*2.1. Setting a Cardiac Rehabilitation Program*

In this section, we describe a standardized CRP for patients with ischemic heart disease, a disease where patients suffer from a kind of restriction in the blood supply to the tissues. In the literature, several models for handling CRPs have been proposed and analyzed in many countries [32]. In this work, we proposed the use of a general model for cardiac rehabilitation [33] based on the heart rate, which is focused on determining the values of the heart rate training zones in the CRS. This model was developed at the CRU of the Hospital Complex of Jaen, Spain, where this work is centered.

As a previous step before starting the CRP, a first evaluation for each new patient of CR is required in health centers. In this initial evaluation, the patients are connected to an ECG and undergo a controlled cardiac stress test, which is evaluated by a cardiologist in terms of symptoms and blood pressure response for diagnosing patients. From this test, a cardiologist determines the next thresholds for each patient [34]:


Once patient thresholds are defined in the health center, a set of sessions are designed for configuring CRP by the cardiac rehabilitation team defining the:

• Duration range. The exercise duration of sessions, which is increased from initial sessions in an interval of (15–20) min to an interval of (30–40) min for trained patients [35].

• The optimal heart rate training zones (OHRTZs). These are defined by the clinical protocol in each session, as percentage ranges [*p* ∗ <sup>+</sup>, *p* ∗ <sup>−</sup>] from *HRmax* and *HRrest*. The methodology of Marvonen [33] allows translating the percentage range to absolute *bpm* [*r* ∗ <sup>+</sup>,*r* ∗ <sup>−</sup>] that is defined by *r* ∗ = *HRrest* + *p* ∗ ˙ (*HRmax* − *HRrest*).

The middle point between [*r* ∗ <sup>+</sup>,*r* ∗ <sup>−</sup>] is known as *target heart rate HRtar*, which is related to the ideal heart rate to maintain in the session.

• Duration of the progressive stage (*dw*). The progression of HR within from basal state needs for a lineal increase, which starts from the resting point until reaching the OHRTZ. The duration of this progressive stage is defined in minutes.
