in a toxic zone.
Emotional Fitness Zones
The heart sends us vital information about our health and happiness. Emotional fitness training shows us how to listen to our hearts by becoming aware of our emotional states; it also helps us develop the ability to consciously shift to a healthier zone if we happen to be in a toxic zone. Just as the body is designed to heal itself, emotions can guide us from a condition of stress and disease to a state of peace, health, and compassion. Emotions are important signals that provide information from either inside or outside the body. Emotional fitness training shows us how to use these signals in a helpful and healthy way.
Figure 10.1 illustrates the five emotional fitness zones. As you read about them in this module, take some time with each one to notice which is most familiar to you, and where you tend to spend your time. The purpose of training in the physical heart zones is to elevate your heart rate for improved health and performance. Elevating your heart rate through physical exertion is good for you. An elevated heart rate as a result of emotional stress for extended periods of time, however, is bad for you. The goals of the five physical and emotional zones are different: in the physical zones we want to increase heart rate, and in the emotional zones we want to maintain a lower heart rate.Another way to think of it is that an elevated heart rate in the physical zones indicates positive stress, whereas an elevated heart rate in the emotional zones indicates negative stress.
Zone 1: Safe Zone
Zone 1, the safe zone, gives us energy. It is where we go to recharge our batteries, to calm ourselves, to get peaceful, to refocus our energy. The safe zone is a very personal zone that we design ourselves. For some, zone 1 has a prayerful, or meditative, focus. For others, certain music or sounds of nature create a peaceful inner feeling. A visual memory of a beautiful place, a remembrance of a special moment, or thoughts of compassion toward a loved one can put our hearts at peace. Just as exercise training is one of the best things for the physical heart, a well-developed zone 1 is the greatest gift for the emotional heart.
The color of zone 1 is blue, a calm and soothing color. Some people find this zone hard to achieve because it requires calming the mind and focusing energy internally. This can be difficult to do in a culture filled with busyness and stress.
Time in zone 1 also benefits our metabolic and physical health. Without harmful stress hormones and negative messages from the brain, the body can optimize its metabolism and work to heal itself, which it is designed to do. Many studies have demonstrated that zone 1 activities such as meditation, prayer, deep breathing, and listening to classical music enhance the immune system, reduce the incidence of disease, lower blood pressure, enhance blood chemistry, and generate an overall feeling of well-being.
Zone 2: Productive Zone
Zone 2, the productive zone, includes a range of feelings that should dominate much of our time at work, home, or at play. In this zone, we are getting things done and feeling good about ourselves and our accomplishments. We feel relatively peaceful and focused as we go about our day-to-day responsibilities. In zone 2 we have access to both our emotions and our thoughts.
The color of zone 2 is green. Time in zone 2 facilitates the growth of emotional energy, which we can store in our emotional bank accounts. When we are in zone 2, we can accomplish tasks that require concentration and attention. Spending time in this zone is health enhancing and productive.
Zone 3: Performance Zone
Zone 3, the performance zone, offers all of the benefits of zone 2 in addition to greater focus, concentration, positive intensity, and accomplishment. In zone 3 we strive to achieve peak performance. We are usually in zone 3 when we are doing something we really love, whether at work, at play, or in relationships. Zone 3 accommodates life's big challenges, but it is not a grueling, stressful, frantic place to be. It is a place of focus and hard work, friendship, play, and love.
The color of zone 3 is yellow, the color of the jersey the leading rider in the Tour de France wears. We are in this zone when we are working hard but feel in the flow, in control of events, and fulfilled. In zone 3 we feel alive in every fiber of our being.
Zone 4: Distress Zone
Zone 4, the distress zone, drains us of energy. This is the zone in which bad stuff starts to happen. Zone 4 is where the fight-or-flight response kicks in—the brain receives the message that life is in danger and the body prepares to fight or run away. It is characterized by feelings of fear, worry, anger, anxiety, depression, overwhelm, guilt, and helplessness. The stress response is triggered in this zone, and physiological changes begin to affect heart rate, blood chemistry, and activity in all the cells and organs. The ability to think clearly declines as the emotions begin to take over. We say and do stupid things when we are in zone 4. We also become much less productive in our work and much more destructive in our relationships.
The color of zone 4 is orange: the color of a warning signal. Our heartbeat tells us when we are in zone 4: as stress hormones pour through the body, heart rate increases by at least 10 beats per minute. Many people in our fast-paced culture are spending far too much time in zone 4, which is definitely hazardous to their health.
Zone 5: Red Zone
Zone 5, the red zone, is a place we never want to go. This is the zone of out-of-control behavior and raw emotion devoid of rational thought. It is characterized by aggression, violence, and hysteria. This is the zone in which abusive and destructive behavior happens. It is highly toxic to the person who is in the zone, as well as anyone else nearby. Zone 5 is the place of domestic violence, irrational and dangerous behavior, and self-destructive activities. Stay out of zone 5, and avoid anyone else who is heading in that direction.
The color of zone 5 is red, the color of danger. Spending time in this zone is toxic and dangerous. Few people who spend time in zone 5 can pull themselves out of it all by themselves. They usually need help from mental health professionals to diagnose the cause of the behavior, as well as prescribe the appropriate treatment.
The field of psychoneuroimmunology (psycho = mind, neuro = nervous system, immunology = the body's natural ability to defend and heal itself) teaches us about the connection between our thoughts and our bodies. Our emotions and perceptions of what is happening in the world cause our hearts and brains to send messages that stimulate physiological responses in our bodies. Our emotional states trigger reactions in our bodies that affect heart rate, blood chemistry, and the activity of every cell in the body. Our immunity is compromised when we are under stress. Fatigue and stress-related complaints account for a high percentage of all visits to primary care physicians. Remember, stress results from our perception of an external situation that brings about an internal response, and stress is a huge energy drain.
Emotional Fitness Training
Emotional fitness training gives us the tools to take better care of ourselves; it encourages and supports us to be more self-accepting. The motivation to use these tools, however, and to make changes in our lives has to come from us.
Change is difficult because the brain wants to repeat emotions and behaviors that are familiar. This is called homeostasis. Most people, from the place of homeostasis, endlessly repeat mood and behavior patterns even if they are destructive. Changing those patterns can create its own stress, but the good news is that as new behaviors are repeated, they eventually become habits.
The amazing benefits to our health and happiness that come from physical exercise are well documented and widely known, but many people remain sedentary. For many years, 80 percent of the U.S. federal health care budget was spent on lifestyle-related illnesses. It seems incredible that people resist physical activity even though the result is a wide variety of physical illnesses. This resistance to exercise is just one of many examples of the power of the brain to resist change.
Human behavior tends to be motivated by either fear or desire. Desire refers to what we want in our lives, what we feel passionate about, what is truly important to us, and the conditions that bring us happiness and energy. Fear is anything that gets in the way of our desires, the behaviors and thoughts that hold us back.
Another factor of emotional fitness is motivation, which can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. Extrinsic motivation comes from the outside and takes the form of things other people think we should do or would like us to do. Extrinsic motivation can come from family members, teachers, doctors, the media, friends, or cultural values. We can experience a lot of pressure from extrinsic motivation, and sometimes we make changes based on these pressures. Intrinsic motivation comes from within, from an awareness of what is truly important and valuable to us. Changes that result from extrinsic motivation tend to be short-lived because there is not enough desire to fuel the effort to maintain the changes. The passion connected to intrinsic motivation provides the energy to keep us going until the new behavior becomes a habit.
Increased awareness of our own emotional state is the cornerstone of emotional fitness training and leads to all the other benefits. In physical training, we listen to the messages our bodies send to become fitter and avoid injury. If we are exhausted as a result of strenuous training, lack of sleep, or illness, we need to rest. If we have pain or soreness, we need to determine what is causing it and correct the situation. Similarly, our emotions can guide us to greater health and happiness. If we notice that our internal stress level is beginning to elevate, we can take a brief time-out to assess the situation. Sometimes all we need is a few relaxing breaths. At other times, we may need to remove ourselves from a situation to calm down and plan our strategy.
The quickest way to reduce stress and improve mood is to exercise on a regular basis. In his book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (2008), Dr. John Ratey presents research that supports the idea that exercise has a profound impact on cognitive abilities and mental health. It is difficult to communicate in words the energy and joy that come from exercise. The bottom line is: the better our physical fitness is, the better our mental and emotional health will be. To be beneficial, however, exercise needs to be regular.
Most people who exercise regularly have training partners who encourage and support them, or even playfully harass them about maintaining their exercise schedule. Exercising with family members or friends can serve a dual purpose of getting support for exercising and spending time with people we care about.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Teach students to use a heart rate monitor
The body adapts to external and internal patterns of stress and recovery. Exercise stress can be determined from the output data of a heart rate monitor.
Lesson Plans
The following lessons guide students in learning to use a heart rate monitor. The activities familiarize them with a wide range of data output.
Heart Rate Improvement
The body adapts to external and internal patterns of stress and recovery. Exercise stress can be determined from the output data of a heart rate monitor. These data, as understood through the HZE program, help students assess their fitness improvements. Improvements can be quantified by comparing heart rate changes from week to week. Improved heart rate values indicate a positive adaptation to the exercise stress.
Students will monitor their individual adaptations to exercise stress in a quantifiable and meaningful way by doing the following:
- Learning to make various heart rate assessments
- Measuring changes in heart rate as a result of adaptations to their individual programs
- Comparing their fitness improvements to the average improvement of the class
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- One circuit station for each assessment
- Heart Rate Improvement worksheets
- Weekly Logs
Activity
1. Tell the students that they will complete three self-assessments and record the data in their Weekly Logs. These measures will be taken multiple times over the course of the unit to look for adaptations in their personal fitness levels.
2. Explain that to see quantifiable improvement, students should compare all their measurement results, not just certain results in isolation.
3. Explain that comparing heart rate assessments with the class average is not a measure of quality or meant to inspire competition. Rather, this comparison will provide awareness of the variables among students of similar age and environment. (Reinforce the notion of individual differences and variability factors among students.)
4. Set up the following three circuit stations using the Heart Zones Education Circuit Training cards provided on the web resource (circuit training text can be found in appendix C):
- Delta heart rate test
- Recovery heart rate test
- Ambient heart rate test
5. At least twice per week, for three weeks, students complete the three assessments and record the results in their HZE Weekly Logs.
6. Students calculate the difference between the first week's results and each subsequent week's results.
7. Provide a weekly log for the class so that students can record their changes each week.
Assessment
Students write a short reflection on the comparisons of their data over time, noting the changes they observed, what may have caused the changes, and what the changes mean for their physical and emotional health.
Internal and External
Heart Rate Influences
Using heart rate as an indicator of exercise stress results in a reliable assessment. But, certain factors influence each student's response to physical activity. These sources of error, which cause heart rate to be a variable rather than absolute measurement, include both internal stress (e.g., emotion, nutrition, hydration) and external stress (e.g., sounds, humidity, temperature, distracting events).
Internal stress caused by emotional changes may result in a heart rate change that is not correlated to physical fitness improvements. The emotional triggering of muscle contractions in the form of tension, strain, or anxiety results in accelerated or depressed heart rates, which can be seen in the output data of a heart rate monitor. The direction of heart rate response is usually predictable, albeit unique to each person. This lesson teaches students how to use heart rate monitor data to see the relationships of their own unique responses to various conditions.
Outcome
Students will recognize their individual responses to various stressors and will measure cardiac response to those stressors with a heart rate monitor.
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- Selected music
- A short story that stimulates emotion
- Stimulating foods (e.g., chocolate, ice-cold drinks, high-sugar foods such as candy)
- Internal and External Heart Rate Influences worksheets
Activity
1. Explain the internal and external stressors that can cause heart rate numbers to change but that do not elicit a training effect.
2. Tell students that they are going to measure their hearts' responses to several internal and external stresses. Reemphasize that all students will respond in their own ways.
3. Play music that may increase heart rate (e.g., rap, rock and roll, certain types of classical). Then play music that may decrease heart rate (e.g., New Age, children's music). Students measure their heart rate responses to each type of music.
4. Read a suspenseful short story, during which students record their heart rates every 60 seconds.
5. Elicit a change in body temperature by having students sit in the sun and then move into the shade. Have students measure their heart rate responses to each temperature change.
6. Certain foods can elicit an increased heart rate response, whereas others are relaxing to the heart. If feasible, have your students check out their monitors during the lunch period and measure their ambient heart rates during the meal. If not, have some stimulating snacks on hand to experiment with in class.
Assessment
Students complete the Internal and External Heart Rate Influences worksheet. They then compare their results to identify the difference in heart rate response between internal and external emotional and physical stress.
Extension
Students brainstorm other self-tests to measure heart rate response to various internal and external conditions. They might try foods of different temperatures and measure their response (e.g., hot and spicy foods vs. cold or frozen foods). Be sure to explain that heart rate responses caused by food consumption will affect heart rate for an extended time. Thus, they will have to allow time for the initial response to wear off before testing another sample.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Enable students to assess their fitness improvements over time
A steady-state heart rate workout requires that students maintain exercise intensity and heart rate throughout the exercise session.
Ups and Downs
A steady-state heart rate workout requires that students maintain exercise intensity and heart rate throughout the exercise session. In a ladder or interval workout, exercise intensity increases or decreases in a way that is similar to ascending or descending a ladder. This workout is a combination of steady state and ladder.
This workout enables students to assess their fitness improvements over time. They use downloadable monitors with software programs to compare the two portions of the workout. This is a sophisticated level of training and analysis, but it is highly valuable in an HZE program.
Outcome
Students will gain experience using heart rate monitors, including using time functions, assessing heart rate output and input data, and varying speed or load to increase and decrease intensity.
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- Ups and Downs worksheets
- Stopwatch, if the heart rate monitor does not have a timing function
Activity
1. Select an exercise activity, such as a cardio machine workout or a sport activity, that accommodates your students and your facilities.
2. Students program the workout into their monitors (if possible; this is also known as uploading a workout), as follows:
- Time interval (if the monitor has a countdown timer): 5 minutes
- Zone alarms (if the monitor has multiple zone alarms): 60, 70, and 80 percent of MHR
- Record mode (if the monitor can store data for later retrieval): on
3. Students warm up for 5 to 10 minutes, keeping their heart rates below the floor of zone 2. They start the stopwatch timer on their monitor when they begin the exercise activity, after the warm-up.
4. Students slowly increase their exercise intensity until they reach the floor of zone 2 (60 percent of activity-specific MHR). Then they keep up whatever pace is required to maintain this heart rate.
5. After approximately five minutes, students proceed to the next interval. In one minute, they increase their heart rates to the floor of zone 3 (70 percent of activity-specific MHR) and then maintain this heart rate for the remaining four minutes of the interval.
6. After five minutes, students proceed to the next interval, increasing their heart rates (within one minute) to the floor of zone 4 (80 percent of activity-specific MHR) and then maintaining this heart rate for the remaining interval time (four minutes).
7. Now students begin to head down the ladder, dropping their heart rates within the first minute of each five-minute interval to the previous zone heart rate number and then maintaining that heart rate for the remaining four interval minutes. Students first drop to the floor of zone 3 (70 percent of MHR), then to the floor of zone 2 (60 percent of MHR).
8. After five minutes in zone 2, students cool down, lowering their heart rates and maintaining them below the floor of zone 2 for 5 to 10 minutes or until they are fully recovered.
9. If possible, students record the distance they traveled during the workout and complete the worksheet.
Assessment
Students discuss what they experienced during this workout (e.g., what they learned by trying to maintain a specific heart rate) by answering these questions:
- How would you rate the difficulty of this activity? Why?
- Did the monitor present any challenges to you? If yes, what were they?
- Was it easier to descend the ladder? Explain.
- Why do some students move faster (or travel farther) than others yet maintain the same percentage of MHR?
- Besides fitness level, what other factors affect endurance steady-state intervals?
Additional Workouts
The 20 additional workouts on the web resource offer a range of intensity from zone 1 to zone 5. They use a mix of challenges that will help students attain their optimal fitness at a pace that matches their personal goals. The web resource also includes a blank template that you and your students can use to design your own workouts with activities of your choice.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Take care of yourself with emotional fitness training
The heart sends us vital information about our health and happiness. Emotional fitness training shows us how to listen to our hearts by becoming aware of our emotional states; it also helps us develop the ability to consciously shift to a healthier zone if we happen to be in a toxic zone.
