A medication blunts heart-rate response while the client reports hard effort at a familiar task. What should guide coaching?
- AFollow prescribed guidance, symptoms, and perceived exertion with workload
- BLower the target zone by a fixed percentage and keep pulse as the main guide
- CFit a chest-strap monitor so the heart-rate reading is more accurate
- DSuggest taking the medication after sessions so heart rate responds normally
Show answer and explanations
Answer
A
When medication blunts heart rate, effort is judged from the clinician's guidance, symptoms, and RPE in relation to the workload rather than from pulse alone.
B
A generic percentage cut still treats pulse as the main intensity marker, which the medication has made unreliable.
C
The reading is not inaccurate; the medication genuinely lowers heart rate, so a better sensor does not solve the problem.
D
Changing medication timing is a prescribing decision outside a trainer's scope and can be unsafe.
A
When medication blunts heart rate, effort is judged from the clinician's guidance, symptoms, and RPE in relation to the workload rather than from pulse alone.