We all know that exercise is necessary for everyone if they want to maintain a healthy body, and mind! Humans were made to be active. Not sedentary which has become a major problem with todays society. Years ago, and we mean years ago, most people worked at menial jobs, which took a toll on their bodies, along with working a minimum 10 hours each day and for some 12 hours were the norm. This was all done with eating a minimum calorie diet, which was watched over by the person in charge of the household, at least the running of the home, and yes, we mean the mother. Who worked longer hours than most of the family, getting up early to make sure everyone had a hearty breakfast, using as much as could be spared or dolled out from the family larder. The good thing about this was everything was made fresh that day. Not too many things were made ahead of time. That means, warm, freshly made bread out of the oven or on top of the stove. Fresh eggs and milk and large helpings of grain cereal like oatmeal. It may have not been a large variety of foods, but it was something that got everyone through the day and saw them through till their next meal.

Today, everyone is running around, trying to fit more things into their day. Answering or sending emails and texts, making calls or answering them all with the pretense of being more productive. But this change in lifestyle comes with a price. Most of us, are doing all of this sitting down. From their desks, workstations, on the way to or from a job or just heading out the door to a quick lunch, usually eating something that's high in carbs and loaded with salt and or sugar. If they're thinking about their waistline they may go and grab a protein shake. Then after work, they might defeat the purpose of that shake by having a few high-calorie drinks. 

One of the other downfalls of this new age society is that most of us have become sedentary and are not moving or expending large amounts of physical energy in performing their daily work-chores. Those of us that want to be healthier head out to the gym, either before work begins, during a lunch break or getting a little sweaty after work, before they head for home.

What most of us do not realize that if we are looking to burn more calories. Moving more doing cardio exercise burns more calories and pumping some iron creates lean muscle mass which when at rest allows your body to continue to burn calories, which is always a good thing. You just want to make sure that when you do hit the gym, you want to make sure you're getting the most out of your workout.

That's why your heart rate is so important; to get in an effective workout, especially with cardio, your heart rate needs to be elevated from its resting state to reap the heart-healthy and calorie-burning benefits. This is why heart-rate monitors are so popular. Using a good, accurate heart rate monitor like the Garmin Vivoactive 3 GPS Smart Activity Tracker  

Track steps, distance, Sleep and more. With help from Elevate™ wrist-based heart rate technology², Vivoactive 3 lets you monitor key aspects of your fitness and stress to show how your body responds under various circumstances. For example, it’s able to estimate your VO2 max and fitness age — 2 indicators of physical fitness that can often improve over time with regular exercise. It also tracks your heart rate variability (HRV), which is used to calculate and track your stress level. Vivoactive 3 can make you aware when physical or emotional sources cause your stress level to rise so you can find a way to relieve the pressure.

As we said before, you want to get the most out of your exercise time and the best way to do this is to exercise at your maximum heart rate! Turns out there's a simple formula you can use to find out your max heart rate and how to get into the fat-burning zone. Determining your max heart rate is as simple as taking 220 minus your age. So, if you're 30, your max heart rate is 190 beats per minute.

To get into the fat-burning zone, you need to be at 60 to 70 percent of your max heart rate during exercise. Since each person's heart health and activity level is different, one person could reach his or her 60 percent after just a minute of exercise, while others could take longer (or shorter) to get there.

You also need to keep in mind when starting out that you really need to first get checked out by your physician before you start exercising to the extreme. Also, when talking with your doctor, make sure you raise the question about any medication you may be taking that could raise your heart rate. Or could be a deterrent to getting an accurate read on just what your real heart rate is if you are taking medication that could make reaching that heart rate goal of your un-achievable.

Some trainers say that if you're doing steady-state cardio, such as running, walking, or cycling, you should aim for 70 to 80 percent of your max and stay there for a while. It will take around 18 minutes for your body to start using fat as fuel. If you want to do a shorter, more intense workout like high-intensity interval training (HIIT), you want to get your heart rate up to 80 to 90 percent for short bursts, then recover until your heart rate is back down to 60 percent. When you exercise at your target zone, you should feel like your heart rate is faster and your breathing has increased. A one out of 10 is resting, while 10 out of 10 feels like you need to be picked up off the floor. Using this scale, you should be at a six, seven, or eight out of 10 when you are in the target zone.

