Healthy Target Heart Rate Zone
This is a critical part of exercising. The number of calories burned during a workout is related to an individual’s heart rate. Measuring your heart rate not only leads to a more efficient workout (in a shorter amount of time), but can help reduce the risks associated with workout intensities.
The Healthy Target Heart Rate Zone training zone is from 60 to 70% of your maximum heart rate. You will be breathing heavier but will still be able to speak in short sentences. You burn more calories per minute than in the healthy heart zone because the exercise is a little more intense.
The calories burned depend on the distance you cover and your weight more than any other factors. In this zone, your body fuels itself with 85% fat, 5% protein, and 10% carbohydrate. You get the same health benefits and fat-burning benefits as the healthy heart zone.
Measure Your Heart Rate
Here’s a quick way to measure your heart rate: Hold 2 fingers on your neck’s carotid artery (the easiest location for taking a pulse is on the side of your neck). Every time the heart beats it sends a surge of blood through the arteries. You can feel this surge, or pulse, along large arteries near the surface of the skin. Do not press too hard on the artery or you will not get an accurate reading.
Count the number of pulses (or beats), always beginning with zero, for 6 seconds (then multiply by 10) to get the number of times your heart is beating per minute. An average adult heart beats about 60 to 80 times a minute.
Training Heart Rate
During exercise heart rate increases because the heart must beat faster to supply working muscles with more food and oxygen. You should exercise at an intensity between 50% – 85% of your heart rate reserve. Your individual level of fitness will ultimately determine where you fall within this range. Use this as a guide for determining your intensity level:
Beginner or low fitness level . . .50% – 60%
Average fitness level . . . . . . .60% – 70%
High fitness level . . . . . . . . 75% – 85%
Now let’s pull the information together and put it the following formula:
220 – Age = Maximum Heart Rate
Maximum Heart Rate – Resting Heart Rate x Intensity + Resting Heart Rate = Training Heart Rate
Example
Christine is 34 yrs old, has a resting heart rate of 75 and she’s just beginning her exercise program (her intensity level will be 50% – 60%). Christine’s training heart rate zone will be 131-142 beats per minute:
Christine’s Minimum Training Heart Rate:
220 – 33 (Age) = 187
187 – 75 (Rest. HR) = 112
112 x .50 (Minimum Intensity) + 75 (Rest. HR) = 131 Beats/Minute
Christine’s Maximum Training Heart Rate:
220 – 33 (Age) = 187
187 – 75 (Rest. HR) = 112
112 x .60 (Maximium Intensity) + 75 (Rest. HR) = 142 Beats/Minute
Monitoring Your Heart Rate
Take your pulse during your exercise session to measure your intensity level. If your pulse is within your training heart rate zone, you are right “in the zone” and taking maximum advatange of your workout! If not, adjust your exercise workload until you get into your training zone. Doing this during a workout is one of the primary indicators in ascertaining the intensity level at which you and your heart is working.
Now What?
This does not mean you should stay at this range for the duration of your training. To make improvements in your cardiovascular fitness and lose weight and tone up you must make steady improvements. With regards to heart rate, your heart rate response should decrease over time to the same intensity of exercise.
You may also have seen exercise zones charts which have fat burning zones. These charts give the wrong impression that if you perform low intensity, slow cardio exercise you will burn more fat. Burning fat is achieved with the right diet, intense cardio exercise, and resistance / toning (weight training).
Summary
* The best exercise requires you elevate your heart rate above resting level.
* Exercise should be performed within your target heart rate zone at first.
* Increase your exercise intensity periodically.
* Interval training is best for fat burning.
Fat Burning Zone
You do the best cardio exercise for you at home, in the park, in the gym basically anywhere. Plus you are not bound by some chart or formula.
Which zone should you work out in? It is best to vary your workouts for length and intensity, and allow a recovery day between days of intense exercise in the aerobic and anaerobic zone. Even if walking, vary the workouts for intensity and heart rate to improve speed, endurance and distance capacity. (You should consult with your doctor to ensure you can work out at such a high heart rate safely.)
Interval training (where your heart rate to go up and down in intervals) has been shown as most effective for fat burning. During interval training your heart rate usually goes up into the higher zones for short periods of time. You can learn more about interval training, go to the web site recommended above.
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