Emotional Fitness Zones
The heart sends us vital information about our health and happiness. Emotional fitness training shows us how to listen to our hearts by becoming aware of our emotional states; it also helps us develop the ability to consciously shift to a healthier zone if we happen to be in a toxic zone. Just as the body is designed to heal itself, emotions can guide us from a condition of stress and disease to a state of peace, health, and compassion. Emotions are important signals that provide information from either inside or outside the body. Emotional fitness training shows us how to use these signals in a helpful and healthy way.
Figure 10.1 illustrates the five emotional fitness zones. As you read about them in this module, take some time with each one to notice which is most familiar to you, and where you tend to spend your time. The purpose of training in the physical heart zones is to elevate your heart rate for improved health and performance. Elevating your heart rate through physical exertion is good for you. An elevated heart rate as a result of emotional stress for extended periods of time, however, is bad for you. The goals of the five physical and emotional zones are different: in the physical zones we want to increase heart rate, and in the emotional zones we want to maintain a lower heart rate.Another way to think of it is that an elevated heart rate in the physical zones indicates positive stress, whereas an elevated heart rate in the emotional zones indicates negative stress.
Zone 1: Safe Zone
Zone 1, the safe zone, gives us energy. It is where we go to recharge our batteries, to calm ourselves, to get peaceful, to refocus our energy. The safe zone is a very personal zone that we design ourselves. For some, zone 1 has a prayerful, or meditative, focus. For others, certain music or sounds of nature create a peaceful inner feeling. A visual memory of a beautiful place, a remembrance of a special moment, or thoughts of compassion toward a loved one can put our hearts at peace. Just as exercise training is one of the best things for the physical heart, a well-developed zone 1 is the greatest gift for the emotional heart.
The color of zone 1 is blue, a calm and soothing color. Some people find this zone hard to achieve because it requires calming the mind and focusing energy internally. This can be difficult to do in a culture filled with busyness and stress.
Time in zone 1 also benefits our metabolic and physical health. Without harmful stress hormones and negative messages from the brain, the body can optimize its metabolism and work to heal itself, which it is designed to do. Many studies have demonstrated that zone 1 activities such as meditation, prayer, deep breathing, and listening to classical music enhance the immune system, reduce the incidence of disease, lower blood pressure, enhance blood chemistry, and generate an overall feeling of well-being.
Zone 2: Productive Zone
Zone 2, the productive zone, includes a range of feelings that should dominate much of our time at work, home, or at play. In this zone, we are getting things done and feeling good about ourselves and our accomplishments. We feel relatively peaceful and focused as we go about our day-to-day responsibilities. In zone 2 we have access to both our emotions and our thoughts.
The color of zone 2 is green. Time in zone 2 facilitates the growth of emotional energy, which we can store in our emotional bank accounts. When we are in zone 2, we can accomplish tasks that require concentration and attention. Spending time in this zone is health enhancing and productive.
Zone 3: Performance Zone
Zone 3, the performance zone, offers all of the benefits of zone 2 in addition to greater focus, concentration, positive intensity, and accomplishment. In zone 3 we strive to achieve peak performance. We are usually in zone 3 when we are doing something we really love, whether at work, at play, or in relationships. Zone 3 accommodates life's big challenges, but it is not a grueling, stressful, frantic place to be. It is a place of focus and hard work, friendship, play, and love.
The color of zone 3 is yellow, the color of the jersey the leading rider in the Tour de France wears. We are in this zone when we are working hard but feel in the flow, in control of events, and fulfilled. In zone 3 we feel alive in every fiber of our being.
Zone 4: Distress Zone
Zone 4, the distress zone, drains us of energy. This is the zone in which bad stuff starts to happen. Zone 4 is where the fight-or-flight response kicks in—the brain receives the message that life is in danger and the body prepares to fight or run away. It is characterized by feelings of fear, worry, anger, anxiety, depression, overwhelm, guilt, and helplessness. The stress response is triggered in this zone, and physiological changes begin to affect heart rate, blood chemistry, and activity in all the cells and organs. The ability to think clearly declines as the emotions begin to take over. We say and do stupid things when we are in zone 4. We also become much less productive in our work and much more destructive in our relationships.
The color of zone 4 is orange: the color of a warning signal. Our heartbeat tells us when we are in zone 4: as stress hormones pour through the body, heart rate increases by at least 10 beats per minute. Many people in our fast-paced culture are spending far too much time in zone 4, which is definitely hazardous to their health.
Zone 5: Red Zone
Zone 5, the red zone, is a place we never want to go. This is the zone of out-of-control behavior and raw emotion devoid of rational thought. It is characterized by aggression, violence, and hysteria. This is the zone in which abusive and destructive behavior happens. It is highly toxic to the person who is in the zone, as well as anyone else nearby. Zone 5 is the place of domestic violence, irrational and dangerous behavior, and self-destructive activities. Stay out of zone 5, and avoid anyone else who is heading in that direction.
The color of zone 5 is red, the color of danger. Spending time in this zone is toxic and dangerous. Few people who spend time in zone 5 can pull themselves out of it all by themselves. They usually need help from mental health professionals to diagnose the cause of the behavior, as well as prescribe the appropriate treatment.
The field of psychoneuroimmunology (psycho = mind, neuro = nervous system, immunology = the body's natural ability to defend and heal itself) teaches us about the connection between our thoughts and our bodies. Our emotions and perceptions of what is happening in the world cause our hearts and brains to send messages that stimulate physiological responses in our bodies. Our emotional states trigger reactions in our bodies that affect heart rate, blood chemistry, and the activity of every cell in the body. Our immunity is compromised when we are under stress. Fatigue and stress-related complaints account for a high percentage of all visits to primary care physicians. Remember, stress results from our perception of an external situation that brings about an internal response, and stress is a huge energy drain.
Emotional Fitness Training
Emotional fitness training gives us the tools to take better care of ourselves; it encourages and supports us to be more self-accepting. The motivation to use these tools, however, and to make changes in our lives has to come from us.
Change is difficult because the brain wants to repeat emotions and behaviors that are familiar. This is called homeostasis. Most people, from the place of homeostasis, endlessly repeat mood and behavior patterns even if they are destructive. Changing those patterns can create its own stress, but the good news is that as new behaviors are repeated, they eventually become habits.
The amazing benefits to our health and happiness that come from physical exercise are well documented and widely known, but many people remain sedentary. For many years, 80 percent of the U.S. federal health care budget was spent on lifestyle-related illnesses. It seems incredible that people resist physical activity even though the result is a wide variety of physical illnesses. This resistance to exercise is just one of many examples of the power of the brain to resist change.
Human behavior tends to be motivated by either fear or desire. Desire refers to what we want in our lives, what we feel passionate about, what is truly important to us, and the conditions that bring us happiness and energy. Fear is anything that gets in the way of our desires, the behaviors and thoughts that hold us back.
Another factor of emotional fitness is motivation, which can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. Extrinsic motivation comes from the outside and takes the form of things other people think we should do or would like us to do. Extrinsic motivation can come from family members, teachers, doctors, the media, friends, or cultural values. We can experience a lot of pressure from extrinsic motivation, and sometimes we make changes based on these pressures. Intrinsic motivation comes from within, from an awareness of what is truly important and valuable to us. Changes that result from extrinsic motivation tend to be short-lived because there is not enough desire to fuel the effort to maintain the changes. The passion connected to intrinsic motivation provides the energy to keep us going until the new behavior becomes a habit.
Increased awareness of our own emotional state is the cornerstone of emotional fitness training and leads to all the other benefits. In physical training, we listen to the messages our bodies send to become fitter and avoid injury. If we are exhausted as a result of strenuous training, lack of sleep, or illness, we need to rest. If we have pain or soreness, we need to determine what is causing it and correct the situation. Similarly, our emotions can guide us to greater health and happiness. If we notice that our internal stress level is beginning to elevate, we can take a brief time-out to assess the situation. Sometimes all we need is a few relaxing breaths. At other times, we may need to remove ourselves from a situation to calm down and plan our strategy.
The quickest way to reduce stress and improve mood is to exercise on a regular basis. In his book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (2008), Dr. John Ratey presents research that supports the idea that exercise has a profound impact on cognitive abilities and mental health. It is difficult to communicate in words the energy and joy that come from exercise. The bottom line is: the better our physical fitness is, the better our mental and emotional health will be. To be beneficial, however, exercise needs to be regular.
Most people who exercise regularly have training partners who encourage and support them, or even playfully harass them about maintaining their exercise schedule. Exercising with family members or friends can serve a dual purpose of getting support for exercising and spending time with people we care about.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Teach students to use a heart rate monitor
The body adapts to external and internal patterns of stress and recovery. Exercise stress can be determined from the output data of a heart rate monitor.
Lesson Plans
The following lessons guide students in learning to use a heart rate monitor. The activities familiarize them with a wide range of data output.
Heart Rate Improvement
The body adapts to external and internal patterns of stress and recovery. Exercise stress can be determined from the output data of a heart rate monitor. These data, as understood through the HZE program, help students assess their fitness improvements. Improvements can be quantified by comparing heart rate changes from week to week. Improved heart rate values indicate a positive adaptation to the exercise stress.
Students will monitor their individual adaptations to exercise stress in a quantifiable and meaningful way by doing the following:
- Learning to make various heart rate assessments
- Measuring changes in heart rate as a result of adaptations to their individual programs
- Comparing their fitness improvements to the average improvement of the class
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- One circuit station for each assessment
- Heart Rate Improvement worksheets
- Weekly Logs
Activity
1. Tell the students that they will complete three self-assessments and record the data in their Weekly Logs. These measures will be taken multiple times over the course of the unit to look for adaptations in their personal fitness levels.
2. Explain that to see quantifiable improvement, students should compare all their measurement results, not just certain results in isolation.
3. Explain that comparing heart rate assessments with the class average is not a measure of quality or meant to inspire competition. Rather, this comparison will provide awareness of the variables among students of similar age and environment. (Reinforce the notion of individual differences and variability factors among students.)
4. Set up the following three circuit stations using the Heart Zones Education Circuit Training cards provided on the web resource (circuit training text can be found in appendix C):
- Delta heart rate test
- Recovery heart rate test
- Ambient heart rate test
5. At least twice per week, for three weeks, students complete the three assessments and record the results in their HZE Weekly Logs.
6. Students calculate the difference between the first week's results and each subsequent week's results.
7. Provide a weekly log for the class so that students can record their changes each week.
Assessment
Students write a short reflection on the comparisons of their data over time, noting the changes they observed, what may have caused the changes, and what the changes mean for their physical and emotional health.
Internal and External
Heart Rate Influences
Using heart rate as an indicator of exercise stress results in a reliable assessment. But, certain factors influence each student's response to physical activity. These sources of error, which cause heart rate to be a variable rather than absolute measurement, include both internal stress (e.g., emotion, nutrition, hydration) and external stress (e.g., sounds, humidity, temperature, distracting events).
Internal stress caused by emotional changes may result in a heart rate change that is not correlated to physical fitness improvements. The emotional triggering of muscle contractions in the form of tension, strain, or anxiety results in accelerated or depressed heart rates, which can be seen in the output data of a heart rate monitor. The direction of heart rate response is usually predictable, albeit unique to each person. This lesson teaches students how to use heart rate monitor data to see the relationships of their own unique responses to various conditions.
Outcome
Students will recognize their individual responses to various stressors and will measure cardiac response to those stressors with a heart rate monitor.
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- Selected music
- A short story that stimulates emotion
- Stimulating foods (e.g., chocolate, ice-cold drinks, high-sugar foods such as candy)
- Internal and External Heart Rate Influences worksheets
Activity
1. Explain the internal and external stressors that can cause heart rate numbers to change but that do not elicit a training effect.
2. Tell students that they are going to measure their hearts' responses to several internal and external stresses. Reemphasize that all students will respond in their own ways.
3. Play music that may increase heart rate (e.g., rap, rock and roll, certain types of classical). Then play music that may decrease heart rate (e.g., New Age, children's music). Students measure their heart rate responses to each type of music.
4. Read a suspenseful short story, during which students record their heart rates every 60 seconds.
5. Elicit a change in body temperature by having students sit in the sun and then move into the shade. Have students measure their heart rate responses to each temperature change.
6. Certain foods can elicit an increased heart rate response, whereas others are relaxing to the heart. If feasible, have your students check out their monitors during the lunch period and measure their ambient heart rates during the meal. If not, have some stimulating snacks on hand to experiment with in class.
Assessment
Students complete the Internal and External Heart Rate Influences worksheet. They then compare their results to identify the difference in heart rate response between internal and external emotional and physical stress.
Extension
Students brainstorm other self-tests to measure heart rate response to various internal and external conditions. They might try foods of different temperatures and measure their response (e.g., hot and spicy foods vs. cold or frozen foods). Be sure to explain that heart rate responses caused by food consumption will affect heart rate for an extended time. Thus, they will have to allow time for the initial response to wear off before testing another sample.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Enable students to assess their fitness improvements over time
A steady-state heart rate workout requires that students maintain exercise intensity and heart rate throughout the exercise session.
Ups and Downs
A steady-state heart rate workout requires that students maintain exercise intensity and heart rate throughout the exercise session. In a ladder or interval workout, exercise intensity increases or decreases in a way that is similar to ascending or descending a ladder. This workout is a combination of steady state and ladder.
This workout enables students to assess their fitness improvements over time. They use downloadable monitors with software programs to compare the two portions of the workout. This is a sophisticated level of training and analysis, but it is highly valuable in an HZE program.
Outcome
Students will gain experience using heart rate monitors, including using time functions, assessing heart rate output and input data, and varying speed or load to increase and decrease intensity.
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- Ups and Downs worksheets
- Stopwatch, if the heart rate monitor does not have a timing function
Activity
1. Select an exercise activity, such as a cardio machine workout or a sport activity, that accommodates your students and your facilities.
2. Students program the workout into their monitors (if possible; this is also known as uploading a workout), as follows:
- Time interval (if the monitor has a countdown timer): 5 minutes
- Zone alarms (if the monitor has multiple zone alarms): 60, 70, and 80 percent of MHR
- Record mode (if the monitor can store data for later retrieval): on
3. Students warm up for 5 to 10 minutes, keeping their heart rates below the floor of zone 2. They start the stopwatch timer on their monitor when they begin the exercise activity, after the warm-up.
4. Students slowly increase their exercise intensity until they reach the floor of zone 2 (60 percent of activity-specific MHR). Then they keep up whatever pace is required to maintain this heart rate.
5. After approximately five minutes, students proceed to the next interval. In one minute, they increase their heart rates to the floor of zone 3 (70 percent of activity-specific MHR) and then maintain this heart rate for the remaining four minutes of the interval.
6. After five minutes, students proceed to the next interval, increasing their heart rates (within one minute) to the floor of zone 4 (80 percent of activity-specific MHR) and then maintaining this heart rate for the remaining interval time (four minutes).
7. Now students begin to head down the ladder, dropping their heart rates within the first minute of each five-minute interval to the previous zone heart rate number and then maintaining that heart rate for the remaining four interval minutes. Students first drop to the floor of zone 3 (70 percent of MHR), then to the floor of zone 2 (60 percent of MHR).
8. After five minutes in zone 2, students cool down, lowering their heart rates and maintaining them below the floor of zone 2 for 5 to 10 minutes or until they are fully recovered.
9. If possible, students record the distance they traveled during the workout and complete the worksheet.
Assessment
Students discuss what they experienced during this workout (e.g., what they learned by trying to maintain a specific heart rate) by answering these questions:
- How would you rate the difficulty of this activity? Why?
- Did the monitor present any challenges to you? If yes, what were they?
- Was it easier to descend the ladder? Explain.
- Why do some students move faster (or travel farther) than others yet maintain the same percentage of MHR?
- Besides fitness level, what other factors affect endurance steady-state intervals?
Additional Workouts
The 20 additional workouts on the web resource offer a range of intensity from zone 1 to zone 5. They use a mix of challenges that will help students attain their optimal fitness at a pace that matches their personal goals. The web resource also includes a blank template that you and your students can use to design your own workouts with activities of your choice.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Take care of yourself with emotional fitness training
The heart sends us vital information about our health and happiness. Emotional fitness training shows us how to listen to our hearts by becoming aware of our emotional states; it also helps us develop the ability to consciously shift to a healthier zone if we happen to be in a toxic zone.
