High pulse, higher chance of fatal heart attack, especially in women: Women with a high pulse rate may be particularly prone to fatal heart attacks, according to a study of 50,000 adults in Norway. Researchers found that with each increase of 10 beats per minute, a woman’s risk of dying from a heart attack increases by 18 percent. The trend was consistent among women up to the age of 70. For men, the odds of dying from a heart attack only increased by 10 percent for every increase of 10 beats per minute. A normal standing heart rate — that is, the heart rate at reast — for adults is 60 to 70 beats per minute.

A Reuters news report on the study noted that while heart disease is the leading killer of both men and women in the U.S., taking about 1.2 million lives annually, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and diabetes are the usual suspects. Little attention has been paid to heart rate.

So how do you keep your resting heart rate in check?

“The most promising thing that we find is that you can keep a check on your resting heart rate by engaging in physical activity,” Javaid Nauman, an exercise physiologist with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim who was involved in the new study, told Reuters Health. Even among study participants who exercised and still had higher resting heart rates, the incidence of fatal heart attacks was lower.

Kettlebells: Gimicky gadget or excellent exercise? Does a workout conceived by Russian musclebuilders in the 1700s and recently revived by gyms throughout the U.S. really have modern applications? The American Council on Exercise and the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse Exercise and Health Program teamed to examine just how effective a kettlebell workout can be. They put 10 experienced kettlebell enthusiasts through a 20-minute “snatch” workout involving both strength training and aerobics. Using kettlebells ranging from 12 to 20 kilos, the average number of calories burned among the 10 was 272. Throw in the anaerobic affect and the kettlebellers were actually burning “at least 20.2 calories per minute,” according to Wisconsin La Crosse’s John Porcari.

“That’s equivalent to running a 6-minute mile pace,” says Porcari. “The  only other thing I could find that burns that many calories is cross-country skiing up hill at a fast pace.” In short, the Russians were on to something.

Read more about the study here.