Capitalize on teens’ fascination with technology! Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness uses heart monitoring technology to help students learn concepts of cardiovascular fitness in a fun and innovative way. With the benefits of immediate and constant feedback, heart rate monitoring technology provides an engaging way for students to monitor their exercise sessions.
Heart Education is based on the author’s principles of Heart Zones Education, a comprehensive cardiovascular fitness program for physical education that examines wellness from the viewpoints of health, fitness, and athletic performance. Designed for students ages 11 to 18, Heart Education incorporates key aspects of the middle school and high school texts of Healthy Hearts in the Zone with the most current information on training and technology.
Heart Education's 10-step program provides a series of modules with lesson plans, making it simple to present and easy to learn. The program gets students using heart monitors from the start, letting them experience the rush of seeing their heart rate display. Students will learn functions of heart monitoring, how to apply them based on individual heart rate data, and how to set realistic physical activity goals. Teachers and students can choose from over 20 health and fitness workouts and apply strategies for athletic performance training using heart zones.
Heart Education also tackles emotional fitness with structured plans to reduce stress, build positive connections with others, and contribute to a stable emotional outlook throughout the turbulent adolescent years. Also featured are lessons incorporating heart zones concepts into popular outdoor recreation activities such as adventure racing, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, geocaching, and orienteering.
This guidebook features
a lesson plan finder for easy reference to each lesson and its accompanying student materials;
a web resource containing all worksheets, station cards, training logs, and other forms for easy printing;
additional resources including a hardware guide for heart rate monitors, troubleshooting tips, and a series of circuit training stations for reassessment; and
recommended health assessments that support the strategies of the Heart Zone Training (HZT) system.
Although some forms of technology may be viewed as contributing to an overall decline in physical activity, heart rate monitoring technology can provide a way to empower students to reach their personal health and fitness goals. Heart Education: Strategies, Lessons, Science, and Technology for Cardiovascular Fitness can help you maximize students’ activity time with appealing, technology-based tools and scientifically sound strategies to positively affect their cardiovascular fitness.
Module 1. Jump-Start: A Quick Reference for Getting Started
Monitoring Heart Rate
Using a Heart Rate Monitor for the First Time
Lesson Plans
Module 2. Measuring and Recording Heart Rate Data
Taking Your Pulse
Determining Training Load
Understanding Heart Rate Assessments
Submaximal Heart Rate Tests
Lesson Plans
Module 3. Monitoring Heart Rate
Programming a Heart Rate Monitor
Precise Heart Rate Monitoring
Sources of Error in Heart Rate Assessments
Increases in Cardiac Output
Changes in the Heart
Ratings of Perceived Exertion
Lesson Plans
Module 4. Heart Zones Methodology
Heart Zones Characteristics
Five Heart Zones
Zone Workouts
Maximal Heart Rate
Lesson Plans
Module 5. Setting Fitness Goals
Setting SMART Goals
Small-Change Goals
Training Tree: A Wellness Continuum
Using the Training Tree
Setting Weight Loss Goals
Managing Weight
Losing Weight
Understanding Weight Gain
Visualizing to Achieve Goals
Lesson Plans
Module 6. Heart Zones Training
Ten Steps of Heart Zones Training
Rules for Training
Putting the Plan Into Action
Module 7. Heart Zones Workouts
Tailoring Your Workouts
Interval Workouts
Steady-State, or Continuous, Workouts
Deciphering the Color-Coding System
How to Read a Workout Outline
Choosing and Designing Workouts
Lesson Plans
Additional Workouts
Module 8. Sport Applications
Fitness Training Principles
Performance Training Principles
Sport Specificity
Cross-Training
Aerobic and Anerobic Energy Contributions
Assessing Fitness Levels Throughout the Sport Season
Measuring and Monitoring the Intensity Requirements of Player Positions
Lesson Plans
Module 9. Periodized Training for Sport Performance
Training Phases
Setting Individual Plans and Goals
Progression of Training Load
Workouts
Tracking Training Load and Logging Workouts
Lesson Plans
Module 10. Training the Emotional Heart
Emotional Fitness Zones
Emotional Fitness Training
Strengthening the Emotional Heart
ZAP Your Stress
Connecting With Others
Choosing Happiness
Lesson Plans
Module 11. Enhancing Health Through Outdoor Recreation
Integrating Outdoor Adventure Activities Into Physical Education
Adventure Racing
Discathalon (Cross Country Skiing and Disc Throwing)
Geocaching or Point-to-Point Orienteering
Lesson Plans
ve L. Swaim, MS, is president of Heart Zones Education, a company devoted to the development of innovative physical education curricula for schools. Swaim is the creator of the Heart Zones Education program and curriculum as well as two associated texts, Middle School Healthy Hearts in the Zone (2002) and High School Healthy Hearts in the Zone (2003), both published by Human Kinetics. Recognized both nationally and internationally as an expert on applications for heart rate technology in school programs, Swaim has presented her curriculum throughout the United States, Japan, and Australia.
A certified K-12 physical education teacher, Swaim has over 40 years of experience as a health and physical educator working with students from middle school through the university level. Currently she is on the faculty in the department of curriculum and instruction working in the graduate teacher education program in the School of Education at Portland State University in Oregon.
Swaim has served on the Oregon Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports and as the Board of Governors representative for the Northwest District American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. She has also served as president of both the Oregon Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance and the Northwest District American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. She is the recipient of the Honor Award from both organizations for meritorious contributions to the organizations.