Emotional Fitness Zones
The heart sends us vital information about our health and happiness. Emotional fitness training shows us how to listen to our hearts by becoming aware of our emotional states; it also helps us develop the ability to consciously shift to a healthier zone if we happen to be in a toxic zone. Just as the body is designed to heal itself, emotions can guide us from a condition of stress and disease to a state of peace, health, and compassion. Emotions are important signals that provide information from either inside or outside the body. Emotional fitness training shows us how to use these signals in a helpful and healthy way.
Figure 10.1 illustrates the five emotional fitness zones. As you read about them in this module, take some time with each one to notice which is most familiar to you, and where you tend to spend your time. The purpose of training in the physical heart zones is to elevate your heart rate for improved health and performance. Elevating your heart rate through physical exertion is good for you. An elevated heart rate as a result of emotional stress for extended periods of time, however, is bad for you. The goals of the five physical and emotional zones are different: in the physical zones we want to increase heart rate, and in the emotional zones we want to maintain a lower heart rate.Another way to think of it is that an elevated heart rate in the physical zones indicates positive stress, whereas an elevated heart rate in the emotional zones indicates negative stress.
Zone 1: Safe Zone
Zone 1, the safe zone, gives us energy. It is where we go to recharge our batteries, to calm ourselves, to get peaceful, to refocus our energy. The safe zone is a very personal zone that we design ourselves. For some, zone 1 has a prayerful, or meditative, focus. For others, certain music or sounds of nature create a peaceful inner feeling. A visual memory of a beautiful place, a remembrance of a special moment, or thoughts of compassion toward a loved one can put our hearts at peace. Just as exercise training is one of the best things for the physical heart, a well-developed zone 1 is the greatest gift for the emotional heart.
The color of zone 1 is blue, a calm and soothing color. Some people find this zone hard to achieve because it requires calming the mind and focusing energy internally. This can be difficult to do in a culture filled with busyness and stress.
Time in zone 1 also benefits our metabolic and physical health. Without harmful stress hormones and negative messages from the brain, the body can optimize its metabolism and work to heal itself, which it is designed to do. Many studies have demonstrated that zone 1 activities such as meditation, prayer, deep breathing, and listening to classical music enhance the immune system, reduce the incidence of disease, lower blood pressure, enhance blood chemistry, and generate an overall feeling of well-being.
Zone 2: Productive Zone
Zone 2, the productive zone, includes a range of feelings that should dominate much of our time at work, home, or at play. In this zone, we are getting things done and feeling good about ourselves and our accomplishments. We feel relatively peaceful and focused as we go about our day-to-day responsibilities. In zone 2 we have access to both our emotions and our thoughts.
The color of zone 2 is green. Time in zone 2 facilitates the growth of emotional energy, which we can store in our emotional bank accounts. When we are in zone 2, we can accomplish tasks that require concentration and attention. Spending time in this zone is health enhancing and productive.
Zone 3: Performance Zone
Zone 3, the performance zone, offers all of the benefits of zone 2 in addition to greater focus, concentration, positive intensity, and accomplishment. In zone 3 we strive to achieve peak performance. We are usually in zone 3 when we are doing something we really love, whether at work, at play, or in relationships. Zone 3 accommodates life's big challenges, but it is not a grueling, stressful, frantic place to be. It is a place of focus and hard work, friendship, play, and love.
The color of zone 3 is yellow, the color of the jersey the leading rider in the Tour de France wears. We are in this zone when we are working hard but feel in the flow, in control of events, and fulfilled. In zone 3 we feel alive in every fiber of our being.
Zone 4: Distress Zone
Zone 4, the distress zone, drains us of energy. This is the zone in which bad stuff starts to happen. Zone 4 is where the fight-or-flight response kicks in—the brain receives the message that life is in danger and the body prepares to fight or run away. It is characterized by feelings of fear, worry, anger, anxiety, depression, overwhelm, guilt, and helplessness. The stress response is triggered in this zone, and physiological changes begin to affect heart rate, blood chemistry, and activity in all the cells and organs. The ability to think clearly declines as the emotions begin to take over. We say and do stupid things when we are in zone 4. We also become much less productive in our work and much more destructive in our relationships.
The color of zone 4 is orange: the color of a warning signal. Our heartbeat tells us when we are in zone 4: as stress hormones pour through the body, heart rate increases by at least 10 beats per minute. Many people in our fast-paced culture are spending far too much time in zone 4, which is definitely hazardous to their health.
Zone 5: Red Zone
Zone 5, the red zone, is a place we never want to go. This is the zone of out-of-control behavior and raw emotion devoid of rational thought. It is characterized by aggression, violence, and hysteria. This is the zone in which abusive and destructive behavior happens. It is highly toxic to the person who is in the zone, as well as anyone else nearby. Zone 5 is the place of domestic violence, irrational and dangerous behavior, and self-destructive activities. Stay out of zone 5, and avoid anyone else who is heading in that direction.
The color of zone 5 is red, the color of danger. Spending time in this zone is toxic and dangerous. Few people who spend time in zone 5 can pull themselves out of it all by themselves. They usually need help from mental health professionals to diagnose the cause of the behavior, as well as prescribe the appropriate treatment.
The field of psychoneuroimmunology (psycho = mind, neuro = nervous system, immunology = the body's natural ability to defend and heal itself) teaches us about the connection between our thoughts and our bodies. Our emotions and perceptions of what is happening in the world cause our hearts and brains to send messages that stimulate physiological responses in our bodies. Our emotional states trigger reactions in our bodies that affect heart rate, blood chemistry, and the activity of every cell in the body. Our immunity is compromised when we are under stress. Fatigue and stress-related complaints account for a high percentage of all visits to primary care physicians. Remember, stress results from our perception of an external situation that brings about an internal response, and stress is a huge energy drain.
Emotional Fitness Training
Emotional fitness training gives us the tools to take better care of ourselves; it encourages and supports us to be more self-accepting. The motivation to use these tools, however, and to make changes in our lives has to come from us.
Change is difficult because the brain wants to repeat emotions and behaviors that are familiar. This is called homeostasis. Most people, from the place of homeostasis, endlessly repeat mood and behavior patterns even if they are destructive. Changing those patterns can create its own stress, but the good news is that as new behaviors are repeated, they eventually become habits.
The amazing benefits to our health and happiness that come from physical exercise are well documented and widely known, but many people remain sedentary. For many years, 80 percent of the U.S. federal health care budget was spent on lifestyle-related illnesses. It seems incredible that people resist physical activity even though the result is a wide variety of physical illnesses. This resistance to exercise is just one of many examples of the power of the brain to resist change.
Human behavior tends to be motivated by either fear or desire. Desire refers to what we want in our lives, what we feel passionate about, what is truly important to us, and the conditions that bring us happiness and energy. Fear is anything that gets in the way of our desires, the behaviors and thoughts that hold us back.
Another factor of emotional fitness is motivation, which can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. Extrinsic motivation comes from the outside and takes the form of things other people think we should do or would like us to do. Extrinsic motivation can come from family members, teachers, doctors, the media, friends, or cultural values. We can experience a lot of pressure from extrinsic motivation, and sometimes we make changes based on these pressures. Intrinsic motivation comes from within, from an awareness of what is truly important and valuable to us. Changes that result from extrinsic motivation tend to be short-lived because there is not enough desire to fuel the effort to maintain the changes. The passion connected to intrinsic motivation provides the energy to keep us going until the new behavior becomes a habit.
Increased awareness of our own emotional state is the cornerstone of emotional fitness training and leads to all the other benefits. In physical training, we listen to the messages our bodies send to become fitter and avoid injury. If we are exhausted as a result of strenuous training, lack of sleep, or illness, we need to rest. If we have pain or soreness, we need to determine what is causing it and correct the situation. Similarly, our emotions can guide us to greater health and happiness. If we notice that our internal stress level is beginning to elevate, we can take a brief time-out to assess the situation. Sometimes all we need is a few relaxing breaths. At other times, we may need to remove ourselves from a situation to calm down and plan our strategy.
The quickest way to reduce stress and improve mood is to exercise on a regular basis. In his book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (2008), Dr. John Ratey presents research that supports the idea that exercise has a profound impact on cognitive abilities and mental health. It is difficult to communicate in words the energy and joy that come from exercise. The bottom line is: the better our physical fitness is, the better our mental and emotional health will be. To be beneficial, however, exercise needs to be regular.
Most people who exercise regularly have training partners who encourage and support them, or even playfully harass them about maintaining their exercise schedule. Exercising with family members or friends can serve a dual purpose of getting support for exercising and spending time with people we care about.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Teach students to use a heart rate monitor
The body adapts to external and internal patterns of stress and recovery. Exercise stress can be determined from the output data of a heart rate monitor.
Lesson Plans
The following lessons guide students in learning to use a heart rate monitor. The activities familiarize them with a wide range of data output.
Heart Rate Improvement
The body adapts to external and internal patterns of stress and recovery. Exercise stress can be determined from the output data of a heart rate monitor. These data, as understood through the HZE program, help students assess their fitness improvements. Improvements can be quantified by comparing heart rate changes from week to week. Improved heart rate values indicate a positive adaptation to the exercise stress.
Students will monitor their individual adaptations to exercise stress in a quantifiable and meaningful way by doing the following:
- Learning to make various heart rate assessments
- Measuring changes in heart rate as a result of adaptations to their individual programs
- Comparing their fitness improvements to the average improvement of the class
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- One circuit station for each assessment
- Heart Rate Improvement worksheets
- Weekly Logs
Activity
1. Tell the students that they will complete three self-assessments and record the data in their Weekly Logs. These measures will be taken multiple times over the course of the unit to look for adaptations in their personal fitness levels.
2. Explain that to see quantifiable improvement, students should compare all their measurement results, not just certain results in isolation.
3. Explain that comparing heart rate assessments with the class average is not a measure of quality or meant to inspire competition. Rather, this comparison will provide awareness of the variables among students of similar age and environment. (Reinforce the notion of individual differences and variability factors among students.)
4. Set up the following three circuit stations using the Heart Zones Education Circuit Training cards provided on the web resource (circuit training text can be found in appendix C):
- Delta heart rate test
- Recovery heart rate test
- Ambient heart rate test
5. At least twice per week, for three weeks, students complete the three assessments and record the results in their HZE Weekly Logs.
6. Students calculate the difference between the first week's results and each subsequent week's results.
7. Provide a weekly log for the class so that students can record their changes each week.
Assessment
Students write a short reflection on the comparisons of their data over time, noting the changes they observed, what may have caused the changes, and what the changes mean for their physical and emotional health.
Internal and External
Heart Rate Influences
Using heart rate as an indicator of exercise stress results in a reliable assessment. But, certain factors influence each student's response to physical activity. These sources of error, which cause heart rate to be a variable rather than absolute measurement, include both internal stress (e.g., emotion, nutrition, hydration) and external stress (e.g., sounds, humidity, temperature, distracting events).
Internal stress caused by emotional changes may result in a heart rate change that is not correlated to physical fitness improvements. The emotional triggering of muscle contractions in the form of tension, strain, or anxiety results in accelerated or depressed heart rates, which can be seen in the output data of a heart rate monitor. The direction of heart rate response is usually predictable, albeit unique to each person. This lesson teaches students how to use heart rate monitor data to see the relationships of their own unique responses to various conditions.
Outcome
Students will recognize their individual responses to various stressors and will measure cardiac response to those stressors with a heart rate monitor.
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- Selected music
- A short story that stimulates emotion
- Stimulating foods (e.g., chocolate, ice-cold drinks, high-sugar foods such as candy)
- Internal and External Heart Rate Influences worksheets
Activity
1. Explain the internal and external stressors that can cause heart rate numbers to change but that do not elicit a training effect.
2. Tell students that they are going to measure their hearts' responses to several internal and external stresses. Reemphasize that all students will respond in their own ways.
3. Play music that may increase heart rate (e.g., rap, rock and roll, certain types of classical). Then play music that may decrease heart rate (e.g., New Age, children's music). Students measure their heart rate responses to each type of music.
4. Read a suspenseful short story, during which students record their heart rates every 60 seconds.
5. Elicit a change in body temperature by having students sit in the sun and then move into the shade. Have students measure their heart rate responses to each temperature change.
6. Certain foods can elicit an increased heart rate response, whereas others are relaxing to the heart. If feasible, have your students check out their monitors during the lunch period and measure their ambient heart rates during the meal. If not, have some stimulating snacks on hand to experiment with in class.
Assessment
Students complete the Internal and External Heart Rate Influences worksheet. They then compare their results to identify the difference in heart rate response between internal and external emotional and physical stress.
Extension
Students brainstorm other self-tests to measure heart rate response to various internal and external conditions. They might try foods of different temperatures and measure their response (e.g., hot and spicy foods vs. cold or frozen foods). Be sure to explain that heart rate responses caused by food consumption will affect heart rate for an extended time. Thus, they will have to allow time for the initial response to wear off before testing another sample.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Enable students to assess their fitness improvements over time
A steady-state heart rate workout requires that students maintain exercise intensity and heart rate throughout the exercise session.
Ups and Downs
A steady-state heart rate workout requires that students maintain exercise intensity and heart rate throughout the exercise session. In a ladder or interval workout, exercise intensity increases or decreases in a way that is similar to ascending or descending a ladder. This workout is a combination of steady state and ladder.
This workout enables students to assess their fitness improvements over time. They use downloadable monitors with software programs to compare the two portions of the workout. This is a sophisticated level of training and analysis, but it is highly valuable in an HZE program.
Outcome
Students will gain experience using heart rate monitors, including using time functions, assessing heart rate output and input data, and varying speed or load to increase and decrease intensity.
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- Ups and Downs worksheets
- Stopwatch, if the heart rate monitor does not have a timing function
Activity
1. Select an exercise activity, such as a cardio machine workout or a sport activity, that accommodates your students and your facilities.
2. Students program the workout into their monitors (if possible; this is also known as uploading a workout), as follows:
- Time interval (if the monitor has a countdown timer): 5 minutes
- Zone alarms (if the monitor has multiple zone alarms): 60, 70, and 80 percent of MHR
- Record mode (if the monitor can store data for later retrieval): on
3. Students warm up for 5 to 10 minutes, keeping their heart rates below the floor of zone 2. They start the stopwatch timer on their monitor when they begin the exercise activity, after the warm-up.
4. Students slowly increase their exercise intensity until they reach the floor of zone 2 (60 percent of activity-specific MHR). Then they keep up whatever pace is required to maintain this heart rate.
5. After approximately five minutes, students proceed to the next interval. In one minute, they increase their heart rates to the floor of zone 3 (70 percent of activity-specific MHR) and then maintain this heart rate for the remaining four minutes of the interval.
6. After five minutes, students proceed to the next interval, increasing their heart rates (within one minute) to the floor of zone 4 (80 percent of activity-specific MHR) and then maintaining this heart rate for the remaining interval time (four minutes).
7. Now students begin to head down the ladder, dropping their heart rates within the first minute of each five-minute interval to the previous zone heart rate number and then maintaining that heart rate for the remaining four interval minutes. Students first drop to the floor of zone 3 (70 percent of MHR), then to the floor of zone 2 (60 percent of MHR).
8. After five minutes in zone 2, students cool down, lowering their heart rates and maintaining them below the floor of zone 2 for 5 to 10 minutes or until they are fully recovered.
9. If possible, students record the distance they traveled during the workout and complete the worksheet.
Assessment
Students discuss what they experienced during this workout (e.g., what they learned by trying to maintain a specific heart rate) by answering these questions:
- How would you rate the difficulty of this activity? Why?
- Did the monitor present any challenges to you? If yes, what were they?
- Was it easier to descend the ladder? Explain.
- Why do some students move faster (or travel farther) than others yet maintain the same percentage of MHR?
- Besides fitness level, what other factors affect endurance steady-state intervals?
Additional Workouts
The 20 additional workouts on the web resource offer a range of intensity from zone 1 to zone 5. They use a mix of challenges that will help students attain their optimal fitness at a pace that matches their personal goals. The web resource also includes a blank template that you and your students can use to design your own workouts with activities of your choice.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Take care of yourself with emotional fitness training
The heart sends us vital information about our health and happiness. Emotional fitness training shows us how to listen to our hearts by becoming aware of our emotional states; it also helps us develop the ability to consciously shift to a healthier zone if we happen to be in a toxic zone.
