Fitness Tools
Below are a few links for you to explore in further your fitness and health
Body Mass Index
Check your body for signs of obesity and increased health risk factors.
The Body Mass Index (BMI) has been used to assess the body composition of people or more specifically, determine obesity. Usually a bodyfat test via skinfolds is a better indicator of body composition. However the size of the skinfold can be problematic, and there is no standardized formula for assessing individuals.
The BMI is actually an assessment of your body weight and how it compares to your height. It is a fairly accurate assessment of total body composition and how you compare to others in terms of your health. This is extremely important since excessive bodyweight, or more specifically bodyfat, is a major risk factor in your health.
Conditions such as high blood lipids, diabetes and coronary heart disease, stroke, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea and some types of cancers, are just a few that are highly elevated due to obesity. Thus you can use the BMI to predict health outcomes in the general population.
Click to calculate YOUR Body Mass Index.
Target Heart Rate
The intensity and duration (volume) of exercise are closely related factors and determine caloric expenditure during the session. Optimal results may be achieved from high intensity and short duration exercise sessions, as well as low intensity, long duration sessions. Exercise intensity in aerobic or cardiovascular exercise is best measured in how your heart rate responds to the demands of exercise. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that the intensity of aerobic exercise be between 60 to 90% of your maximum heart rate.
Click to calculate YOUR Target Heart Rate.
Daily Caloric Intake
If you want to lose fat and or gain muscle you need to control your daily caloric intake. If you want to lose weight you need to create a negative energy balance. That means that you need to either burn more calories or eat less calories or both. By burning calories through exercise increases your metabolism and spares muscle which are extremely important factors in a weight loss that is permanent and healthy.
Conversely to gain muscle, you must create a positive energy balance whereby you eat more calories that what your body needs. (You can also choose to burn less calories although it is not recommended.) So basically the extra calories you provide, or energy will aid the body make muscle.
The calculators below estimate daily caloric intake or how many calories you can eat from food and drinks in a day. Too many can make you fat, especially if you don't exercise, too less and you could lose precious muscle and be on your way to dieting failure.
Golden Rule of Thumb: Calories/Food In Vs Calories/Food Out
Click to calculate YOUR Daily Intake of Calories for females
Click to calculate YOUR Daily Intake of Calories for males
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