This is what I Meant to Talk about Before

So going back to the technology applied to Personal Training article...

The article reminded me- I got the chance to attend the MAHPERD conference down in Rockland, Maine this fall. In a nutshell it's pretty much a conference for P.E. Teachers and Strength Coaches/Personal Trainers. While I was there, I went to a presentation about heart monitors and other technologies in a P.E. setting. Gotta say, it definitely caught my attention.

I can't remember the presenter's name for the life of me right now, or where she is from, but I guess it's not that big of a deal anyway since whomever is reading this probably won't care about who she is or where she's from. Anyways, she started off the presentation with a video of an elementary school P.E. class. The kids entered the gym, walked over to a wall, grabbed their heart rate monitors, put them on and checked in with their teacher- without any hesistation and began their warm-up. I was really curious as to why these kids had heart rate monitors on in an elementary P.E. class. I remember P.E. back in the day, and we played dodgeball and learned how to dance the stray-cat-strut and did jumprope for heart- what do heart rate monitors have anything to do with that?? Well, good thing she answered my question.

After she showed the video she began to explain the reasoning behind using these heart rate monitors. And there was so much more to it than I had originally expected. What happens is throughout the class, the monitors record the student's heart rate constantly and save them into this program that charts the rates. After class is over, the teacher puts the heart rates onto her computer and reads them. This allows her to know whether the students are putting in too much, just right or not enough effort into the class. If their heart rate is below the green and in the yellow, they weren't putting enough effort into the activity, their oody and heart isn't working at the ideal rate. On the flipside, in the red is more on a caution side, and they are working too hard.

If the students' heart rates rised or fell below their green area, the monitor would beep to let them know and bring them back to where they should be. This allows their body to work in ideal conditions and not be pushed too hard or not enough. It's one thing to be able to run a 6 minute mile, but running that mile while the heart is pumping a mile minute isn't beneficial to the body and fitness. Running a mile while in the green allows for improvement because next time the student runs that mile, they will be able to run a little harder and stay in their zone.

I think using these heart rate monitors is a great idea. It allows students at a young age to get a basic and simple understanding of exercise and how to exercise properly. Running around with your heart in the red only hurts you and puts you in danger, and on the contrary, walking in the yellow isn't hard enough work for the body to work efficiently. Sure, there are situations in which working in the yellow or red would be required, but it is ideal, overall, to remain in that green area.

From a teaching standpoint, it allowed the teacher to grade much easier. If the student was in the yellow most of the time, they didn't try and give any effort. So for that day, dock off some points. It kept grading simple, either they put effort in or they didn't, and if a parent had a problem with their student's grade, well it's right there on the chart. It's in yellow, green and red, pretty simple and laid out bluntly. There isn't much room for confusion on that.

I think it is a very cool idea to use, and I think it would also be not only beneficial to P.E. programs across the country, but to sports teams. I know I would love to have a heart rate monitor and computer system like that to get an idea of where I am during practices and such.

Maybe one day. Who knows, maybe I'll be a trainer for a sports team one day and introduce such a program. I mean, if the team loses, at least I'll have done my job and they'll be in prime condition :)


On a complete other note- leaving for FLORIDA TODAYYY :) :) :) ohhh can't wait!! We're heading down there for a little over 2 weeks to play about 20 games and the way things have been going, I couldn't be more exicted! We look pretty damn good as of late, and I can't wait to see what we do down there. If you want to check out how we're doing feel free to go to "goblackbears.com" and click on "teams" then "softball". It should give updates there, stats, results and such.

Alright time for this girl to head out.
Keep on keepin' on ;)

Lex