Emotional Fitness Zones
The heart sends us vital information about our health and happiness. Emotional fitness training shows us how to listen to our hearts by becoming aware of our emotional states; it also helps us develop the ability to consciously shift to a healthier zone if we happen to be in a toxic zone. Just as the body is designed to heal itself, emotions can guide us from a condition of stress and disease to a state of peace, health, and compassion. Emotions are important signals that provide information from either inside or outside the body. Emotional fitness training shows us how to use these signals in a helpful and healthy way.
Figure 10.1 illustrates the five emotional fitness zones. As you read about them in this module, take some time with each one to notice which is most familiar to you, and where you tend to spend your time. The purpose of training in the physical heart zones is to elevate your heart rate for improved health and performance. Elevating your heart rate through physical exertion is good for you. An elevated heart rate as a result of emotional stress for extended periods of time, however, is bad for you. The goals of the five physical and emotional zones are different: in the physical zones we want to increase heart rate, and in the emotional zones we want to maintain a lower heart rate.Another way to think of it is that an elevated heart rate in the physical zones indicates positive stress, whereas an elevated heart rate in the emotional zones indicates negative stress.
Zone 1: Safe Zone
Zone 1, the safe zone, gives us energy. It is where we go to recharge our batteries, to calm ourselves, to get peaceful, to refocus our energy. The safe zone is a very personal zone that we design ourselves. For some, zone 1 has a prayerful, or meditative, focus. For others, certain music or sounds of nature create a peaceful inner feeling. A visual memory of a beautiful place, a remembrance of a special moment, or thoughts of compassion toward a loved one can put our hearts at peace. Just as exercise training is one of the best things for the physical heart, a well-developed zone 1 is the greatest gift for the emotional heart.
The color of zone 1 is blue, a calm and soothing color. Some people find this zone hard to achieve because it requires calming the mind and focusing energy internally. This can be difficult to do in a culture filled with busyness and stress.
Time in zone 1 also benefits our metabolic and physical health. Without harmful stress hormones and negative messages from the brain, the body can optimize its metabolism and work to heal itself, which it is designed to do. Many studies have demonstrated that zone 1 activities such as meditation, prayer, deep breathing, and listening to classical music enhance the immune system, reduce the incidence of disease, lower blood pressure, enhance blood chemistry, and generate an overall feeling of well-being.
Zone 2: Productive Zone
Zone 2, the productive zone, includes a range of feelings that should dominate much of our time at work, home, or at play. In this zone, we are getting things done and feeling good about ourselves and our accomplishments. We feel relatively peaceful and focused as we go about our day-to-day responsibilities. In zone 2 we have access to both our emotions and our thoughts.
The color of zone 2 is green. Time in zone 2 facilitates the growth of emotional energy, which we can store in our emotional bank accounts. When we are in zone 2, we can accomplish tasks that require concentration and attention. Spending time in this zone is health enhancing and productive.
Zone 3: Performance Zone
Zone 3, the performance zone, offers all of the benefits of zone 2 in addition to greater focus, concentration, positive intensity, and accomplishment. In zone 3 we strive to achieve peak performance. We are usually in zone 3 when we are doing something we really love, whether at work, at play, or in relationships. Zone 3 accommodates life's big challenges, but it is not a grueling, stressful, frantic place to be. It is a place of focus and hard work, friendship, play, and love.
The color of zone 3 is yellow, the color of the jersey the leading rider in the Tour de France wears. We are in this zone when we are working hard but feel in the flow, in control of events, and fulfilled. In zone 3 we feel alive in every fiber of our being.
Zone 4: Distress Zone
Zone 4, the distress zone, drains us of energy. This is the zone in which bad stuff starts to happen. Zone 4 is where the fight-or-flight response kicks in—the brain receives the message that life is in danger and the body prepares to fight or run away. It is characterized by feelings of fear, worry, anger, anxiety, depression, overwhelm, guilt, and helplessness. The stress response is triggered in this zone, and physiological changes begin to affect heart rate, blood chemistry, and activity in all the cells and organs. The ability to think clearly declines as the emotions begin to take over. We say and do stupid things when we are in zone 4. We also become much less productive in our work and much more destructive in our relationships.
The color of zone 4 is orange: the color of a warning signal. Our heartbeat tells us when we are in zone 4: as stress hormones pour through the body, heart rate increases by at least 10 beats per minute. Many people in our fast-paced culture are spending far too much time in zone 4, which is definitely hazardous to their health.
Zone 5: Red Zone
Zone 5, the red zone, is a place we never want to go. This is the zone of out-of-control behavior and raw emotion devoid of rational thought. It is characterized by aggression, violence, and hysteria. This is the zone in which abusive and destructive behavior happens. It is highly toxic to the person who is in the zone, as well as anyone else nearby. Zone 5 is the place of domestic violence, irrational and dangerous behavior, and self-destructive activities. Stay out of zone 5, and avoid anyone else who is heading in that direction.
The color of zone 5 is red, the color of danger. Spending time in this zone is toxic and dangerous. Few people who spend time in zone 5 can pull themselves out of it all by themselves. They usually need help from mental health professionals to diagnose the cause of the behavior, as well as prescribe the appropriate treatment.
The field of psychoneuroimmunology (psycho = mind, neuro = nervous system, immunology = the body's natural ability to defend and heal itself) teaches us about the connection between our thoughts and our bodies. Our emotions and perceptions of what is happening in the world cause our hearts and brains to send messages that stimulate physiological responses in our bodies. Our emotional states trigger reactions in our bodies that affect heart rate, blood chemistry, and the activity of every cell in the body. Our immunity is compromised when we are under stress. Fatigue and stress-related complaints account for a high percentage of all visits to primary care physicians. Remember, stress results from our perception of an external situation that brings about an internal response, and stress is a huge energy drain.
Emotional Fitness Training
Emotional fitness training gives us the tools to take better care of ourselves; it encourages and supports us to be more self-accepting. The motivation to use these tools, however, and to make changes in our lives has to come from us.
Change is difficult because the brain wants to repeat emotions and behaviors that are familiar. This is called homeostasis. Most people, from the place of homeostasis, endlessly repeat mood and behavior patterns even if they are destructive. Changing those patterns can create its own stress, but the good news is that as new behaviors are repeated, they eventually become habits.
The amazing benefits to our health and happiness that come from physical exercise are well documented and widely known, but many people remain sedentary. For many years, 80 percent of the U.S. federal health care budget was spent on lifestyle-related illnesses. It seems incredible that people resist physical activity even though the result is a wide variety of physical illnesses. This resistance to exercise is just one of many examples of the power of the brain to resist change.
Human behavior tends to be motivated by either fear or desire. Desire refers to what we want in our lives, what we feel passionate about, what is truly important to us, and the conditions that bring us happiness and energy. Fear is anything that gets in the way of our desires, the behaviors and thoughts that hold us back.
Another factor of emotional fitness is motivation, which can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. Extrinsic motivation comes from the outside and takes the form of things other people think we should do or would like us to do. Extrinsic motivation can come from family members, teachers, doctors, the media, friends, or cultural values. We can experience a lot of pressure from extrinsic motivation, and sometimes we make changes based on these pressures. Intrinsic motivation comes from within, from an awareness of what is truly important and valuable to us. Changes that result from extrinsic motivation tend to be short-lived because there is not enough desire to fuel the effort to maintain the changes. The passion connected to intrinsic motivation provides the energy to keep us going until the new behavior becomes a habit.
Increased awareness of our own emotional state is the cornerstone of emotional fitness training and leads to all the other benefits. In physical training, we listen to the messages our bodies send to become fitter and avoid injury. If we are exhausted as a result of strenuous training, lack of sleep, or illness, we need to rest. If we have pain or soreness, we need to determine what is causing it and correct the situation. Similarly, our emotions can guide us to greater health and happiness. If we notice that our internal stress level is beginning to elevate, we can take a brief time-out to assess the situation. Sometimes all we need is a few relaxing breaths. At other times, we may need to remove ourselves from a situation to calm down and plan our strategy.
The quickest way to reduce stress and improve mood is to exercise on a regular basis. In his book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (2008), Dr. John Ratey presents research that supports the idea that exercise has a profound impact on cognitive abilities and mental health. It is difficult to communicate in words the energy and joy that come from exercise. The bottom line is: the better our physical fitness is, the better our mental and emotional health will be. To be beneficial, however, exercise needs to be regular.
Most people who exercise regularly have training partners who encourage and support them, or even playfully harass them about maintaining their exercise schedule. Exercising with family members or friends can serve a dual purpose of getting support for exercising and spending time with people we care about.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Teach students to use a heart rate monitor
The body adapts to external and internal patterns of stress and recovery. Exercise stress can be determined from the output data of a heart rate monitor.
Lesson Plans
The following lessons guide students in learning to use a heart rate monitor. The activities familiarize them with a wide range of data output.
Heart Rate Improvement
The body adapts to external and internal patterns of stress and recovery. Exercise stress can be determined from the output data of a heart rate monitor. These data, as understood through the HZE program, help students assess their fitness improvements. Improvements can be quantified by comparing heart rate changes from week to week. Improved heart rate values indicate a positive adaptation to the exercise stress.
Students will monitor their individual adaptations to exercise stress in a quantifiable and meaningful way by doing the following:
- Learning to make various heart rate assessments
- Measuring changes in heart rate as a result of adaptations to their individual programs
- Comparing their fitness improvements to the average improvement of the class
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- One circuit station for each assessment
- Heart Rate Improvement worksheets
- Weekly Logs
Activity
1. Tell the students that they will complete three self-assessments and record the data in their Weekly Logs. These measures will be taken multiple times over the course of the unit to look for adaptations in their personal fitness levels.
2. Explain that to see quantifiable improvement, students should compare all their measurement results, not just certain results in isolation.
3. Explain that comparing heart rate assessments with the class average is not a measure of quality or meant to inspire competition. Rather, this comparison will provide awareness of the variables among students of similar age and environment. (Reinforce the notion of individual differences and variability factors among students.)
4. Set up the following three circuit stations using the Heart Zones Education Circuit Training cards provided on the web resource (circuit training text can be found in appendix C):
- Delta heart rate test
- Recovery heart rate test
- Ambient heart rate test
5. At least twice per week, for three weeks, students complete the three assessments and record the results in their HZE Weekly Logs.
6. Students calculate the difference between the first week's results and each subsequent week's results.
7. Provide a weekly log for the class so that students can record their changes each week.
Assessment
Students write a short reflection on the comparisons of their data over time, noting the changes they observed, what may have caused the changes, and what the changes mean for their physical and emotional health.
Internal and External
Heart Rate Influences
Using heart rate as an indicator of exercise stress results in a reliable assessment. But, certain factors influence each student's response to physical activity. These sources of error, which cause heart rate to be a variable rather than absolute measurement, include both internal stress (e.g., emotion, nutrition, hydration) and external stress (e.g., sounds, humidity, temperature, distracting events).
Internal stress caused by emotional changes may result in a heart rate change that is not correlated to physical fitness improvements. The emotional triggering of muscle contractions in the form of tension, strain, or anxiety results in accelerated or depressed heart rates, which can be seen in the output data of a heart rate monitor. The direction of heart rate response is usually predictable, albeit unique to each person. This lesson teaches students how to use heart rate monitor data to see the relationships of their own unique responses to various conditions.
Outcome
Students will recognize their individual responses to various stressors and will measure cardiac response to those stressors with a heart rate monitor.
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- Selected music
- A short story that stimulates emotion
- Stimulating foods (e.g., chocolate, ice-cold drinks, high-sugar foods such as candy)
- Internal and External Heart Rate Influences worksheets
Activity
1. Explain the internal and external stressors that can cause heart rate numbers to change but that do not elicit a training effect.
2. Tell students that they are going to measure their hearts' responses to several internal and external stresses. Reemphasize that all students will respond in their own ways.
3. Play music that may increase heart rate (e.g., rap, rock and roll, certain types of classical). Then play music that may decrease heart rate (e.g., New Age, children's music). Students measure their heart rate responses to each type of music.
4. Read a suspenseful short story, during which students record their heart rates every 60 seconds.
5. Elicit a change in body temperature by having students sit in the sun and then move into the shade. Have students measure their heart rate responses to each temperature change.
6. Certain foods can elicit an increased heart rate response, whereas others are relaxing to the heart. If feasible, have your students check out their monitors during the lunch period and measure their ambient heart rates during the meal. If not, have some stimulating snacks on hand to experiment with in class.
Assessment
Students complete the Internal and External Heart Rate Influences worksheet. They then compare their results to identify the difference in heart rate response between internal and external emotional and physical stress.
Extension
Students brainstorm other self-tests to measure heart rate response to various internal and external conditions. They might try foods of different temperatures and measure their response (e.g., hot and spicy foods vs. cold or frozen foods). Be sure to explain that heart rate responses caused by food consumption will affect heart rate for an extended time. Thus, they will have to allow time for the initial response to wear off before testing another sample.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Enable students to assess their fitness improvements over time
A steady-state heart rate workout requires that students maintain exercise intensity and heart rate throughout the exercise session.
Ups and Downs
A steady-state heart rate workout requires that students maintain exercise intensity and heart rate throughout the exercise session. In a ladder or interval workout, exercise intensity increases or decreases in a way that is similar to ascending or descending a ladder. This workout is a combination of steady state and ladder.
This workout enables students to assess their fitness improvements over time. They use downloadable monitors with software programs to compare the two portions of the workout. This is a sophisticated level of training and analysis, but it is highly valuable in an HZE program.
Outcome
Students will gain experience using heart rate monitors, including using time functions, assessing heart rate output and input data, and varying speed or load to increase and decrease intensity.
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- Ups and Downs worksheets
- Stopwatch, if the heart rate monitor does not have a timing function
Activity
1. Select an exercise activity, such as a cardio machine workout or a sport activity, that accommodates your students and your facilities.
2. Students program the workout into their monitors (if possible; this is also known as uploading a workout), as follows:
- Time interval (if the monitor has a countdown timer): 5 minutes
- Zone alarms (if the monitor has multiple zone alarms): 60, 70, and 80 percent of MHR
- Record mode (if the monitor can store data for later retrieval): on
3. Students warm up for 5 to 10 minutes, keeping their heart rates below the floor of zone 2. They start the stopwatch timer on their monitor when they begin the exercise activity, after the warm-up.
4. Students slowly increase their exercise intensity until they reach the floor of zone 2 (60 percent of activity-specific MHR). Then they keep up whatever pace is required to maintain this heart rate.
5. After approximately five minutes, students proceed to the next interval. In one minute, they increase their heart rates to the floor of zone 3 (70 percent of activity-specific MHR) and then maintain this heart rate for the remaining four minutes of the interval.
6. After five minutes, students proceed to the next interval, increasing their heart rates (within one minute) to the floor of zone 4 (80 percent of activity-specific MHR) and then maintaining this heart rate for the remaining interval time (four minutes).
7. Now students begin to head down the ladder, dropping their heart rates within the first minute of each five-minute interval to the previous zone heart rate number and then maintaining that heart rate for the remaining four interval minutes. Students first drop to the floor of zone 3 (70 percent of MHR), then to the floor of zone 2 (60 percent of MHR).
8. After five minutes in zone 2, students cool down, lowering their heart rates and maintaining them below the floor of zone 2 for 5 to 10 minutes or until they are fully recovered.
9. If possible, students record the distance they traveled during the workout and complete the worksheet.
Assessment
Students discuss what they experienced during this workout (e.g., what they learned by trying to maintain a specific heart rate) by answering these questions:
- How would you rate the difficulty of this activity? Why?
- Did the monitor present any challenges to you? If yes, what were they?
- Was it easier to descend the ladder? Explain.
- Why do some students move faster (or travel farther) than others yet maintain the same percentage of MHR?
- Besides fitness level, what other factors affect endurance steady-state intervals?
Additional Workouts
The 20 additional workouts on the web resource offer a range of intensity from zone 1 to zone 5. They use a mix of challenges that will help students attain their optimal fitness at a pace that matches their personal goals. The web resource also includes a blank template that you and your students can use to design your own workouts with activities of your choice.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Take care of yourself with emotional fitness training
The heart sends us vital information about our health and happiness. Emotional fitness training shows us how to listen to our hearts by becoming aware of our emotional states; it also helps us develop the ability to consciously shift to a healthier zone if we happen to be in a toxic zone.
