Heart rate is widely accepted as a good
method for measuring intensity during running, swimming, cycling and other
aerobic activities. Exercise that doesn't raise your heart rate to a
certain level and keep it there for 20 minutes won't contribute
significantly to cardiovascular fitness.
The heart rate you should maintain is called
your Target Heart Rate. There are several ways of arriving at this figure.
One of the simplest is: Maximum Heart Rate
(220 - age) X 70%. Thus, the target heart rate for a 40 year-old would be
126 (working at 70% of Maximum).
Some other methods for figuring the target rate
take individual differences (or individual fitness level) into
consideration. Here is one of them.
1. Subtract age from 220 to find Maximum
Heart Rate.
2. Subtract
♥Resting
Heart Rate♥ (see below)
from maximum heart rate to determine Heart Rate Reserve.
3. Take 70% of heart rate reserve to determine Heart Rate Raise.
4. Add heart rate raise to resting heart rate to find Target Rate.
♥Resting
Heart Rate should be determined by
taking your pulse after sitting quietly for five minutes usually upon
first waking in the morning♥
When checking
your heart rate during a workout, be sure take your pulse within five seconds after
interrupting exercise because it starts to go down immediately once you stop moving.
Count pulse for 10 seconds and multiply by 6 to get your per-minute rate
and compare to your target. You can then adjust your workout
accordingly - bringing your heart rate up by working a little harder, or
by lowering your intensity to bring your heart rate down.
