Roger Federer needs philanthropists

Being a hard core fan of Roger Federer, I woke up early in the morning today to watch his US Open Quarter finals match with Monfils. Most of the match, Roger was outplayed. ‘The genius at work’ was missing and instead it was as if I was watching an imposter. The serve was off the mark, fore-hand, lethal weapon of Roger, was suspect and back hand was vulnerable. Only saving grace was volleying and foot work. Ultimately, he managed to win the match in five sets not because of his great tennis but philanthropy of Monfils. We enjoyed the artistry of Roger for a long time. He gave us lot of pleasure. Of-late Roger has not been the same force he used to be. The swagger on the court is missing. Earlier, he used to win matches by driving opponents to abject subjugation. Now-a-days, he wins only against philanthropic players. After watching today’s match, I felt that the 18^th Grand slam is a mirage. The present Roger lacks the fire power to beat champions like Djokovic and Nadal. Only constant in life is change. Looks like time has come to search for new heroes. 

                                                             CARDIAC HEALTH

This weekend I received a call from my friend that one of our friends had a heart attack and is battling for life. The guy who got heart attack is a good sportsman and we were under the impression that he would be the last person to get heart attack. This made me ponder. I thought I must share my views on this issue.

People who play sports tend to become over confident as regards heart health. However, one must understand that just playing sports does not guarantee cardiac health. Because most of these sports are stop and run sort of sports. For example, in badminton and tennis, we stop and then run and this sequence continues. What is required for cardiac health is maintaining heart rate at a higher level for a longer time.

            There is a very important difference between increase in heart rate when we exercise and increase when we are under stress. Heart pumps blood into arteries (peripheral vessels). When we exercise all the peripheral vessels dilate (expand) making it easy for heart to pump the blood. As a result of dilatation, blood supply to muscles and organs improves. The dilatation of vessels is as a result of release of endorphins. Therefore, exercise makes heart stronger. However, when we are under stress, adrenaline is released as a result of which peripheral vessels constrict. This puts lot of stress on heart as it is forced to pump blood against resistance. This leads to hypertension and related problems and may lead to heart attack also.

Optimal exercise for cardiac health is one where you achieve target heart rate. The treadmills, cycles and cross trainers have heart rate monitors and monitoring heart rate is not difficult.

There are certain very important concepts one should not forget about target heart rate, cardiac fitness and cooling off. There is a formula to arrive at theoretical maximum attainable pulse rate. We are not supposed to get the heart rate up to or even near theoretical maximum. There is an important but simple formula to arrive at theoretical maximum pulse rate. Subtracting age from 220 gives theoretical maximum pulse rate. Depending on the fitness, one should try to achieve 75% to 90% of theoretical maximum. This is called target pulse rate. It is better to start with 75% and increase gradually to 90%. For example, if my age is 40 yrs theoretical maximum would be 180. Target pulse rate to start with would be 75% of 180 which comes to 135. The target pulse rate should be maintained for atleast 5 minutes.

            One rule is that you never finish a cardiovascular workout and stop cold. Cooling off is must. My experience is that very few people cool off. Not cooling off may lead to devastating results. While you are exercising, your heart is beating very rapidly because both heart and your legs require a lot of blood. By pumping your legs up and down, you are pumping blood from your legs back to your heart. The muscles that are demanding a lot of blood are both in your legs and in your heart, but the blood’s getting pumped back to your heart by running. If you stop cold (stop suddenly), your muscles are still going to demand a lot of blood – they have been deprived of oxygen and glucose – and gravity is going to help leg muscles get the blood. The problem is, they are no longer pumping the blood back to heart. Suddenly your heart is deprived and, if the coronary arteries are narrowed as a result of atherosclerosis (which is very common in Indians), it may lead to heart attack.

            Next question is ‘What is cooling off’. After achieving target pulse rate and maintaining for atleast 5 minutes, you must continue exercising slowly till the pulse rate drops to 30% of resting pulse rate. If your resting pulse is 78, you should not stop biking or walking etc until your heart rate is 101 or below.

            To sum up:

·         When you start exercise check resting pulse rate.

·         Achieve target pulse rate and maintain for atleast 5 minutes.

·         Cool off till your pulse rate is 30% above resting pulse rate.

Cardiologists now believe that the faster your heart rate slows from your target to near resting rate the better your cardiac fitness.

Conclusion: Sportsman should not be over confident. Even if you are playing a sport regularly, it is advisable to swim, walk or jog regularly for atleast 45 mins (continuously) a day (atleast 5 days a week) for cardiac health. If time is there one can pursue both sport & cardio.