Emotional Fitness Zones
The heart sends us vital information about our health and happiness. Emotional fitness training shows us how to listen to our hearts by becoming aware of our emotional states; it also helps us develop the ability to consciously shift to a healthier zone if we happen to be in a toxic zone. Just as the body is designed to heal itself, emotions can guide us from a condition of stress and disease to a state of peace, health, and compassion. Emotions are important signals that provide information from either inside or outside the body. Emotional fitness training shows us how to use these signals in a helpful and healthy way.
Figure 10.1 illustrates the five emotional fitness zones. As you read about them in this module, take some time with each one to notice which is most familiar to you, and where you tend to spend your time. The purpose of training in the physical heart zones is to elevate your heart rate for improved health and performance. Elevating your heart rate through physical exertion is good for you. An elevated heart rate as a result of emotional stress for extended periods of time, however, is bad for you. The goals of the five physical and emotional zones are different: in the physical zones we want to increase heart rate, and in the emotional zones we want to maintain a lower heart rate.Another way to think of it is that an elevated heart rate in the physical zones indicates positive stress, whereas an elevated heart rate in the emotional zones indicates negative stress.
Zone 1: Safe Zone
Zone 1, the safe zone, gives us energy. It is where we go to recharge our batteries, to calm ourselves, to get peaceful, to refocus our energy. The safe zone is a very personal zone that we design ourselves. For some, zone 1 has a prayerful, or meditative, focus. For others, certain music or sounds of nature create a peaceful inner feeling. A visual memory of a beautiful place, a remembrance of a special moment, or thoughts of compassion toward a loved one can put our hearts at peace. Just as exercise training is one of the best things for the physical heart, a well-developed zone 1 is the greatest gift for the emotional heart.
The color of zone 1 is blue, a calm and soothing color. Some people find this zone hard to achieve because it requires calming the mind and focusing energy internally. This can be difficult to do in a culture filled with busyness and stress.
Time in zone 1 also benefits our metabolic and physical health. Without harmful stress hormones and negative messages from the brain, the body can optimize its metabolism and work to heal itself, which it is designed to do. Many studies have demonstrated that zone 1 activities such as meditation, prayer, deep breathing, and listening to classical music enhance the immune system, reduce the incidence of disease, lower blood pressure, enhance blood chemistry, and generate an overall feeling of well-being.
Zone 2: Productive Zone
Zone 2, the productive zone, includes a range of feelings that should dominate much of our time at work, home, or at play. In this zone, we are getting things done and feeling good about ourselves and our accomplishments. We feel relatively peaceful and focused as we go about our day-to-day responsibilities. In zone 2 we have access to both our emotions and our thoughts.
The color of zone 2 is green. Time in zone 2 facilitates the growth of emotional energy, which we can store in our emotional bank accounts. When we are in zone 2, we can accomplish tasks that require concentration and attention. Spending time in this zone is health enhancing and productive.
Zone 3: Performance Zone
Zone 3, the performance zone, offers all of the benefits of zone 2 in addition to greater focus, concentration, positive intensity, and accomplishment. In zone 3 we strive to achieve peak performance. We are usually in zone 3 when we are doing something we really love, whether at work, at play, or in relationships. Zone 3 accommodates life's big challenges, but it is not a grueling, stressful, frantic place to be. It is a place of focus and hard work, friendship, play, and love.
The color of zone 3 is yellow, the color of the jersey the leading rider in the Tour de France wears. We are in this zone when we are working hard but feel in the flow, in control of events, and fulfilled. In zone 3 we feel alive in every fiber of our being.
Zone 4: Distress Zone
Zone 4, the distress zone, drains us of energy. This is the zone in which bad stuff starts to happen. Zone 4 is where the fight-or-flight response kicks in—the brain receives the message that life is in danger and the body prepares to fight or run away. It is characterized by feelings of fear, worry, anger, anxiety, depression, overwhelm, guilt, and helplessness. The stress response is triggered in this zone, and physiological changes begin to affect heart rate, blood chemistry, and activity in all the cells and organs. The ability to think clearly declines as the emotions begin to take over. We say and do stupid things when we are in zone 4. We also become much less productive in our work and much more destructive in our relationships.
The color of zone 4 is orange: the color of a warning signal. Our heartbeat tells us when we are in zone 4: as stress hormones pour through the body, heart rate increases by at least 10 beats per minute. Many people in our fast-paced culture are spending far too much time in zone 4, which is definitely hazardous to their health.
Zone 5: Red Zone
Zone 5, the red zone, is a place we never want to go. This is the zone of out-of-control behavior and raw emotion devoid of rational thought. It is characterized by aggression, violence, and hysteria. This is the zone in which abusive and destructive behavior happens. It is highly toxic to the person who is in the zone, as well as anyone else nearby. Zone 5 is the place of domestic violence, irrational and dangerous behavior, and self-destructive activities. Stay out of zone 5, and avoid anyone else who is heading in that direction.
The color of zone 5 is red, the color of danger. Spending time in this zone is toxic and dangerous. Few people who spend time in zone 5 can pull themselves out of it all by themselves. They usually need help from mental health professionals to diagnose the cause of the behavior, as well as prescribe the appropriate treatment.
The field of psychoneuroimmunology (psycho = mind, neuro = nervous system, immunology = the body's natural ability to defend and heal itself) teaches us about the connection between our thoughts and our bodies. Our emotions and perceptions of what is happening in the world cause our hearts and brains to send messages that stimulate physiological responses in our bodies. Our emotional states trigger reactions in our bodies that affect heart rate, blood chemistry, and the activity of every cell in the body. Our immunity is compromised when we are under stress. Fatigue and stress-related complaints account for a high percentage of all visits to primary care physicians. Remember, stress results from our perception of an external situation that brings about an internal response, and stress is a huge energy drain.
Emotional Fitness Training
Emotional fitness training gives us the tools to take better care of ourselves; it encourages and supports us to be more self-accepting. The motivation to use these tools, however, and to make changes in our lives has to come from us.
Change is difficult because the brain wants to repeat emotions and behaviors that are familiar. This is called homeostasis. Most people, from the place of homeostasis, endlessly repeat mood and behavior patterns even if they are destructive. Changing those patterns can create its own stress, but the good news is that as new behaviors are repeated, they eventually become habits.
The amazing benefits to our health and happiness that come from physical exercise are well documented and widely known, but many people remain sedentary. For many years, 80 percent of the U.S. federal health care budget was spent on lifestyle-related illnesses. It seems incredible that people resist physical activity even though the result is a wide variety of physical illnesses. This resistance to exercise is just one of many examples of the power of the brain to resist change.
Human behavior tends to be motivated by either fear or desire. Desire refers to what we want in our lives, what we feel passionate about, what is truly important to us, and the conditions that bring us happiness and energy. Fear is anything that gets in the way of our desires, the behaviors and thoughts that hold us back.
Another factor of emotional fitness is motivation, which can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. Extrinsic motivation comes from the outside and takes the form of things other people think we should do or would like us to do. Extrinsic motivation can come from family members, teachers, doctors, the media, friends, or cultural values. We can experience a lot of pressure from extrinsic motivation, and sometimes we make changes based on these pressures. Intrinsic motivation comes from within, from an awareness of what is truly important and valuable to us. Changes that result from extrinsic motivation tend to be short-lived because there is not enough desire to fuel the effort to maintain the changes. The passion connected to intrinsic motivation provides the energy to keep us going until the new behavior becomes a habit.
Increased awareness of our own emotional state is the cornerstone of emotional fitness training and leads to all the other benefits. In physical training, we listen to the messages our bodies send to become fitter and avoid injury. If we are exhausted as a result of strenuous training, lack of sleep, or illness, we need to rest. If we have pain or soreness, we need to determine what is causing it and correct the situation. Similarly, our emotions can guide us to greater health and happiness. If we notice that our internal stress level is beginning to elevate, we can take a brief time-out to assess the situation. Sometimes all we need is a few relaxing breaths. At other times, we may need to remove ourselves from a situation to calm down and plan our strategy.
The quickest way to reduce stress and improve mood is to exercise on a regular basis. In his book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (2008), Dr. John Ratey presents research that supports the idea that exercise has a profound impact on cognitive abilities and mental health. It is difficult to communicate in words the energy and joy that come from exercise. The bottom line is: the better our physical fitness is, the better our mental and emotional health will be. To be beneficial, however, exercise needs to be regular.
Most people who exercise regularly have training partners who encourage and support them, or even playfully harass them about maintaining their exercise schedule. Exercising with family members or friends can serve a dual purpose of getting support for exercising and spending time with people we care about.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Teach students to use a heart rate monitor
The body adapts to external and internal patterns of stress and recovery. Exercise stress can be determined from the output data of a heart rate monitor.
Lesson Plans
The following lessons guide students in learning to use a heart rate monitor. The activities familiarize them with a wide range of data output.
Heart Rate Improvement
The body adapts to external and internal patterns of stress and recovery. Exercise stress can be determined from the output data of a heart rate monitor. These data, as understood through the HZE program, help students assess their fitness improvements. Improvements can be quantified by comparing heart rate changes from week to week. Improved heart rate values indicate a positive adaptation to the exercise stress.
Students will monitor their individual adaptations to exercise stress in a quantifiable and meaningful way by doing the following:
- Learning to make various heart rate assessments
- Measuring changes in heart rate as a result of adaptations to their individual programs
- Comparing their fitness improvements to the average improvement of the class
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- One circuit station for each assessment
- Heart Rate Improvement worksheets
- Weekly Logs
Activity
1. Tell the students that they will complete three self-assessments and record the data in their Weekly Logs. These measures will be taken multiple times over the course of the unit to look for adaptations in their personal fitness levels.
2. Explain that to see quantifiable improvement, students should compare all their measurement results, not just certain results in isolation.
3. Explain that comparing heart rate assessments with the class average is not a measure of quality or meant to inspire competition. Rather, this comparison will provide awareness of the variables among students of similar age and environment. (Reinforce the notion of individual differences and variability factors among students.)
4. Set up the following three circuit stations using the Heart Zones Education Circuit Training cards provided on the web resource (circuit training text can be found in appendix C):
- Delta heart rate test
- Recovery heart rate test
- Ambient heart rate test
5. At least twice per week, for three weeks, students complete the three assessments and record the results in their HZE Weekly Logs.
6. Students calculate the difference between the first week's results and each subsequent week's results.
7. Provide a weekly log for the class so that students can record their changes each week.
Assessment
Students write a short reflection on the comparisons of their data over time, noting the changes they observed, what may have caused the changes, and what the changes mean for their physical and emotional health.
Internal and External
Heart Rate Influences
Using heart rate as an indicator of exercise stress results in a reliable assessment. But, certain factors influence each student's response to physical activity. These sources of error, which cause heart rate to be a variable rather than absolute measurement, include both internal stress (e.g., emotion, nutrition, hydration) and external stress (e.g., sounds, humidity, temperature, distracting events).
Internal stress caused by emotional changes may result in a heart rate change that is not correlated to physical fitness improvements. The emotional triggering of muscle contractions in the form of tension, strain, or anxiety results in accelerated or depressed heart rates, which can be seen in the output data of a heart rate monitor. The direction of heart rate response is usually predictable, albeit unique to each person. This lesson teaches students how to use heart rate monitor data to see the relationships of their own unique responses to various conditions.
Outcome
Students will recognize their individual responses to various stressors and will measure cardiac response to those stressors with a heart rate monitor.
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- Selected music
- A short story that stimulates emotion
- Stimulating foods (e.g., chocolate, ice-cold drinks, high-sugar foods such as candy)
- Internal and External Heart Rate Influences worksheets
Activity
1. Explain the internal and external stressors that can cause heart rate numbers to change but that do not elicit a training effect.
2. Tell students that they are going to measure their hearts' responses to several internal and external stresses. Reemphasize that all students will respond in their own ways.
3. Play music that may increase heart rate (e.g., rap, rock and roll, certain types of classical). Then play music that may decrease heart rate (e.g., New Age, children's music). Students measure their heart rate responses to each type of music.
4. Read a suspenseful short story, during which students record their heart rates every 60 seconds.
5. Elicit a change in body temperature by having students sit in the sun and then move into the shade. Have students measure their heart rate responses to each temperature change.
6. Certain foods can elicit an increased heart rate response, whereas others are relaxing to the heart. If feasible, have your students check out their monitors during the lunch period and measure their ambient heart rates during the meal. If not, have some stimulating snacks on hand to experiment with in class.
Assessment
Students complete the Internal and External Heart Rate Influences worksheet. They then compare their results to identify the difference in heart rate response between internal and external emotional and physical stress.
Extension
Students brainstorm other self-tests to measure heart rate response to various internal and external conditions. They might try foods of different temperatures and measure their response (e.g., hot and spicy foods vs. cold or frozen foods). Be sure to explain that heart rate responses caused by food consumption will affect heart rate for an extended time. Thus, they will have to allow time for the initial response to wear off before testing another sample.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Enable students to assess their fitness improvements over time
A steady-state heart rate workout requires that students maintain exercise intensity and heart rate throughout the exercise session.
Ups and Downs
A steady-state heart rate workout requires that students maintain exercise intensity and heart rate throughout the exercise session. In a ladder or interval workout, exercise intensity increases or decreases in a way that is similar to ascending or descending a ladder. This workout is a combination of steady state and ladder.
This workout enables students to assess their fitness improvements over time. They use downloadable monitors with software programs to compare the two portions of the workout. This is a sophisticated level of training and analysis, but it is highly valuable in an HZE program.
Outcome
Students will gain experience using heart rate monitors, including using time functions, assessing heart rate output and input data, and varying speed or load to increase and decrease intensity.
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- Ups and Downs worksheets
- Stopwatch, if the heart rate monitor does not have a timing function
Activity
1. Select an exercise activity, such as a cardio machine workout or a sport activity, that accommodates your students and your facilities.
2. Students program the workout into their monitors (if possible; this is also known as uploading a workout), as follows:
- Time interval (if the monitor has a countdown timer): 5 minutes
- Zone alarms (if the monitor has multiple zone alarms): 60, 70, and 80 percent of MHR
- Record mode (if the monitor can store data for later retrieval): on
3. Students warm up for 5 to 10 minutes, keeping their heart rates below the floor of zone 2. They start the stopwatch timer on their monitor when they begin the exercise activity, after the warm-up.
4. Students slowly increase their exercise intensity until they reach the floor of zone 2 (60 percent of activity-specific MHR). Then they keep up whatever pace is required to maintain this heart rate.
5. After approximately five minutes, students proceed to the next interval. In one minute, they increase their heart rates to the floor of zone 3 (70 percent of activity-specific MHR) and then maintain this heart rate for the remaining four minutes of the interval.
6. After five minutes, students proceed to the next interval, increasing their heart rates (within one minute) to the floor of zone 4 (80 percent of activity-specific MHR) and then maintaining this heart rate for the remaining interval time (four minutes).
7. Now students begin to head down the ladder, dropping their heart rates within the first minute of each five-minute interval to the previous zone heart rate number and then maintaining that heart rate for the remaining four interval minutes. Students first drop to the floor of zone 3 (70 percent of MHR), then to the floor of zone 2 (60 percent of MHR).
8. After five minutes in zone 2, students cool down, lowering their heart rates and maintaining them below the floor of zone 2 for 5 to 10 minutes or until they are fully recovered.
9. If possible, students record the distance they traveled during the workout and complete the worksheet.
Assessment
Students discuss what they experienced during this workout (e.g., what they learned by trying to maintain a specific heart rate) by answering these questions:
- How would you rate the difficulty of this activity? Why?
- Did the monitor present any challenges to you? If yes, what were they?
- Was it easier to descend the ladder? Explain.
- Why do some students move faster (or travel farther) than others yet maintain the same percentage of MHR?
- Besides fitness level, what other factors affect endurance steady-state intervals?
Additional Workouts
The 20 additional workouts on the web resource offer a range of intensity from zone 1 to zone 5. They use a mix of challenges that will help students attain their optimal fitness at a pace that matches their personal goals. The web resource also includes a blank template that you and your students can use to design your own workouts with activities of your choice.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Take care of yourself with emotional fitness training
The heart sends us vital information about our health and happiness. Emotional fitness training shows us how to listen to our hearts by becoming aware of our emotional states; it also helps us develop the ability to consciously shift to a healthier zone if we happen to be in a toxic zone.
