Live The Active Life

If you are exercising on a regular basis, either to lose weight and/or get more fit, you need to make sure you are in the right “zone” when it comes to heart rate. Using your heart rate to train is important and doing it the right way will speed up your progress and help you reach your goals faster while reducing the risk of injury or burnout. I have been training using heart rate for many years and I know it has helped me maximize my exercise program. This is part 1 of a 3 part series on using your heart rate to exercise properly.

A few days ago over on Get Fit Slowly, which is a good health and fitness blog, J.D. asked a question related to “aerobic intensity and maximum heart rates”. Basically what he wanted to know was how to determine intensity of exercise and how does that relate to heart rate? I will attempt to answer those questions here in part 1 and give you some tools and tests to help you determine your specific training zones in part 2. In part three I will help you get started by giving a couple of basic workout programs using your newly established training zones.

Please Remember: You should always check with your doctor before starting any exercise program.

Now, that the disclaimer is over with we can continue

Everybody has probably heard something about “maximum heart rate” as it relates to exercise. What is it and how does it affect your exercise program? Your maximum heart rate is a specific number, the maximum number of beats per minute that your heart can make. Here are some interesting facts I found about maximum heart rate:

1. It is genetically determined; you’re born with it.
2. It is your own individual number.
3. It does not reflect your level of fitness.
4. It is sensitive to certain variables such as altitude, drugs, and medication.
5. It is a fixed number, unless you become unfit.
6. It cannot be increased by training.
7. It does not decline with age except in sedentary people.
8. It tends to be higher in women than men.
9. A high maximum heart rate does not predict better athletic performance, nor does a low number predict worse performance.
10. It has great variability among people of the same age.
11. It will be higher for more “impact” activities like running than lower impact activities like cycling or swimming.
12. A child’s maximum heart rate can frequently be over 200 bpm.
13. It cannot be accurately predicted by a mathematic formula.
14. Testing it requires the person to be fully rested.

The key point is this: maximum heart right is the anchor point for setting your training zones. Accurately determining your own maximum heart rate is key to getting the most from your exercise program. If you do more than one type of activity (running and cycling for example) you will have two max heart rates (see #11).

Once you have determined your max heart rate, which will be discussed in part 2, you can develop your unique “training zones” to use for your workouts. There are a few definitions of these zones but here is a common breakdown:

1. 50% to 60% of maximum- This is commonly called the “Healthy Heart” or “Active Recovery” zone. This is a low intensity area that can be used to recover from a harder workout or build a base if you are brand new to working out.
2. 60% to 70% of maximum- This is the “Fitness Zone” where you start to work a little harder. This zone can be used to build some basic endurance but is kind of a “no mans land” in terms of increasing endurance effectively.
3. 70% to 80% of maximum- This is the “Aerobic” zone, the sweet spot. You will want to do workouts in this zone to increase your overall endurance, heart and lung capacity, and circulatory system. This is the zone most people think of when they think of “aerobics”.
4. 80% to 90% of maximum- This is the “Anaerobic or Threshold” zone. You will be working very hard here and the major benefits are increasing your ability to consume oxygen (VO2 max). This is the area you want to work in if you want to get faster. Workouts in this zone are usually 10-20 minutes in length, with breaks between each interval for longer workout periods.
5. 90% to 100% of maximum- This is an extreme level of work. You will only be able to operate in this zone for a few minutes at most. Unless you just like the pain and suffering, you will not need to do much in this zone unless you are, or want to, compete in your chosen sport.

Now that you have an idea of what maximum heart rate is, and isn’t, and how you can use your heart rate to exercise and train effectively, the next step is to determine your own maximum heart rate through testing. Part two will cover several ways to accurately estimate your maximum heart rate which you can use to create your unique “zones”.

photo credit: RW PhotoBug