Is your pulse rate appropriate?

The best judge of intensity during training is the heart. It can be measured by hand, with a pulse watch, or there are built-in watches in modern cardiovascular machines.

It is important to determine your maximum pulse rate, so that you can measure the different intensity levels. To work out your maximum pulse rate, subtract your age from 220. The calm pulse of an adult is about 60-70 per minute, but a highly-trained sports person's value can be below 50, because their hearts work more effectively.

One of the elements of a training diary is following your changing pulse. Do a pulse measurement on three subsequent days in the mornings, and take the average of these data. After waking, stay in bed and measure your pulse at relaxation. Touch it on your neck, the artery next to your Adam's apple, and count your pulse for 60 seconds, then write the value into the pulse-test schedule.

If you are not sick, but your pulse is higher than the average by 5-10 numbers, you are over training, so reduce your amount of exercises and relax for a few days.