Emotional Fitness Zones
The heart sends us vital information about our health and happiness. Emotional fitness training shows us how to listen to our hearts by becoming aware of our emotional states; it also helps us develop the ability to consciously shift to a healthier zone if we happen to be in a toxic zone. Just as the body is designed to heal itself, emotions can guide us from a condition of stress and disease to a state of peace, health, and compassion. Emotions are important signals that provide information from either inside or outside the body. Emotional fitness training shows us how to use these signals in a helpful and healthy way.
Figure 10.1 illustrates the five emotional fitness zones. As you read about them in this module, take some time with each one to notice which is most familiar to you, and where you tend to spend your time. The purpose of training in the physical heart zones is to elevate your heart rate for improved health and performance. Elevating your heart rate through physical exertion is good for you. An elevated heart rate as a result of emotional stress for extended periods of time, however, is bad for you. The goals of the five physical and emotional zones are different: in the physical zones we want to increase heart rate, and in the emotional zones we want to maintain a lower heart rate.Another way to think of it is that an elevated heart rate in the physical zones indicates positive stress, whereas an elevated heart rate in the emotional zones indicates negative stress.
Zone 1: Safe Zone
Zone 1, the safe zone, gives us energy. It is where we go to recharge our batteries, to calm ourselves, to get peaceful, to refocus our energy. The safe zone is a very personal zone that we design ourselves. For some, zone 1 has a prayerful, or meditative, focus. For others, certain music or sounds of nature create a peaceful inner feeling. A visual memory of a beautiful place, a remembrance of a special moment, or thoughts of compassion toward a loved one can put our hearts at peace. Just as exercise training is one of the best things for the physical heart, a well-developed zone 1 is the greatest gift for the emotional heart.
The color of zone 1 is blue, a calm and soothing color. Some people find this zone hard to achieve because it requires calming the mind and focusing energy internally. This can be difficult to do in a culture filled with busyness and stress.
Time in zone 1 also benefits our metabolic and physical health. Without harmful stress hormones and negative messages from the brain, the body can optimize its metabolism and work to heal itself, which it is designed to do. Many studies have demonstrated that zone 1 activities such as meditation, prayer, deep breathing, and listening to classical music enhance the immune system, reduce the incidence of disease, lower blood pressure, enhance blood chemistry, and generate an overall feeling of well-being.
Zone 2: Productive Zone
Zone 2, the productive zone, includes a range of feelings that should dominate much of our time at work, home, or at play. In this zone, we are getting things done and feeling good about ourselves and our accomplishments. We feel relatively peaceful and focused as we go about our day-to-day responsibilities. In zone 2 we have access to both our emotions and our thoughts.
The color of zone 2 is green. Time in zone 2 facilitates the growth of emotional energy, which we can store in our emotional bank accounts. When we are in zone 2, we can accomplish tasks that require concentration and attention. Spending time in this zone is health enhancing and productive.
Zone 3: Performance Zone
Zone 3, the performance zone, offers all of the benefits of zone 2 in addition to greater focus, concentration, positive intensity, and accomplishment. In zone 3 we strive to achieve peak performance. We are usually in zone 3 when we are doing something we really love, whether at work, at play, or in relationships. Zone 3 accommodates life's big challenges, but it is not a grueling, stressful, frantic place to be. It is a place of focus and hard work, friendship, play, and love.
The color of zone 3 is yellow, the color of the jersey the leading rider in the Tour de France wears. We are in this zone when we are working hard but feel in the flow, in control of events, and fulfilled. In zone 3 we feel alive in every fiber of our being.
Zone 4: Distress Zone
Zone 4, the distress zone, drains us of energy. This is the zone in which bad stuff starts to happen. Zone 4 is where the fight-or-flight response kicks in—the brain receives the message that life is in danger and the body prepares to fight or run away. It is characterized by feelings of fear, worry, anger, anxiety, depression, overwhelm, guilt, and helplessness. The stress response is triggered in this zone, and physiological changes begin to affect heart rate, blood chemistry, and activity in all the cells and organs. The ability to think clearly declines as the emotions begin to take over. We say and do stupid things when we are in zone 4. We also become much less productive in our work and much more destructive in our relationships.
The color of zone 4 is orange: the color of a warning signal. Our heartbeat tells us when we are in zone 4: as stress hormones pour through the body, heart rate increases by at least 10 beats per minute. Many people in our fast-paced culture are spending far too much time in zone 4, which is definitely hazardous to their health.
Zone 5: Red Zone
Zone 5, the red zone, is a place we never want to go. This is the zone of out-of-control behavior and raw emotion devoid of rational thought. It is characterized by aggression, violence, and hysteria. This is the zone in which abusive and destructive behavior happens. It is highly toxic to the person who is in the zone, as well as anyone else nearby. Zone 5 is the place of domestic violence, irrational and dangerous behavior, and self-destructive activities. Stay out of zone 5, and avoid anyone else who is heading in that direction.
The color of zone 5 is red, the color of danger. Spending time in this zone is toxic and dangerous. Few people who spend time in zone 5 can pull themselves out of it all by themselves. They usually need help from mental health professionals to diagnose the cause of the behavior, as well as prescribe the appropriate treatment.
The field of psychoneuroimmunology (psycho = mind, neuro = nervous system, immunology = the body's natural ability to defend and heal itself) teaches us about the connection between our thoughts and our bodies. Our emotions and perceptions of what is happening in the world cause our hearts and brains to send messages that stimulate physiological responses in our bodies. Our emotional states trigger reactions in our bodies that affect heart rate, blood chemistry, and the activity of every cell in the body. Our immunity is compromised when we are under stress. Fatigue and stress-related complaints account for a high percentage of all visits to primary care physicians. Remember, stress results from our perception of an external situation that brings about an internal response, and stress is a huge energy drain.
Emotional Fitness Training
Emotional fitness training gives us the tools to take better care of ourselves; it encourages and supports us to be more self-accepting. The motivation to use these tools, however, and to make changes in our lives has to come from us.
Change is difficult because the brain wants to repeat emotions and behaviors that are familiar. This is called homeostasis. Most people, from the place of homeostasis, endlessly repeat mood and behavior patterns even if they are destructive. Changing those patterns can create its own stress, but the good news is that as new behaviors are repeated, they eventually become habits.
The amazing benefits to our health and happiness that come from physical exercise are well documented and widely known, but many people remain sedentary. For many years, 80 percent of the U.S. federal health care budget was spent on lifestyle-related illnesses. It seems incredible that people resist physical activity even though the result is a wide variety of physical illnesses. This resistance to exercise is just one of many examples of the power of the brain to resist change.
Human behavior tends to be motivated by either fear or desire. Desire refers to what we want in our lives, what we feel passionate about, what is truly important to us, and the conditions that bring us happiness and energy. Fear is anything that gets in the way of our desires, the behaviors and thoughts that hold us back.
Another factor of emotional fitness is motivation, which can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. Extrinsic motivation comes from the outside and takes the form of things other people think we should do or would like us to do. Extrinsic motivation can come from family members, teachers, doctors, the media, friends, or cultural values. We can experience a lot of pressure from extrinsic motivation, and sometimes we make changes based on these pressures. Intrinsic motivation comes from within, from an awareness of what is truly important and valuable to us. Changes that result from extrinsic motivation tend to be short-lived because there is not enough desire to fuel the effort to maintain the changes. The passion connected to intrinsic motivation provides the energy to keep us going until the new behavior becomes a habit.
Increased awareness of our own emotional state is the cornerstone of emotional fitness training and leads to all the other benefits. In physical training, we listen to the messages our bodies send to become fitter and avoid injury. If we are exhausted as a result of strenuous training, lack of sleep, or illness, we need to rest. If we have pain or soreness, we need to determine what is causing it and correct the situation. Similarly, our emotions can guide us to greater health and happiness. If we notice that our internal stress level is beginning to elevate, we can take a brief time-out to assess the situation. Sometimes all we need is a few relaxing breaths. At other times, we may need to remove ourselves from a situation to calm down and plan our strategy.
The quickest way to reduce stress and improve mood is to exercise on a regular basis. In his book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (2008), Dr. John Ratey presents research that supports the idea that exercise has a profound impact on cognitive abilities and mental health. It is difficult to communicate in words the energy and joy that come from exercise. The bottom line is: the better our physical fitness is, the better our mental and emotional health will be. To be beneficial, however, exercise needs to be regular.
Most people who exercise regularly have training partners who encourage and support them, or even playfully harass them about maintaining their exercise schedule. Exercising with family members or friends can serve a dual purpose of getting support for exercising and spending time with people we care about.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Teach students to use a heart rate monitor
The body adapts to external and internal patterns of stress and recovery. Exercise stress can be determined from the output data of a heart rate monitor.
Lesson Plans
The following lessons guide students in learning to use a heart rate monitor. The activities familiarize them with a wide range of data output.
Heart Rate Improvement
The body adapts to external and internal patterns of stress and recovery. Exercise stress can be determined from the output data of a heart rate monitor. These data, as understood through the HZE program, help students assess their fitness improvements. Improvements can be quantified by comparing heart rate changes from week to week. Improved heart rate values indicate a positive adaptation to the exercise stress.
Students will monitor their individual adaptations to exercise stress in a quantifiable and meaningful way by doing the following:
- Learning to make various heart rate assessments
- Measuring changes in heart rate as a result of adaptations to their individual programs
- Comparing their fitness improvements to the average improvement of the class
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- One circuit station for each assessment
- Heart Rate Improvement worksheets
- Weekly Logs
Activity
1. Tell the students that they will complete three self-assessments and record the data in their Weekly Logs. These measures will be taken multiple times over the course of the unit to look for adaptations in their personal fitness levels.
2. Explain that to see quantifiable improvement, students should compare all their measurement results, not just certain results in isolation.
3. Explain that comparing heart rate assessments with the class average is not a measure of quality or meant to inspire competition. Rather, this comparison will provide awareness of the variables among students of similar age and environment. (Reinforce the notion of individual differences and variability factors among students.)
4. Set up the following three circuit stations using the Heart Zones Education Circuit Training cards provided on the web resource (circuit training text can be found in appendix C):
- Delta heart rate test
- Recovery heart rate test
- Ambient heart rate test
5. At least twice per week, for three weeks, students complete the three assessments and record the results in their HZE Weekly Logs.
6. Students calculate the difference between the first week's results and each subsequent week's results.
7. Provide a weekly log for the class so that students can record their changes each week.
Assessment
Students write a short reflection on the comparisons of their data over time, noting the changes they observed, what may have caused the changes, and what the changes mean for their physical and emotional health.
Internal and External
Heart Rate Influences
Using heart rate as an indicator of exercise stress results in a reliable assessment. But, certain factors influence each student's response to physical activity. These sources of error, which cause heart rate to be a variable rather than absolute measurement, include both internal stress (e.g., emotion, nutrition, hydration) and external stress (e.g., sounds, humidity, temperature, distracting events).
Internal stress caused by emotional changes may result in a heart rate change that is not correlated to physical fitness improvements. The emotional triggering of muscle contractions in the form of tension, strain, or anxiety results in accelerated or depressed heart rates, which can be seen in the output data of a heart rate monitor. The direction of heart rate response is usually predictable, albeit unique to each person. This lesson teaches students how to use heart rate monitor data to see the relationships of their own unique responses to various conditions.
Outcome
Students will recognize their individual responses to various stressors and will measure cardiac response to those stressors with a heart rate monitor.
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- Selected music
- A short story that stimulates emotion
- Stimulating foods (e.g., chocolate, ice-cold drinks, high-sugar foods such as candy)
- Internal and External Heart Rate Influences worksheets
Activity
1. Explain the internal and external stressors that can cause heart rate numbers to change but that do not elicit a training effect.
2. Tell students that they are going to measure their hearts' responses to several internal and external stresses. Reemphasize that all students will respond in their own ways.
3. Play music that may increase heart rate (e.g., rap, rock and roll, certain types of classical). Then play music that may decrease heart rate (e.g., New Age, children's music). Students measure their heart rate responses to each type of music.
4. Read a suspenseful short story, during which students record their heart rates every 60 seconds.
5. Elicit a change in body temperature by having students sit in the sun and then move into the shade. Have students measure their heart rate responses to each temperature change.
6. Certain foods can elicit an increased heart rate response, whereas others are relaxing to the heart. If feasible, have your students check out their monitors during the lunch period and measure their ambient heart rates during the meal. If not, have some stimulating snacks on hand to experiment with in class.
Assessment
Students complete the Internal and External Heart Rate Influences worksheet. They then compare their results to identify the difference in heart rate response between internal and external emotional and physical stress.
Extension
Students brainstorm other self-tests to measure heart rate response to various internal and external conditions. They might try foods of different temperatures and measure their response (e.g., hot and spicy foods vs. cold or frozen foods). Be sure to explain that heart rate responses caused by food consumption will affect heart rate for an extended time. Thus, they will have to allow time for the initial response to wear off before testing another sample.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Enable students to assess their fitness improvements over time
A steady-state heart rate workout requires that students maintain exercise intensity and heart rate throughout the exercise session.
Ups and Downs
A steady-state heart rate workout requires that students maintain exercise intensity and heart rate throughout the exercise session. In a ladder or interval workout, exercise intensity increases or decreases in a way that is similar to ascending or descending a ladder. This workout is a combination of steady state and ladder.
This workout enables students to assess their fitness improvements over time. They use downloadable monitors with software programs to compare the two portions of the workout. This is a sophisticated level of training and analysis, but it is highly valuable in an HZE program.
Outcome
Students will gain experience using heart rate monitors, including using time functions, assessing heart rate output and input data, and varying speed or load to increase and decrease intensity.
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- Ups and Downs worksheets
- Stopwatch, if the heart rate monitor does not have a timing function
Activity
1. Select an exercise activity, such as a cardio machine workout or a sport activity, that accommodates your students and your facilities.
2. Students program the workout into their monitors (if possible; this is also known as uploading a workout), as follows:
- Time interval (if the monitor has a countdown timer): 5 minutes
- Zone alarms (if the monitor has multiple zone alarms): 60, 70, and 80 percent of MHR
- Record mode (if the monitor can store data for later retrieval): on
3. Students warm up for 5 to 10 minutes, keeping their heart rates below the floor of zone 2. They start the stopwatch timer on their monitor when they begin the exercise activity, after the warm-up.
4. Students slowly increase their exercise intensity until they reach the floor of zone 2 (60 percent of activity-specific MHR). Then they keep up whatever pace is required to maintain this heart rate.
5. After approximately five minutes, students proceed to the next interval. In one minute, they increase their heart rates to the floor of zone 3 (70 percent of activity-specific MHR) and then maintain this heart rate for the remaining four minutes of the interval.
6. After five minutes, students proceed to the next interval, increasing their heart rates (within one minute) to the floor of zone 4 (80 percent of activity-specific MHR) and then maintaining this heart rate for the remaining interval time (four minutes).
7. Now students begin to head down the ladder, dropping their heart rates within the first minute of each five-minute interval to the previous zone heart rate number and then maintaining that heart rate for the remaining four interval minutes. Students first drop to the floor of zone 3 (70 percent of MHR), then to the floor of zone 2 (60 percent of MHR).
8. After five minutes in zone 2, students cool down, lowering their heart rates and maintaining them below the floor of zone 2 for 5 to 10 minutes or until they are fully recovered.
9. If possible, students record the distance they traveled during the workout and complete the worksheet.
Assessment
Students discuss what they experienced during this workout (e.g., what they learned by trying to maintain a specific heart rate) by answering these questions:
- How would you rate the difficulty of this activity? Why?
- Did the monitor present any challenges to you? If yes, what were they?
- Was it easier to descend the ladder? Explain.
- Why do some students move faster (or travel farther) than others yet maintain the same percentage of MHR?
- Besides fitness level, what other factors affect endurance steady-state intervals?
Additional Workouts
The 20 additional workouts on the web resource offer a range of intensity from zone 1 to zone 5. They use a mix of challenges that will help students attain their optimal fitness at a pace that matches their personal goals. The web resource also includes a blank template that you and your students can use to design your own workouts with activities of your choice.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Take care of yourself with emotional fitness training
The heart sends us vital information about our health and happiness. Emotional fitness training shows us how to listen to our hearts by becoming aware of our emotional states; it also helps us develop the ability to consciously shift to a healthier zone if we happen to be in a toxic zone.