Again, taking the guesswork out of determining your max heart rate and at what intensity you have been performing at is best done with a fitness tracker like the Garmin Vivoactive 3 GPS Smart Activity Tracker  That monitors your exertions all day long and can provide you with trackable data via Garmin Connect where you can compare your progress and if you so desire, can compete against group members of a like mind to see who is out performing who.

So, what do you say, are you ready to Crank Up your Heartrate for 2019?

It’s been no surprise to most physicians, school physical education teachers, and now even the United States Army and other military branches that quite a few of those wishing to join, just are in too poor of shape, fitness-wise, to even make the cut.

According to some military publications, an average of 71% of those between the ages of 17 – 24 years old would not qualify because of reasons related to various health factors, physical appearance, educational background or as being physically fit enough to serve in the military.

That breaks down to about 7 out of 10 people within that age group would FAIL to qualify for military service, and that is after the military relaxed its guidelines for the amount of “Body Fat” a person could have in conjunction of the Iraq war.

The ineligible typically includes those who are obese, those who lack a high school diploma or a GED, convicted felons, those taking prescription drugs for ADHD, the Wall Street Journal reports, though some requirements can be waived.

Only 1% of young people are both “eligible and inclined to have a conversation with” the military about possible service, according to the Defense Department. This has been a growing concern for branches of the service like the Army. Who have stated that they are concerned that the American youth are just plain getting too far out of shape to serve and fight. For those who do make the cut, poor fitness can quickly lead to injuries during training. Each recruit lost to injury has been estimated to cost the Department of Defense approximately $31,000," says the study, published Jan. 10 by the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice.

So, what would you need to be military service ready? Below are a few recommendations and suggestions to help you prepare your body for the demands a recruit would need in order to make the cut:

Keep in mind that getting in shape for the service is a process that takes time. You will need to start well before basic training. Depending on your current fitness level, it might take months or up to a year to get in shape for the service. Becoming physically fit for the military involves cardiovascular training, strength training and maintaining a healthy diet.

In order to track your training and to make sure you're getting the best out of your workouts, you should go that extra step and get yourself an activity tracker. Today there are a variety of trackers/monitors out there, but using one that has the convenience of being able to wear it right on your wrist and its being able to track your progress and send that data off to an area that can provide you with the details you need in order to see just where you are meeting your pre-set goals and where you need work is a great benefit to you and your ultimate goal of being in the best shape you can be prior to stepping off of that bus and arriving at the military training center.

The watch that fits this kind of bill, one that comes with a list of features that will monitor all of your training progress is the Garmin Vivoactive 3 Smart Activity Tracker  It can track any kind of workout you wish to tackle, and its also tracking your activity when your engaged in some recreational sports as well, from biking, swimming to paddle boarding to running a 10K race, the Vivoactive 3 can stand up to the punishment of any sport. That being the case, its made with industry-leading Gorilla glass, so you don’t have to treat it with kid gloves. Believe me, your “D.I.” won’t be treating you that way either.

Now that you have a way to track just how you're going to be expending your energy, let's get back to the basics on how you want to get yourself into shape now, instead of struggling with the other “Dough-Boys” recruits during basic training.
1st. Eat a healthy, well-balanced diet.
To prepare yourself for exercise and basic training, eat a healthy, well-balanced diet. A healthy diet can help fuel your body -- including plenty of protein and carbohydrates for energy. To keep your body fueled, eat five to six small meals per day. Meals should include fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats and low-fat dairy products.
(We will do another post on just what and how much to eat to make this caloric intake work for you.)

Your starting this training with enough time to see you through to your departure date, so to train right you need to:
Build up your endurance. Cardiovascular exercise can help increase your endurance and stamina. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise, five days per week, for weight maintenance. For weight loss, you should participate in 60 to 90 minutes of exercise most days of the week, although this varies from individual to individual. Cardiovascular exercise can include swimming, running, sprinting (especially when mixed with lower intensity intervals in the same workout), cycling, aerobics, and brisk walking. Remember, the military, loves to march, but they only march correctly once they have run you into the ground. Building up your stamina levels is the key to your handling your basic training and coming out of it with your head held high.

Strength train. Strength training can help tone your body and build muscles, thus preparing you for the physical demands of joining the military. Use weight machines and free weights to strengthen your upper and lower body. Perform bodyweight exercises -- exercises that use your own body weight to build strength -- including pushups, lunges, sit-ups, pull-ups/chin-ups, crunches, planks, reverse crunches and squats.

