Basically, if you know how many times per minute your heart is beating, you will have a good idea of how hard you are working during your workout. If you exercise too hard and your heart rate is too high, you will quickly wear yourself out. On the other hand, if you don't put in enough effort and your heart rate is too low, you will not see the benefits of your exercise routine. So the important thing is to find somewhere in between these two extremes. It is important to know that you are exercising hard enough to benefit from your effort, but not too hard that you quickly tire out.
So what heart rate should you work at?
In order to see the best results from your exercise routine, experts believe you should be aiming to have a heart rate of between 65% and 85% of your maximum. This range is also called your optimum training zone. Sounds complicated, but it is easy to calculate.
First, you need to calculate your maximum heart rate. To do this simply take your age away from 220. So, if you are aged 35, your MHR will be 220 - 35 = 185.
To work out your optimum training zone, you need to perform a couple more calculations - one to work out 65% of your MHR and the other to find 85% of your MHR.
In the above example of our 35 year old, the calculations are:
185 x 85% = 157
185 x 65% = 120
So, this 35 year old should aim to train with a heart rate of between 120 and 157 beats per minute. If their rate was higher that 157, their body would not be able to get enough oxygen quickly enough to cope with the effort and they would easily get exhausted. If they trained with a rate of less than 120, they would not be working very hard and would see little benefit from their exercise routine.
How to measure heart rate
The cheapest way to measure your heart rate is to measure it yourself using your fingers. Either place two fingers at the side of your neck just below the jawbone or place two fingers about two centimetres below your wrist joint. Count the pulses for 15 seconds and multiply that number by four to get your beats per minute. Although this is the cheapest way of measuring heart rate, it is without doubt the most inconvenient as it is not always easy to take these measurements during a good workout.
Nowadays, a lot of gym equipment comes with sensors which measure your heart. These can give you a reasonable indication of your heart rate but the measurements are the most inaccurate.
The best and easiest way to get a reliable heart rate measurement is to use a sports watch. These usually consist of two parts - a watch to wear on your wrist and a strap that is worn around the chest and which detects your heart rate before transmitting data to your sports watch. Like with so many things, it is true that you get what you pay for. In our experience, anything under around 40 will be basic and less accurate than more expensive alternatives.
The fat burning zone
The fat burning zone is an area of lower intensity training where your body will get energy from fat rather than carbohydrate. This zone is usually between 50% and 70% of your maximum heart rate. So for our 35 year old mentioned above with a MHR of 185, the fat burning zone would be between 93 and 129 beats per minute. However, exercise at this level will burn off less calories than working at a higher intensity so if you want to lose weight, you'll be better off working at the higher intensity in your optimum training zone.
Other relevant factors
Measuring heart rate whilst resting can be useful for measuring the effects of your workout routine. Normal resting heart rate can be between 60 and 100 beats per minute. A low HR does not mean you are fit, just as a higher resting rate is not a sign of unfitness. The best time to measure resting rate is first thing in the morning before getting out of bed. Measure your resting rate before starting a new workout programme and then check it every week to see if it decreases over time. As your heart muscle get stronger, it should become more efficient at pumping blood around the body and should therefore need to beat less times per minute. So, over time, if your workout is having benefits, your resting HR should decrease.
A better measure of how your workout routine is working is to look at your recovery HR. This is measured one minute after ending your workout. Begin by measuring your resting HR as described in the paragraph above and then one minute after your workout, take a reading. The difference between these two numbers is the important thing to note. As your fitness level increases, the difference between these two numbers should also decrease.
Heart rate can be affected by many things such as age, illness, alcohol, smoking, medication and diet. The best ways to lower your HR are to avoid smoking, alcohol, stress and bad diet. Monitoring your HR during workout will enable you to see the improvements you are making and can also be a great motivator.
0 comments:
Post a Comment