Emotional Fitness Zones
The heart sends us vital information about our health and happiness. Emotional fitness training shows us how to listen to our hearts by becoming aware of our emotional states; it also helps us develop the ability to consciously shift to a healthier zone if we happen to be in a toxic zone. Just as the body is designed to heal itself, emotions can guide us from a condition of stress and disease to a state of peace, health, and compassion. Emotions are important signals that provide information from either inside or outside the body. Emotional fitness training shows us how to use these signals in a helpful and healthy way.
Figure 10.1 illustrates the five emotional fitness zones. As you read about them in this module, take some time with each one to notice which is most familiar to you, and where you tend to spend your time. The purpose of training in the physical heart zones is to elevate your heart rate for improved health and performance. Elevating your heart rate through physical exertion is good for you. An elevated heart rate as a result of emotional stress for extended periods of time, however, is bad for you. The goals of the five physical and emotional zones are different: in the physical zones we want to increase heart rate, and in the emotional zones we want to maintain a lower heart rate.Another way to think of it is that an elevated heart rate in the physical zones indicates positive stress, whereas an elevated heart rate in the emotional zones indicates negative stress.
Zone 1: Safe Zone
Zone 1, the safe zone, gives us energy. It is where we go to recharge our batteries, to calm ourselves, to get peaceful, to refocus our energy. The safe zone is a very personal zone that we design ourselves. For some, zone 1 has a prayerful, or meditative, focus. For others, certain music or sounds of nature create a peaceful inner feeling. A visual memory of a beautiful place, a remembrance of a special moment, or thoughts of compassion toward a loved one can put our hearts at peace. Just as exercise training is one of the best things for the physical heart, a well-developed zone 1 is the greatest gift for the emotional heart.
The color of zone 1 is blue, a calm and soothing color. Some people find this zone hard to achieve because it requires calming the mind and focusing energy internally. This can be difficult to do in a culture filled with busyness and stress.
Time in zone 1 also benefits our metabolic and physical health. Without harmful stress hormones and negative messages from the brain, the body can optimize its metabolism and work to heal itself, which it is designed to do. Many studies have demonstrated that zone 1 activities such as meditation, prayer, deep breathing, and listening to classical music enhance the immune system, reduce the incidence of disease, lower blood pressure, enhance blood chemistry, and generate an overall feeling of well-being.
Zone 2: Productive Zone
Zone 2, the productive zone, includes a range of feelings that should dominate much of our time at work, home, or at play. In this zone, we are getting things done and feeling good about ourselves and our accomplishments. We feel relatively peaceful and focused as we go about our day-to-day responsibilities. In zone 2 we have access to both our emotions and our thoughts.
The color of zone 2 is green. Time in zone 2 facilitates the growth of emotional energy, which we can store in our emotional bank accounts. When we are in zone 2, we can accomplish tasks that require concentration and attention. Spending time in this zone is health enhancing and productive.
Zone 3: Performance Zone
Zone 3, the performance zone, offers all of the benefits of zone 2 in addition to greater focus, concentration, positive intensity, and accomplishment. In zone 3 we strive to achieve peak performance. We are usually in zone 3 when we are doing something we really love, whether at work, at play, or in relationships. Zone 3 accommodates life's big challenges, but it is not a grueling, stressful, frantic place to be. It is a place of focus and hard work, friendship, play, and love.
The color of zone 3 is yellow, the color of the jersey the leading rider in the Tour de France wears. We are in this zone when we are working hard but feel in the flow, in control of events, and fulfilled. In zone 3 we feel alive in every fiber of our being.
Zone 4: Distress Zone
Zone 4, the distress zone, drains us of energy. This is the zone in which bad stuff starts to happen. Zone 4 is where the fight-or-flight response kicks in—the brain receives the message that life is in danger and the body prepares to fight or run away. It is characterized by feelings of fear, worry, anger, anxiety, depression, overwhelm, guilt, and helplessness. The stress response is triggered in this zone, and physiological changes begin to affect heart rate, blood chemistry, and activity in all the cells and organs. The ability to think clearly declines as the emotions begin to take over. We say and do stupid things when we are in zone 4. We also become much less productive in our work and much more destructive in our relationships.
The color of zone 4 is orange: the color of a warning signal. Our heartbeat tells us when we are in zone 4: as stress hormones pour through the body, heart rate increases by at least 10 beats per minute. Many people in our fast-paced culture are spending far too much time in zone 4, which is definitely hazardous to their health.
Zone 5: Red Zone
Zone 5, the red zone, is a place we never want to go. This is the zone of out-of-control behavior and raw emotion devoid of rational thought. It is characterized by aggression, violence, and hysteria. This is the zone in which abusive and destructive behavior happens. It is highly toxic to the person who is in the zone, as well as anyone else nearby. Zone 5 is the place of domestic violence, irrational and dangerous behavior, and self-destructive activities. Stay out of zone 5, and avoid anyone else who is heading in that direction.
The color of zone 5 is red, the color of danger. Spending time in this zone is toxic and dangerous. Few people who spend time in zone 5 can pull themselves out of it all by themselves. They usually need help from mental health professionals to diagnose the cause of the behavior, as well as prescribe the appropriate treatment.
The field of psychoneuroimmunology (psycho = mind, neuro = nervous system, immunology = the body's natural ability to defend and heal itself) teaches us about the connection between our thoughts and our bodies. Our emotions and perceptions of what is happening in the world cause our hearts and brains to send messages that stimulate physiological responses in our bodies. Our emotional states trigger reactions in our bodies that affect heart rate, blood chemistry, and the activity of every cell in the body. Our immunity is compromised when we are under stress. Fatigue and stress-related complaints account for a high percentage of all visits to primary care physicians. Remember, stress results from our perception of an external situation that brings about an internal response, and stress is a huge energy drain.
Emotional Fitness Training
Emotional fitness training gives us the tools to take better care of ourselves; it encourages and supports us to be more self-accepting. The motivation to use these tools, however, and to make changes in our lives has to come from us.
Change is difficult because the brain wants to repeat emotions and behaviors that are familiar. This is called homeostasis. Most people, from the place of homeostasis, endlessly repeat mood and behavior patterns even if they are destructive. Changing those patterns can create its own stress, but the good news is that as new behaviors are repeated, they eventually become habits.
The amazing benefits to our health and happiness that come from physical exercise are well documented and widely known, but many people remain sedentary. For many years, 80 percent of the U.S. federal health care budget was spent on lifestyle-related illnesses. It seems incredible that people resist physical activity even though the result is a wide variety of physical illnesses. This resistance to exercise is just one of many examples of the power of the brain to resist change.
Human behavior tends to be motivated by either fear or desire. Desire refers to what we want in our lives, what we feel passionate about, what is truly important to us, and the conditions that bring us happiness and energy. Fear is anything that gets in the way of our desires, the behaviors and thoughts that hold us back.
Another factor of emotional fitness is motivation, which can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. Extrinsic motivation comes from the outside and takes the form of things other people think we should do or would like us to do. Extrinsic motivation can come from family members, teachers, doctors, the media, friends, or cultural values. We can experience a lot of pressure from extrinsic motivation, and sometimes we make changes based on these pressures. Intrinsic motivation comes from within, from an awareness of what is truly important and valuable to us. Changes that result from extrinsic motivation tend to be short-lived because there is not enough desire to fuel the effort to maintain the changes. The passion connected to intrinsic motivation provides the energy to keep us going until the new behavior becomes a habit.
Increased awareness of our own emotional state is the cornerstone of emotional fitness training and leads to all the other benefits. In physical training, we listen to the messages our bodies send to become fitter and avoid injury. If we are exhausted as a result of strenuous training, lack of sleep, or illness, we need to rest. If we have pain or soreness, we need to determine what is causing it and correct the situation. Similarly, our emotions can guide us to greater health and happiness. If we notice that our internal stress level is beginning to elevate, we can take a brief time-out to assess the situation. Sometimes all we need is a few relaxing breaths. At other times, we may need to remove ourselves from a situation to calm down and plan our strategy.
The quickest way to reduce stress and improve mood is to exercise on a regular basis. In his book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (2008), Dr. John Ratey presents research that supports the idea that exercise has a profound impact on cognitive abilities and mental health. It is difficult to communicate in words the energy and joy that come from exercise. The bottom line is: the better our physical fitness is, the better our mental and emotional health will be. To be beneficial, however, exercise needs to be regular.
Most people who exercise regularly have training partners who encourage and support them, or even playfully harass them about maintaining their exercise schedule. Exercising with family members or friends can serve a dual purpose of getting support for exercising and spending time with people we care about.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Teach students to use a heart rate monitor
The body adapts to external and internal patterns of stress and recovery. Exercise stress can be determined from the output data of a heart rate monitor.
Lesson Plans
The following lessons guide students in learning to use a heart rate monitor. The activities familiarize them with a wide range of data output.
Heart Rate Improvement
The body adapts to external and internal patterns of stress and recovery. Exercise stress can be determined from the output data of a heart rate monitor. These data, as understood through the HZE program, help students assess their fitness improvements. Improvements can be quantified by comparing heart rate changes from week to week. Improved heart rate values indicate a positive adaptation to the exercise stress.
Students will monitor their individual adaptations to exercise stress in a quantifiable and meaningful way by doing the following:
- Learning to make various heart rate assessments
- Measuring changes in heart rate as a result of adaptations to their individual programs
- Comparing their fitness improvements to the average improvement of the class
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- One circuit station for each assessment
- Heart Rate Improvement worksheets
- Weekly Logs
Activity
1. Tell the students that they will complete three self-assessments and record the data in their Weekly Logs. These measures will be taken multiple times over the course of the unit to look for adaptations in their personal fitness levels.
2. Explain that to see quantifiable improvement, students should compare all their measurement results, not just certain results in isolation.
3. Explain that comparing heart rate assessments with the class average is not a measure of quality or meant to inspire competition. Rather, this comparison will provide awareness of the variables among students of similar age and environment. (Reinforce the notion of individual differences and variability factors among students.)
4. Set up the following three circuit stations using the Heart Zones Education Circuit Training cards provided on the web resource (circuit training text can be found in appendix C):
- Delta heart rate test
- Recovery heart rate test
- Ambient heart rate test
5. At least twice per week, for three weeks, students complete the three assessments and record the results in their HZE Weekly Logs.
6. Students calculate the difference between the first week's results and each subsequent week's results.
7. Provide a weekly log for the class so that students can record their changes each week.
Assessment
Students write a short reflection on the comparisons of their data over time, noting the changes they observed, what may have caused the changes, and what the changes mean for their physical and emotional health.
Internal and External
Heart Rate Influences
Using heart rate as an indicator of exercise stress results in a reliable assessment. But, certain factors influence each student's response to physical activity. These sources of error, which cause heart rate to be a variable rather than absolute measurement, include both internal stress (e.g., emotion, nutrition, hydration) and external stress (e.g., sounds, humidity, temperature, distracting events).
Internal stress caused by emotional changes may result in a heart rate change that is not correlated to physical fitness improvements. The emotional triggering of muscle contractions in the form of tension, strain, or anxiety results in accelerated or depressed heart rates, which can be seen in the output data of a heart rate monitor. The direction of heart rate response is usually predictable, albeit unique to each person. This lesson teaches students how to use heart rate monitor data to see the relationships of their own unique responses to various conditions.
Outcome
Students will recognize their individual responses to various stressors and will measure cardiac response to those stressors with a heart rate monitor.
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- Selected music
- A short story that stimulates emotion
- Stimulating foods (e.g., chocolate, ice-cold drinks, high-sugar foods such as candy)
- Internal and External Heart Rate Influences worksheets
Activity
1. Explain the internal and external stressors that can cause heart rate numbers to change but that do not elicit a training effect.
2. Tell students that they are going to measure their hearts' responses to several internal and external stresses. Reemphasize that all students will respond in their own ways.
3. Play music that may increase heart rate (e.g., rap, rock and roll, certain types of classical). Then play music that may decrease heart rate (e.g., New Age, children's music). Students measure their heart rate responses to each type of music.
4. Read a suspenseful short story, during which students record their heart rates every 60 seconds.
5. Elicit a change in body temperature by having students sit in the sun and then move into the shade. Have students measure their heart rate responses to each temperature change.
6. Certain foods can elicit an increased heart rate response, whereas others are relaxing to the heart. If feasible, have your students check out their monitors during the lunch period and measure their ambient heart rates during the meal. If not, have some stimulating snacks on hand to experiment with in class.
Assessment
Students complete the Internal and External Heart Rate Influences worksheet. They then compare their results to identify the difference in heart rate response between internal and external emotional and physical stress.
Extension
Students brainstorm other self-tests to measure heart rate response to various internal and external conditions. They might try foods of different temperatures and measure their response (e.g., hot and spicy foods vs. cold or frozen foods). Be sure to explain that heart rate responses caused by food consumption will affect heart rate for an extended time. Thus, they will have to allow time for the initial response to wear off before testing another sample.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Enable students to assess their fitness improvements over time
A steady-state heart rate workout requires that students maintain exercise intensity and heart rate throughout the exercise session.
Ups and Downs
A steady-state heart rate workout requires that students maintain exercise intensity and heart rate throughout the exercise session. In a ladder or interval workout, exercise intensity increases or decreases in a way that is similar to ascending or descending a ladder. This workout is a combination of steady state and ladder.
This workout enables students to assess their fitness improvements over time. They use downloadable monitors with software programs to compare the two portions of the workout. This is a sophisticated level of training and analysis, but it is highly valuable in an HZE program.
Outcome
Students will gain experience using heart rate monitors, including using time functions, assessing heart rate output and input data, and varying speed or load to increase and decrease intensity.
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- Ups and Downs worksheets
- Stopwatch, if the heart rate monitor does not have a timing function
Activity
1. Select an exercise activity, such as a cardio machine workout or a sport activity, that accommodates your students and your facilities.
2. Students program the workout into their monitors (if possible; this is also known as uploading a workout), as follows:
- Time interval (if the monitor has a countdown timer): 5 minutes
- Zone alarms (if the monitor has multiple zone alarms): 60, 70, and 80 percent of MHR
- Record mode (if the monitor can store data for later retrieval): on
3. Students warm up for 5 to 10 minutes, keeping their heart rates below the floor of zone 2. They start the stopwatch timer on their monitor when they begin the exercise activity, after the warm-up.
4. Students slowly increase their exercise intensity until they reach the floor of zone 2 (60 percent of activity-specific MHR). Then they keep up whatever pace is required to maintain this heart rate.
5. After approximately five minutes, students proceed to the next interval. In one minute, they increase their heart rates to the floor of zone 3 (70 percent of activity-specific MHR) and then maintain this heart rate for the remaining four minutes of the interval.
6. After five minutes, students proceed to the next interval, increasing their heart rates (within one minute) to the floor of zone 4 (80 percent of activity-specific MHR) and then maintaining this heart rate for the remaining interval time (four minutes).
7. Now students begin to head down the ladder, dropping their heart rates within the first minute of each five-minute interval to the previous zone heart rate number and then maintaining that heart rate for the remaining four interval minutes. Students first drop to the floor of zone 3 (70 percent of MHR), then to the floor of zone 2 (60 percent of MHR).
8. After five minutes in zone 2, students cool down, lowering their heart rates and maintaining them below the floor of zone 2 for 5 to 10 minutes or until they are fully recovered.
9. If possible, students record the distance they traveled during the workout and complete the worksheet.
Assessment
Students discuss what they experienced during this workout (e.g., what they learned by trying to maintain a specific heart rate) by answering these questions:
- How would you rate the difficulty of this activity? Why?
- Did the monitor present any challenges to you? If yes, what were they?
- Was it easier to descend the ladder? Explain.
- Why do some students move faster (or travel farther) than others yet maintain the same percentage of MHR?
- Besides fitness level, what other factors affect endurance steady-state intervals?
Additional Workouts
The 20 additional workouts on the web resource offer a range of intensity from zone 1 to zone 5. They use a mix of challenges that will help students attain their optimal fitness at a pace that matches their personal goals. The web resource also includes a blank template that you and your students can use to design your own workouts with activities of your choice.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Take care of yourself with emotional fitness training
The heart sends us vital information about our health and happiness. Emotional fitness training shows us how to listen to our hearts by becoming aware of our emotional states; it also helps us develop the ability to consciously shift to a healthier zone if we happen to be in a toxic zone.