Participate in strength training two to three days per week on nonconsecutive days to ensure muscle recovery. Note: When you’re at this point, you should seek the advice of a gym instructor. After all, not too many people have a set of weights lying around the house. If you join a gym and speak with them about your goals they can assign a trainer who can help you achieve your goals of getting your body in the right shape so that your ready for the rigors of what those DI’s are going to put you through. And you never know, that gym may just offer you a discount for your joining up with the service. It never hurts to inquire to see what kind of benefits are available to you. Remember, your looking at serving your country and many businesses are looking to provide their services for the members of the armed services at a discounted cost. Take advantage of that.

So, the above are just a few stats and recommendations for anyone looking to join up with a branch of the military service and be able to handle the physical demands once you get there.

It’s still not going to be a piece of cake, no matter how hard you train in advance. Remember, it’s up to the Drill Sergeants to get the new recruits in the best possible shape they can, so they are ready to defend our country.

But by hitting the weights and bricks, (running), prior to your departure, you should be a lot better off than those who take this a little too lightly and find themselves groaning themselves to sleep at night.

Ok, it’s now Mid - October, and the seasons are starting to change over to Fall, and Winter is not too far away, in fact, it was just earlier this week that they had snow in Denver, Colorado.

If you had trouble getting up in the morning when the sun started peeking through your window for your morning workout, just think how much harder it’s going to be when the moon is still shining brightly at 5 am?

Well, for me, I enjoy this time of year, and yes that means getting outdoors with the stars and moon shining down on me. At this time of the morning, things are quiet and the animal life starts to move around if you listen you can hear them moving around you if you happen to live in a rural area. There is a hint here, besides your light-gear of choice, it’s not a bad idea to take along a walking stick with you just to have something with you to help you make some noise if some of the larger animals or even a skunk crosses your path.

And if you’re a city girl or boy, the street sounds this time of day are all their own as well. You may be friends with the paper route delivery people as they drop off their stacks of papers to be bundled up and delivered. Or the local vendors as they get ready to open up their shops to start another day. You might even be a patron of the local coffee shop and stop in after you’ve had your morning run through the streets.

Now we have written before how quite a few studies have shown that exercising in the morning can set you up for a more productive day, both at work and at home, if you’re a mom or stay at home dad. Getting up and moving can get those endorphins streaming through your system to give you that happy feeling as you go about the start of your day.

So, getting back to where we started with the Fall season now upon us, the hot summer sun is fading into a memory as the cool, crisp air of autumn air envelopes us as we go about our daily activities. So, why are you working out in the gym, and breathing in that work out atmosphere, (we really mean odors), when you can be ingesting a fresher, cleaner breath of air outside?

Sure, there is a time and place to use a gym, especially if you’re using the facilities to get in some weight training to up your game, but you still can’t beat the great outdoors to get your blood pumping as you go through some cardio!

One thing you want to make sure you’re doing, no matter where you decide to work out, is to track your efforts and the progress your making. A great way to do that is with an Activity Tracker. There are many to choose from but we like the versatile Garmin Vivoactive Strapless Heart Rate SmartWatch, This watch will soon be your go-to buddy for everything you need from just keeping the time, to keeping track of where you are on the trails by using its state of the art GPS technology and that’s only part of it. With the new wrist-based heart rate monitoring capabilities that are built in you can now track just how well your performing no matter where you doing the straining and grunting 

And since it’s a “Multi-Function” smart watch, no matter what your engaged in this Fall as far as activities go, it will monitor and track all of your moves. From hiking, running, a stint on the golf links, to maybe even a fall or winter swim in that gym pool, or if you’re adventurous, a polar plunge, this watch has you covered!

And there’s nothing like a fall biking trip, and between the GPS that it comes with, and the ability to automatically connect your data, including your location to Garmin Connect, your friends and family will always know where you are.

So again, why are you still working out in a gym this time of year? When you have the ability to keep track of your progress with this great smartwatch from Garmin ? Your only problem is to decide what you’re going to do outside, and where you’re going to be doing it!

So what are you waiting for, go and get that Vivoactive Smartwatch from HeartRateMonitorsUSA.com and let’s see you take the “Fall Season” head on!

From the energetic staff here, at HeartRateMonitorsUSA.com