The bleep test is used by many organizations and employers to test an individual s fitness and consists of a shuttle run over 20 meters. The test is conducted on a flat surface and is a progressive maximal test, which means it starts easy and gets increasingly harder.
Those who have done the test know all too well how hard it is, as it is expected that you will give 100% effort.

The key to improving your score is to work on building your lungs up to cope with the stress of this maximal test and one of the best ways to do this is to get out and run some hills.

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If you re like most people you re looking to get the most out of a workout that you possibly can. However exercising to build endurance requires a different approach than exercising to lose weight. To get the most out of your workout you need to know what your Anaerobic Threshold or AT is.

Your AT rate is an individual number that varies from person to person, and can even change as your body becomes stronger over time. To better understand AT we need to take a look at your heart rate. Your heart is expressed in beats per minute, the maximum rate at which your heart can safely operate is known as your Maximum Heart Rate or MHR

and is an average value taken over a few minutes. Originally your AT number was believed to be between 80 to 90 percent of your MHR. However since you were taking a percentage of an average the value was often inaccurate, and a more precise measurement was needed.

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Exercise for Children

For children, exercise means playing and being physically active, such as during gym class at school, soccer practice or dance lessons. Everyone can benefit from regular exercise. A child who is active will:

Feel less stressed
Feel better about themselves
Be more attentive in school
Keep a healthy weight
Build and keep healthy bones, muscles and joints
Sleep better at night

In addition, regular exercise helps kids handle the physical and emotional challenges that a typical day presents whether that means running to catch a bus, bending down to tie a shoe, or studying for a test.

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Cardio is something alot of us hate to do. Admit it. We all dread it… even I hate doing it, but at the same time, at the corner of our mind, we do realise that it is important and a must if you want to improve your fitness levels. Some of us do it to shed some pounds, and some do it to keep the fat off and the abs fully visible. However, how do we get the most out of our time on a treadmill/stepper, etc and at what intensity do we need train at?

I’ve touched on the topic of intensity before, but here’s a neat method to roughly determine if you’re on the right track without

the need for any fancy calculations. This should help the totally clueless get some direction while they do their cardio.

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Rev Up Your Metabolism

Aging is accompanied by a decrease in your metabolic rate and an associated increase in your fat storage. As such, your body fails to burn excess fat as we grow older. To combat this anti-aging effect we need to control our metabolic rate by increasing daily activities. The best way to do this is to perform a 20 minute cardiovascular fitness program a few days a week to help rev up your metabolism. The best time to perform this fat burning workout is when you wake and before breakfast. This is the perfect time to workout because while you slept, your body depleted all the carbohydrates in your system, and since you have an empty

stomach your body is forced to use your fat stores to provide energy for the workout.

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