Saturday, July 13, 2013

The Rhythm of the Heart

Previous article from the same series: Turning 51

When we are talking about achieving the zone, we are talking about efficiency of the mind/body functions. Although the main characteristic of the zone is unique joy and pleasure, there are some physiological signs that mostly follow or precede the actual experience. Plainly stated, it’s about doing less, and achieving more. In physical sense, it means that your body is functioning on the lower level, consuming less "fuel", while in the same time performing the same or even more than before.

To transform usual athlete or recreational sportsman into zone master is like turning mean car engine producing 500 horse power and not minding consuming 25 or more liters of fuel per 100 km, into meaner 750 horse power engine, but consuming only 5 liters of fuel while doing the better job. Can it be done? Some say it can. Some shrug in disbelief. I know I was near that place once, and I want to come to it again.

What are the signs of high or low consumption of energy in our body while doing sports? Two things: the way we breathe and the rhythm of our heart. I will dedicate quite some time to breathing, but for now let's start with the heart.

The heart rate is directly related to, and a reflection of, the body’s oxygen need. It is important to know how your heart is working while you are training or compete. Probably every, at least semi-serious person about his or hers sport, have read something about heart rate zones. Everyone knows about heart rate monitors, of course. Nowadays, they can be bought for anything between 20 and 600 Euros, depending how fancy you want it to be, or how many functions you want it to perform for you.

Usual usage of heart rate monitors is to gather the important information about your heart. That is important to evaluate your state, but it can be of utter importance if you have or have had some heart problems.

However, heart rate monitors can be used as something more: as biofeedback devices!

Biofeedback is “the process of providing visual or auditory evidence to a person of the status of body function so that you may exert control over that function.” Biofeedback functions via awareness. For example, when you see your brain patterns on the screen, you may try to change them. It is not always clear how we do it: there are no visible switches in our mind to do something with brain patterns, but if we try, our body will learn what to do when we want it do something.

In ancient times there were people, for example yogis, who could lower, or heighten, theirs heart rate to unbelievable numbers. They used special techniques which are very demanding and time consuming. Today, we are lucky to have easier paths to achieve at least something from their repertoire.

The easier path in our case is a heart rate monitor! Buy one and play with it. See how your heart runs throughout the day. Later on, we will want to lower the heart rate, but in order to do so; we don't only need physical readiness, but also the live relationship between our awareness and the rhythm of the heart.

I don't know how many windsurfers ever used the heart rate monitor, but I assure you it is a very useful tool, if nothing from the standpoint of evaluation of your physical fitness. This will become even more important when you later understand what your heart is doing while you are windsurfing. I was quite surprised and somewhat shocked when I did! And of course, if we want the zone experience, heart rate must be low – probably much lower than you ever expected.

I used heart rate monitors before, but from this spring I have one purpose in mind: to examine how my heart behaves during different phases of physical exercise and during windsurf. I found something quite interesting and will write about it the articles to come.

But, the most important point at the beginning of the zone training is creating the biofeedback link between you and your heart. So, try it and play with it. My recommendation is that you don't do anything with it during the first month or so. Just watch and monitor what is happening when you are doing this or that during the day.

Next article from the same series: High Maximum, Low Minimum

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