The Role of Your Heart Rate During Exercise
Many experts recommend that you try to keep a certain pace during while exercising. Pacing yourself helps you to monitor your progress, make sure you are not overexerting yourself (which is especially important if you are out of shape), and to keep you from tiring out too quickly during exercise. For this purpose, many health specialists and trainers recommend that you workout with a target heart rate.
What is a target heart rate?
A target heart rate is the range in which your heart should be beating per minute while exercising. The basic approach involves taking your pulse during exercise and keeping it within 50-85% of your maximum heart rate.
How do I determine my target heart rate?
There are a few different ways of determining your target heart rate. You may seek advice to determine the best one for you, or try them out and see with which you feel most comfortable.
One formula involves taking 220 and subtracting your age, which gives your maximum heart rate. Then you determine the 50-85% range of your maximum. For example, a 30 year old would have a maximum heart rate of 190, and their target heart rate zone would be 95-162 beats per minute. This is a general guideline, and can change according to your basic fitness level, weight and height, and any medical conditions.
A more specific calculation is called the Karvonen Formula. It can be a bit more accurate because it takes your resting heart rate into consideration. This can be important for people with unusually low or high resting heart rates, and also addresses the fact that your heart rate tends to lower as you become more fit and efficient.
To use the Karvonen Formula, take your pulse while at rest for one full minute. Then take 220 and subtract your age. Subtract your resting heart rate from this number. Then multiply it by 65% and 85%. Take each of these numbers and add your resting heart rate. The result is your target heart rate zone. For example, we will calculate the target heart rate range for a 30 year old with a resting heart rate (rhr) of 70 beats per minute.
- 220-30=190
- 190-70(rhr)=120
- 120×65%=78 and 120×85%=102
- 78+70(rhr)=148 and 102+70(rhr)=172
- So the target heart rate zone for this individual is 148-172 beats per minute.
When should I reach my target heart rate?
At first, when you are starting your exercise program, you should give yourself time to make sure you are comfortable and ready to take it to the next level. Then, start off by trying to reach the lowest end of your target heart rate zone for a few weeks. Slowly build up to the top of your target range. You should have been exercising for at least six months before you reach 85% of your maximum heart rate.
Why is it beneficial?
Using a target heart rate during exercise helps you to know your initial fitness level, monitor your progress, keeps you from exercising too hard or not hard enough, and can help you reach certain goals. It is best to combine endurance or lower intensity workouts for longer periods of time with harder workouts or interval training to build muscle, burn calories, and improve endurance.
This sounds complicated, are there alternatives?
If you don’t want to take the time to calculate your target heart rate zone, or take your pulse during exercise, a simple rule of thumb is that you should stick to a pace where you can talk, but not too comfortably.
