When you work out it is best to keep the correct heart rate zone. Knowing how hard you should exercise gives you the opportunity to achieve your goals while not over-exertion, which can be dangerous.
Cardiovascular exercise is based on frequency, intensity, and duration. You know how often and how long you exercise, but do you know how to measure intensity by monitoring heart rate zones?
Step 1: Know the Max Heart Rate
Once you’ve determined your maximum heart rate (MHR), use heart rate zones to tailor your workout to the appropriate intensity. Your maximum heart rate is how fast your heart should beat. This varies with each individual, however age is commonly used to predict your maximal heart rate.
One of the simplest ways to calculate your MHR is to subtract the age from the number 220. An example, if you are 40, your MHR is 180, 220 – 40 = 180.
Use the Tanaka formula, which multiplies your age by 0.7 and subtracts it from 208. For a 40-year-old, this computation would yield an MHR of 180.
A more personalized number can be obtained by testing with a personal trainer or using a heart rate monitor. You can also use a chart based on your age.
Step 2: Determine the Target Heart Rate Zones
Exercising in different heart rate (HR) zones might provide you with various fitness benefits. The five exercise zones are derive from the percentage ranges of maximal heart rate. You will experience varying levels of intensity in each zone, and your body will burn a percentage of carbohydrates, protein, and fat.
Very light: less than 57% of MHR.
This heart rate zone corresponds to when you are sedentary or performing light activity. Your capacity to communicate is unaffected, but you will not burn as many calories as you would in some of the higher heart rate zones.
Training in the extremely mild heart rate zone is beneficial if you’re recovering from a strenuous exercise session or a tough event. To stay in your zone, do exercises like cycling, light walking, on flat terrain, or using an under-desk bike.
Light: 57%-63% of MHR.
The light heart rate zone ranges from 57% to 63% of your maximum heart rate. This is a simple and comfortable exercise zone that falls at the lower end of the moderate-intensity range. You can have a full conversation in this zone, but your breathing may be little heavier than usual.
Your workout in this heart rate zone will be less strenuous and provide less cardiorespiratory training advantages. However, studies have shown that it helps to reduce cholesterol, body fat, and blood pressure.
In the light heart rate zone, the body gets 10% of its energy from carbs, 5% from protein, and 85% from fats.
Walkers frequently stay in this heart rate zone unless they push themselves to walk faster. If you workout in higher heart rate zones, strolling in this zone is an excellent approach to have a relaxing recovery day while staying active.
Moderate: 64%-76% of MHR.
The moderate heart rate zone ranges from 64% to 76% of your maximum heart rate. This is the upper limit of the moderate-intensity exercise zone. If you’re using the talk test to determine intensity, you’ll breathe faster but speak in short words.
The intensity of the workout causes you to burn more kilocalories per minute than in the light heart zone.
In the moderate heart rate zone, your body gets its energy from 10% carbs, 5% protein, and 85% fat.
You reap the same health and fat-burning benefits as in the mild heart rate zone. A quick walking workout is an example of this zone’s activity.
Vigorous: 77%-95% of MHR.
The vigorous heart rate zone is between 77% and 95% of your maximum heart rate. You are now in the vigorous-intensity zone. You will be breathing rapidly and able to speak in short words.
This is the target zone for endurance training. It encourages your body to enhance its circulatory system by forming new blood vessels and expands your lung capacity and heart. Having a goal for 20 to 60 minutes in this heart rate zone is thought to provide the highest fitness training results.
Increased intensity burns more calories and covers more distance in the same amount of time. The number of calories you burn is primarily determined by your weight and distance traveled. If you travel further in the same length of time, you will burn more calories per minute.
In the strong heart rate zone, you burn 50% of your kilocalories from carbohydrates, less than 1% from protein, and half from fat.
This zone is often reached while running or cycling, but it can also be reached by racewalking or walking quickly for an aerobic walking workout.
Training at the upper end of this heart rate zone (84% MHR or higher) will increase the amount of oxygen you can consume (VO2 max). This amount of exercise causes your body to manufacture lactic acid. Cyclists, Runners and racewalkers use this heart rate zone to increase their capacity to move faster.
At the peak of the vigorous zone, the body burns 85% carbs, less than 1% protein, and 15% fat.