Emotional Fitness Zones
The heart sends us vital information about our health and happiness. Emotional fitness training shows us how to listen to our hearts by becoming aware of our emotional states; it also helps us develop the ability to consciously shift to a healthier zone if we happen to be in a toxic zone. Just as the body is designed to heal itself, emotions can guide us from a condition of stress and disease to a state of peace, health, and compassion. Emotions are important signals that provide information from either inside or outside the body. Emotional fitness training shows us how to use these signals in a helpful and healthy way.
Figure 10.1 illustrates the five emotional fitness zones. As you read about them in this module, take some time with each one to notice which is most familiar to you, and where you tend to spend your time. The purpose of training in the physical heart zones is to elevate your heart rate for improved health and performance. Elevating your heart rate through physical exertion is good for you. An elevated heart rate as a result of emotional stress for extended periods of time, however, is bad for you. The goals of the five physical and emotional zones are different: in the physical zones we want to increase heart rate, and in the emotional zones we want to maintain a lower heart rate.Another way to think of it is that an elevated heart rate in the physical zones indicates positive stress, whereas an elevated heart rate in the emotional zones indicates negative stress.
Zone 1: Safe Zone
Zone 1, the safe zone, gives us energy. It is where we go to recharge our batteries, to calm ourselves, to get peaceful, to refocus our energy. The safe zone is a very personal zone that we design ourselves. For some, zone 1 has a prayerful, or meditative, focus. For others, certain music or sounds of nature create a peaceful inner feeling. A visual memory of a beautiful place, a remembrance of a special moment, or thoughts of compassion toward a loved one can put our hearts at peace. Just as exercise training is one of the best things for the physical heart, a well-developed zone 1 is the greatest gift for the emotional heart.
The color of zone 1 is blue, a calm and soothing color. Some people find this zone hard to achieve because it requires calming the mind and focusing energy internally. This can be difficult to do in a culture filled with busyness and stress.
Time in zone 1 also benefits our metabolic and physical health. Without harmful stress hormones and negative messages from the brain, the body can optimize its metabolism and work to heal itself, which it is designed to do. Many studies have demonstrated that zone 1 activities such as meditation, prayer, deep breathing, and listening to classical music enhance the immune system, reduce the incidence of disease, lower blood pressure, enhance blood chemistry, and generate an overall feeling of well-being.
Zone 2: Productive Zone
Zone 2, the productive zone, includes a range of feelings that should dominate much of our time at work, home, or at play. In this zone, we are getting things done and feeling good about ourselves and our accomplishments. We feel relatively peaceful and focused as we go about our day-to-day responsibilities. In zone 2 we have access to both our emotions and our thoughts.
The color of zone 2 is green. Time in zone 2 facilitates the growth of emotional energy, which we can store in our emotional bank accounts. When we are in zone 2, we can accomplish tasks that require concentration and attention. Spending time in this zone is health enhancing and productive.
Zone 3: Performance Zone
Zone 3, the performance zone, offers all of the benefits of zone 2 in addition to greater focus, concentration, positive intensity, and accomplishment. In zone 3 we strive to achieve peak performance. We are usually in zone 3 when we are doing something we really love, whether at work, at play, or in relationships. Zone 3 accommodates life's big challenges, but it is not a grueling, stressful, frantic place to be. It is a place of focus and hard work, friendship, play, and love.
The color of zone 3 is yellow, the color of the jersey the leading rider in the Tour de France wears. We are in this zone when we are working hard but feel in the flow, in control of events, and fulfilled. In zone 3 we feel alive in every fiber of our being.
Zone 4: Distress Zone
Zone 4, the distress zone, drains us of energy. This is the zone in which bad stuff starts to happen. Zone 4 is where the fight-or-flight response kicks in—the brain receives the message that life is in danger and the body prepares to fight or run away. It is characterized by feelings of fear, worry, anger, anxiety, depression, overwhelm, guilt, and helplessness. The stress response is triggered in this zone, and physiological changes begin to affect heart rate, blood chemistry, and activity in all the cells and organs. The ability to think clearly declines as the emotions begin to take over. We say and do stupid things when we are in zone 4. We also become much less productive in our work and much more destructive in our relationships.
The color of zone 4 is orange: the color of a warning signal. Our heartbeat tells us when we are in zone 4: as stress hormones pour through the body, heart rate increases by at least 10 beats per minute. Many people in our fast-paced culture are spending far too much time in zone 4, which is definitely hazardous to their health.
Zone 5: Red Zone
Zone 5, the red zone, is a place we never want to go. This is the zone of out-of-control behavior and raw emotion devoid of rational thought. It is characterized by aggression, violence, and hysteria. This is the zone in which abusive and destructive behavior happens. It is highly toxic to the person who is in the zone, as well as anyone else nearby. Zone 5 is the place of domestic violence, irrational and dangerous behavior, and self-destructive activities. Stay out of zone 5, and avoid anyone else who is heading in that direction.
The color of zone 5 is red, the color of danger. Spending time in this zone is toxic and dangerous. Few people who spend time in zone 5 can pull themselves out of it all by themselves. They usually need help from mental health professionals to diagnose the cause of the behavior, as well as prescribe the appropriate treatment.
The field of psychoneuroimmunology (psycho = mind, neuro = nervous system, immunology = the body's natural ability to defend and heal itself) teaches us about the connection between our thoughts and our bodies. Our emotions and perceptions of what is happening in the world cause our hearts and brains to send messages that stimulate physiological responses in our bodies. Our emotional states trigger reactions in our bodies that affect heart rate, blood chemistry, and the activity of every cell in the body. Our immunity is compromised when we are under stress. Fatigue and stress-related complaints account for a high percentage of all visits to primary care physicians. Remember, stress results from our perception of an external situation that brings about an internal response, and stress is a huge energy drain.
Emotional Fitness Training
Emotional fitness training gives us the tools to take better care of ourselves; it encourages and supports us to be more self-accepting. The motivation to use these tools, however, and to make changes in our lives has to come from us.
Change is difficult because the brain wants to repeat emotions and behaviors that are familiar. This is called homeostasis. Most people, from the place of homeostasis, endlessly repeat mood and behavior patterns even if they are destructive. Changing those patterns can create its own stress, but the good news is that as new behaviors are repeated, they eventually become habits.
The amazing benefits to our health and happiness that come from physical exercise are well documented and widely known, but many people remain sedentary. For many years, 80 percent of the U.S. federal health care budget was spent on lifestyle-related illnesses. It seems incredible that people resist physical activity even though the result is a wide variety of physical illnesses. This resistance to exercise is just one of many examples of the power of the brain to resist change.
Human behavior tends to be motivated by either fear or desire. Desire refers to what we want in our lives, what we feel passionate about, what is truly important to us, and the conditions that bring us happiness and energy. Fear is anything that gets in the way of our desires, the behaviors and thoughts that hold us back.
Another factor of emotional fitness is motivation, which can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. Extrinsic motivation comes from the outside and takes the form of things other people think we should do or would like us to do. Extrinsic motivation can come from family members, teachers, doctors, the media, friends, or cultural values. We can experience a lot of pressure from extrinsic motivation, and sometimes we make changes based on these pressures. Intrinsic motivation comes from within, from an awareness of what is truly important and valuable to us. Changes that result from extrinsic motivation tend to be short-lived because there is not enough desire to fuel the effort to maintain the changes. The passion connected to intrinsic motivation provides the energy to keep us going until the new behavior becomes a habit.
Increased awareness of our own emotional state is the cornerstone of emotional fitness training and leads to all the other benefits. In physical training, we listen to the messages our bodies send to become fitter and avoid injury. If we are exhausted as a result of strenuous training, lack of sleep, or illness, we need to rest. If we have pain or soreness, we need to determine what is causing it and correct the situation. Similarly, our emotions can guide us to greater health and happiness. If we notice that our internal stress level is beginning to elevate, we can take a brief time-out to assess the situation. Sometimes all we need is a few relaxing breaths. At other times, we may need to remove ourselves from a situation to calm down and plan our strategy.
The quickest way to reduce stress and improve mood is to exercise on a regular basis. In his book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (2008), Dr. John Ratey presents research that supports the idea that exercise has a profound impact on cognitive abilities and mental health. It is difficult to communicate in words the energy and joy that come from exercise. The bottom line is: the better our physical fitness is, the better our mental and emotional health will be. To be beneficial, however, exercise needs to be regular.
Most people who exercise regularly have training partners who encourage and support them, or even playfully harass them about maintaining their exercise schedule. Exercising with family members or friends can serve a dual purpose of getting support for exercising and spending time with people we care about.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Teach students to use a heart rate monitor
The body adapts to external and internal patterns of stress and recovery. Exercise stress can be determined from the output data of a heart rate monitor.
Lesson Plans
The following lessons guide students in learning to use a heart rate monitor. The activities familiarize them with a wide range of data output.
Heart Rate Improvement
The body adapts to external and internal patterns of stress and recovery. Exercise stress can be determined from the output data of a heart rate monitor. These data, as understood through the HZE program, help students assess their fitness improvements. Improvements can be quantified by comparing heart rate changes from week to week. Improved heart rate values indicate a positive adaptation to the exercise stress.
Students will monitor their individual adaptations to exercise stress in a quantifiable and meaningful way by doing the following:
- Learning to make various heart rate assessments
- Measuring changes in heart rate as a result of adaptations to their individual programs
- Comparing their fitness improvements to the average improvement of the class
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- One circuit station for each assessment
- Heart Rate Improvement worksheets
- Weekly Logs
Activity
1. Tell the students that they will complete three self-assessments and record the data in their Weekly Logs. These measures will be taken multiple times over the course of the unit to look for adaptations in their personal fitness levels.
2. Explain that to see quantifiable improvement, students should compare all their measurement results, not just certain results in isolation.
3. Explain that comparing heart rate assessments with the class average is not a measure of quality or meant to inspire competition. Rather, this comparison will provide awareness of the variables among students of similar age and environment. (Reinforce the notion of individual differences and variability factors among students.)
4. Set up the following three circuit stations using the Heart Zones Education Circuit Training cards provided on the web resource (circuit training text can be found in appendix C):
- Delta heart rate test
- Recovery heart rate test
- Ambient heart rate test
5. At least twice per week, for three weeks, students complete the three assessments and record the results in their HZE Weekly Logs.
6. Students calculate the difference between the first week's results and each subsequent week's results.
7. Provide a weekly log for the class so that students can record their changes each week.
Assessment
Students write a short reflection on the comparisons of their data over time, noting the changes they observed, what may have caused the changes, and what the changes mean for their physical and emotional health.
Internal and External
Heart Rate Influences
Using heart rate as an indicator of exercise stress results in a reliable assessment. But, certain factors influence each student's response to physical activity. These sources of error, which cause heart rate to be a variable rather than absolute measurement, include both internal stress (e.g., emotion, nutrition, hydration) and external stress (e.g., sounds, humidity, temperature, distracting events).
Internal stress caused by emotional changes may result in a heart rate change that is not correlated to physical fitness improvements. The emotional triggering of muscle contractions in the form of tension, strain, or anxiety results in accelerated or depressed heart rates, which can be seen in the output data of a heart rate monitor. The direction of heart rate response is usually predictable, albeit unique to each person. This lesson teaches students how to use heart rate monitor data to see the relationships of their own unique responses to various conditions.
Outcome
Students will recognize their individual responses to various stressors and will measure cardiac response to those stressors with a heart rate monitor.
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- Selected music
- A short story that stimulates emotion
- Stimulating foods (e.g., chocolate, ice-cold drinks, high-sugar foods such as candy)
- Internal and External Heart Rate Influences worksheets
Activity
1. Explain the internal and external stressors that can cause heart rate numbers to change but that do not elicit a training effect.
2. Tell students that they are going to measure their hearts' responses to several internal and external stresses. Reemphasize that all students will respond in their own ways.
3. Play music that may increase heart rate (e.g., rap, rock and roll, certain types of classical). Then play music that may decrease heart rate (e.g., New Age, children's music). Students measure their heart rate responses to each type of music.
4. Read a suspenseful short story, during which students record their heart rates every 60 seconds.
5. Elicit a change in body temperature by having students sit in the sun and then move into the shade. Have students measure their heart rate responses to each temperature change.
6. Certain foods can elicit an increased heart rate response, whereas others are relaxing to the heart. If feasible, have your students check out their monitors during the lunch period and measure their ambient heart rates during the meal. If not, have some stimulating snacks on hand to experiment with in class.
Assessment
Students complete the Internal and External Heart Rate Influences worksheet. They then compare their results to identify the difference in heart rate response between internal and external emotional and physical stress.
Extension
Students brainstorm other self-tests to measure heart rate response to various internal and external conditions. They might try foods of different temperatures and measure their response (e.g., hot and spicy foods vs. cold or frozen foods). Be sure to explain that heart rate responses caused by food consumption will affect heart rate for an extended time. Thus, they will have to allow time for the initial response to wear off before testing another sample.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
Enable students to assess their fitness improvements over time
A steady-state heart rate workout requires that students maintain exercise intensity and heart rate throughout the exercise session.
Ups and Downs
A steady-state heart rate workout requires that students maintain exercise intensity and heart rate throughout the exercise session. In a ladder or interval workout, exercise intensity increases or decreases in a way that is similar to ascending or descending a ladder. This workout is a combination of steady state and ladder.
This workout enables students to assess their fitness improvements over time. They use downloadable monitors with software programs to compare the two portions of the workout. This is a sophisticated level of training and analysis, but it is highly valuable in an HZE program.
Outcome
Students will gain experience using heart rate monitors, including using time functions, assessing heart rate output and input data, and varying speed or load to increase and decrease intensity.
Materials
- One heart rate monitor per student
- Ups and Downs worksheets
- Stopwatch, if the heart rate monitor does not have a timing function
Activity
1. Select an exercise activity, such as a cardio machine workout or a sport activity, that accommodates your students and your facilities.
2. Students program the workout into their monitors (if possible; this is also known as uploading a workout), as follows:
- Time interval (if the monitor has a countdown timer): 5 minutes
- Zone alarms (if the monitor has multiple zone alarms): 60, 70, and 80 percent of MHR
- Record mode (if the monitor can store data for later retrieval): on
3. Students warm up for 5 to 10 minutes, keeping their heart rates below the floor of zone 2. They start the stopwatch timer on their monitor when they begin the exercise activity, after the warm-up.
4. Students slowly increase their exercise intensity until they reach the floor of zone 2 (60 percent of activity-specific MHR). Then they keep up whatever pace is required to maintain this heart rate.
5. After approximately five minutes, students proceed to the next interval. In one minute, they increase their heart rates to the floor of zone 3 (70 percent of activity-specific MHR) and then maintain this heart rate for the remaining four minutes of the interval.
6. After five minutes, students proceed to the next interval, increasing their heart rates (within one minute) to the floor of zone 4 (80 percent of activity-specific MHR) and then maintaining this heart rate for the remaining interval time (four minutes).
7. Now students begin to head down the ladder, dropping their heart rates within the first minute of each five-minute interval to the previous zone heart rate number and then maintaining that heart rate for the remaining four interval minutes. Students first drop to the floor of zone 3 (70 percent of MHR), then to the floor of zone 2 (60 percent of MHR).
8. After five minutes in zone 2, students cool down, lowering their heart rates and maintaining them below the floor of zone 2 for 5 to 10 minutes or until they are fully recovered.
9. If possible, students record the distance they traveled during the workout and complete the worksheet.
Assessment
Students discuss what they experienced during this workout (e.g., what they learned by trying to maintain a specific heart rate) by answering these questions:
- How would you rate the difficulty of this activity? Why?
- Did the monitor present any challenges to you? If yes, what were they?
- Was it easier to descend the ladder? Explain.
- Why do some students move faster (or travel farther) than others yet maintain the same percentage of MHR?
- Besides fitness level, what other factors affect endurance steady-state intervals?
Additional Workouts
The 20 additional workouts on the web resource offer a range of intensity from zone 1 to zone 5. They use a mix of challenges that will help students attain their optimal fitness at a pace that matches their personal goals. The web resource also includes a blank template that you and your students can use to design your own workouts with activities of your choice.
Learn more about Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness.
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