It's in the Beat of Our Heart, one measure of our health and fitness level, that is! Yes, by measuring our heart rate at rest, during and after exercise, we can get one clue to not only our fitness level, but a measure of how healthy our cardiovascular system is too. This is also one way to know that we are exercising at an intensity that will improve our cardiovascular health.
Whether we are just beginning, or we're almost pro's, monitoring our heart rate on a regular basis is what I consider "smart training". Last week we touched upon one component of fitness, aerobic exercise, and the type of exercise that keeps our heart rate elevated for a sustained period of time using the major muscles of our body (our legs). This week, let's review what is called a "Target Heart Rate Training Zone", a range of heart beats per minute that we need to sustain in order to effectively increase our fitness levels.
Here, taken from the “American College of Sports Medicine’s” web site, the organization that sets the exercise standards for all major exercise guidelines is their instructions on “How to Find Your Training Heart Rate". This zone is generally between 55% and 85% of what we call our "max heart rate", the projected maximum number of beats our heart is capable of for one minute. Our projected maximum heart rate is calculated by age. Here goes,
Let's Calculate
To estimate our maximum heart rate. Take 220 - your age = ____ (this is your maximum).
To determine your range let's start with our lower- limit exercise- training zone heart rate, multiple your personal maximum heart rate by 0.6 To determine our upper-limit exercise-training zone heart rate, multiple your maximum heart rate by 0.9.
Our exercise heart rate range is between our upper and lower limits.
For those of us looking to increase our fitness level, we generally need to keep our heart rate between our lower and upper limits sustained for a period of approximately 15 minutes, increasing our intensity as we increase our fitness ability. The 15 minutes does not include a warm up or cool down period (Exercising at a high intensity? Please do not stop abruptly.).
For those of us looking to lose and/or maintain weight loss, exercising at the lower-middle end of the exercise heart rate range for a longer time is better than exercising at the higher end of the range for a shorter time. The longer the amount of time we do our aerobic exercise, the more our body releases stored fat as fuel. The general confusion regarding this is, high intensity exercise may burn more total calories, which during a short period of time may result in more calories burned. However, when we burn more total calories over a longer period of time, we are using up more stored fat! Exercising at the higher intensity will improve our cardiovascular fitness levels but may not result in significant fat stores used if the session is too brief.
One method of training that I like to recommend is to combine a high intensity portion at the beginning to increase our fitness level; followed by a longer duration at a lower heart rate we can sustain to burn more fat stores. I recommend this to clients who want to lose weight, but cannot exercise at a high intensity for the recommended amount of time of 40-60 minutes at least 5 days per week. For clients looking only to increase their fitness levels, and who do not want to lose weight, the prescription is to work toward the high end intensity for about 20 minutes 3-4 days per week.
Generally speaking, the lower end of the heart rate range is for those of us who are beginning. For those of us who have been exercising, and who have medical clearance (those of us over 40 should consult a Doctor before beginning a new program or anyone with medical considerations regardless of age including injuries), can strive for the upper range. During pregnancy it is vital to monitor the heart rate to protect the developing baby, so please seek the advice of your doctor for a personal exercise prescription. To make taking our heart rates easy, I recommend to my clients to use a simple model of a wireless heart rate monitor.
Here's an example of how to use this formula:
220-40 (40 sample age) = 180
180 x 0.6=108, 180 x 0.9=162 Training heart range is between 108 BPM and 162 BPM with 0.6 as 60% and 0.9 as 90%. If you are a beginner, try to maintain your heart rate closer to 108 BPM initially. This range of 108 to 162 may seem like a large range, but it allows us to go at our pace, and be creative! We can vary our heart rate during each session depending upon our ability, and energy that day too. One method of training used to increase fitness level is to exercise at a high intensity heart rate for 30 or more seconds, and then to reduce to a lower intensity for a minute or more. The timing of heart rate intensity can vary. This is called interval training.
When we monitor our heart rate, we also focus on the process, not just the time and difficulty. I also like to recommend to beginners to pick a realistic number of days that we can exercise for 30-40 minutes per session for weight loss. The guidelines once again for weight loss are up to an hour per day most days, but let’s start with what we can succeed at no matter how small and go from there!
Here's to Exercise, and Our Health!
June M. Lay M.S.
June is a certified Health & Fitness Specialist A.C.S.M. Please seek the advice of your physician when starting a new cardiovascular exercise program, especially if you are over 40 or have medical considerations.
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