Workouts on the higher end of this heart rate zone should last 10 to 20 minutes or as part of an interval training session.
Maximum: 96%–100% of MHR
The top heart rate zone is between 96% and 100% of your maximum heart rate. You can’t move any higher, and most individuals can’t stay in this zone longer than a few minutes. You will be unable to talk beyond breathing single phrases.
This zone should only be used for short sentences during interval training, such as working hard for a minute, then lowering your intensity for several minutes before repeating.
While you burn a lot of calories every minute in the maximal zone, the majority of them are sugars, less than 1% protein, and 10% fats.
You should check with your doctor to be sure you can exercise at such a high heart rate safely.
Step 3: Monitor your heart rate while exercising.
Take your heart rate five minutes after starting your workout session and again before you calm down. You can accomplish this by taking your pulse, using a heart rate monitor, or wearing a fitness tracker or smart watch.
Take your pulse.
You can check your pulse in your neck (carotid artery) or wrist (radial artery). You’ll need a timing device that shows seconds, so use your smartphone clock’s stopwatch mode or a clocks, watch, or timer with a second hand.
Use two fingers; do not use your thumb, which has a pulse. It is frequently simplest to locate your pulse in the arteries on either side of your windpipe. Begin feeling for it slightly beneath your jaw, adjacent to your windpipe.
Press lightyly, once you’ve found the pulse. Multiply by 6, or 15 seconds and multiply by 4 while counting your pulse for 10 seconds.
You may need to pause to do this at first, but after you’ve found it, walk slowly or march in place while measuring your pulse to keep it from slowing.
Examples:
20 beats for 10 seconds is 120 beats per minute.
20 beats for 15 seconds is 80 beats per minute.
When you stop moving, your heart rate slows, therefore check your pulse rapidly if using the manual method, counting for only 10-15 seconds.
Many treadmills and other fitness machines include grips with built-in pulse sensors. Grip them, and your pulse will appear on a screen. Smartphone apps are also good to use.
Use a heart rate monitor.
Monitoring your pulse is less accurate than using a chest strap. They send the data to a wrist device or a smartphone app, which monitors your heart rate throughout the workout.
As prices rise, models incorporate a variety of additional capabilities like as heart rate zone tracking, stopwatches, calories burned, and more.
Many heart rate monitors can pre-program various heart rate zones. This is useful if you perform different workouts because you will not have to reprogram it each time. Some will even tell you how long it takes to return to your normal heart rate. When selecting a heart rate monitor, consider which functions you absolutely have and which you can go without.
Use a fitness tracker or smartwatch.
Some fitness bands and smartwatches, including Fitbit and Apple Watch models, contain LED pulse sensors on the bottom, adjacent to the wrist. These must be worn securely against the skin to provide an accurate reading.
These devices frequently feature simplified heart rate zones, such as light, moderate, and strenuous. Some allow you to set a goal heart rate and receive visual or audio alerts when you reach your desired zone.6 When deciding between models like Whoop and Fitbit, think about which features and capabilities are most important to you.
Vary your workouts.
What heart rate zones should you work in? It is advisable to vary training length and intensity, with a recovery day in between days of hard exercise in the vigorous and maximum zones.
A training schedule will often include shorter, higher-intensity workouts two to three times per week, followed by a recovery/rest day. One day of a lengthier training in the moderate or strong heart rate zone is commonly used to increase mileage for a race like a 10K, half-marathon, or marathon.
Racewalker Dave McGovern recommends a weekly workout regimen that alternates intensity and heart rate to develop speed, endurance, and distance capacity.
Monday: Rest day with light activities.
Tuesday: Interval training in the strong zone with a 10-minute warmup at an safe rate; reps of 30-second running followed by two minutes of recovery, repeated eight to twelve times; and a 10-minute cool down at an easy pace.
Wednesday: Recovery day with a moderate-level workout lasting 30 to 45 minutes.
Thursday: Interval training in the vigorous zone, with longer intervals of eight minutes of vigorous effort and two minutes of recuperation, repeated three to four times.
Friday: Recovery day with a moderate-level workout lasting 30 to 45 minutes.
Saturday: A steady-state (tempo) workout in the low end of the strenuous zone for 20 to 30 minutes, following a 10-minute warmup. Sunday: Distance workout in the
