How to Heart Rate
This is a component of the BIG ROCK - Exercise. When you exercise, are you working hard or hardly working? Exercising at the right intensity can help you get the most out of your physical activity — making sure you're not pushing too hard or too little. Here's a look at what exercise intensity means, and how to most out of your workout.
Exercise intensity is how hard the activity feels to you. Exercise intensity is also shown in your breathing and heart rate, whether you're sweating, and how tired your muscles feel. There are two ways to tell how intense you are working out:
1) How you feel-
Exercise intensity is a subjective measure of how hard physical activity feels to you while you're doing it also known as perceived exertion. Your perceived exertion level may be different from what someone else feels doing the same exercise. For example, what feels to you like a hard run can feel like an easy workout to someone who's more fit.
You will see these charts in gyms frequently:
2) Your heart rate-
Your heart rate offers a more objective look at exercise intensity. In general, the higher your heart rate during physical activity, the higher the exercise intensity. Your heart rate is measured by the amount of times it beats per minute. During a rested period, a lower heart rate is ideal. This is because a stronger heart pumps more blood to your system per beat than a weaker heart thus requiring less beats per minute. The heart is a huge muscle and becomes stronger (like any muscle) when you exercise it. When you do cardio workouts (like walk, elliptical, run, swim, cycle, etc.), you use a lot of different muscles including some large ones. These muscles need oxygen to work, which they get from your blood which is pumped by your heart. Your heart pumps faster to get blood to them, therefore your heart rate speeds up. Measuring the rate of your heart during exercise can help you determine when you're pushing your body too hard or need to push it harder to achieve the level of fitness you are seeking. If you want to get serious about your health and fitness, knowing how to understand your heart rate is a key component.
A simple way (although not perfect) to calculate your maximum heart rate range is to subtract your age from 220. For example, if you are 20, your maximum heart rate is 200. This is the average of the maximum beats per minute your heart should beat during exercise.
See note below.
It's important to note that maximum heart rate is only a guide. You may have a higher or lower maximum heart rate, sometimes by as much as 15 to 20 beats per minute. If you want a more specific range, consider discussing your target heart rate zone with an exercise physiologist or a personal trainer. Generally only elite athletes are concerned about this level of precision. They may also use slightly different calculations that take into account sex differences in target heart rate zones. These differences are so small that most casual athletes don't need separate calculations for men and women. It is also important to remember that medications can affect your heart rate by lowering it or raising it. This must all be taken into consideration.
Why is this important?
Once you know your maximum heart rate, you can calculate your desired target heart rate zone — the level at which your heart is being exercised and conditioned but not overworked.
The American Heart Association generally recommends a target heart rate of:
Moderate exercise intensity: 50% to about 70% of your maximum heart rate, so for our 20 year old the range would be 100 - 140 BPM for moderate exercise.
Vigorous exercise intensity: 70% to about 85% of your maximum heart rate, so now our 20 year old is at 140-185 BPM for vigorous exercise.
If you're not fit or you're just beginning an exercise program, aim for the lower end of your target heart rate zone. Then, gradually build up the intensity. If you're healthy and want to exercise at a vigorous intensity, opt for the higher end of the zone.
Guidelines recommend 150 minutes per week of moderate activity or 75 minutes per week of vigorous activity just for health maintenance. This is just for maintenance, if you are trying to get really fit or lose weight, you usually have to do more.
I never did a team sport growing up (I was a science nerd), so I never really had a coach pushing me. I am not so good at knowing how hard I push myself. The heart rate monitor is what I use to tell how hard I am working out. There are times that I feel like I am working out as hard as I can and I look down and my heart rate is about what it was when I started, so big clue - not pushing myself. There have been other times I thought I had done nothing and had actually had a great workout. It gives me an objective way to measure that I am actually doing something and how well.
It does not have to be fancy. Sometimes the simplest ones are the easiest and you don't have to spend a lot of money. There are so many out there now! My favorite for years was a simple POLAR heart rate monitor! It was like $60. I use MyZone now, as it is what my gym supports. It also gives me weekly and monthly goals with little incentives if I reach a consistent amount of workouts over weeks and months. Hey, I need all the encouragement I can get!
This is just a start, and we will have more posts to come on the topic of heart rate and exercise. We just wanted to introduce you all to the concept of this objective way of monitoring your workouts and their intensity so that you can reach your personal health and fitness goals - whatever those may be!
All material gathered and researched through my amazing fellowship program, The Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine.
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