Important Heart Rate Information

Benefits of Heart Rate Monitors

The most efficient and effective way to know if you are “burning fat” during exercise is to be above 60% of your maximum heart rate. What does this mean? Heart rate monitors help guide your exertion level during exercise. If you are exercising to hard you are most likely to burn out before achieving any of the real benefits. On the other hand, if you exercise leisurely you are likely to not get the benefits of exercise either. Heart monitors help pace you during your workout and guide you to know whether you should be going harder or backing down. It has nothing to do with how much you sweat or how tired you feel. Below you will learn how to find your maximum heart rate. Once determined, you can then find your percentages, or your target heart rate zones, of your maximum heart rate. Here are some of the benefits of using a heart rate monitor:

• A heart rate monitor allows you to exercise at the right intensity, thus reaching your fitness goals.
• Your heart rate is an accurate measurement of your output level and allows you to monitor your level of “fat burning”.
• Heart Rate Monitors are the easiest way to continuously watch your heart rate.
• If heart rate training is new to you there may be a question of what is a heart rate monitor. It consists of a watch worn on your wrist and a comfortable transmitter with elastic band that you wear around your chest against your skin. The transmitter sends wireless signals of the number of beats per minute by your heart to the monitor worn on your wrist. That number on your monitor reflects the total number of heart beats per minute and remains on your monitor continuously. This allows you to monitor your heart rate through your entire workout.

Target Heart Rate Zones

Integrating heart rate monitors into your exercise program:
There are specific Target Zones (TZ) that help guide you to the right intensity. A TZ is a high and low heart rate range that is based on a % of your maximum heart rate. You can use a formula based on your age and can figure out your maximum heart rate. You then take %'s of that number to get your Target Zones.

Determining target zones:

We will use the Karvonen formula, which takes into account a persons fitness level by incorporating their morning resting heart rate (MRHR).

First, you will need to get your average MRHR. When you go to sleep at night put your monitor and transmitter next to your bed along with a glass of water (you need to wet the transmitter when placing it on your chest). As soon as you wake put on the transmitter while sitting up in bed. Wait for the lowest number to display on your monitor. This will take about 1 minute. You will repeat this 3 consecutive mornings and take the average of the 3 numbers.

(1) Morning 1# + Morning 2# + Morning 3# = ( X)
(X) divided by 3 = Morning Resting Heart Rate (MRHR)

This is a good indicator of your state of fitness. Once you have this number established as a baseline, you can use it to understand more about yourself than you can imagine. You should take it again once every two weeks.

As your fitness improves, you will most likely see that number going down. If you see an elevated number, it could mean one or more of the following:

• You did not recover from a hard workout the day before
• You need more rest
• Your body has begun fighting off an oncoming illness

(2) Now use your MRHR number as follows:
220 minus your age = estimated max hr (HRMx)
HRMx minus MRHR = multipler

(3) Now find your personal target zones:
multiplier X .60 + MRHR = ( ) 60% of max heart rate
multiplier X .70 + MRHR = ( ) 70% of max heart rate
multiplier X .80 + MRHR = ( ) 80% of max heart rate

Example:

(1) Morning 1# + Morning 2# + Morning 3# = ( X)
(X) divided by 3 = Morning Resting Heart Rate (MRHR)
(2) 220 minus your age = estimated max hr (HRMx)
HRMx minus MRHR = multipler
(3) multiplier X .60 + MRHR = ( ) 60% of max heart rate
multiplier X .70 + MRHR = ( ) 70% of max heart rate
multiplier X .80 + MRHR = ( ) 80% of max heart rate

Mark is 40 years old and his MRHR is 58
220 – 40 = 180
180 – 58 = 122
122 X .60 = 73 + 58 = 131 (60% of max heart rate)
122 X .70 = 85 + 58 = 143 (70% of max heart rate)
122 X .80 = 98 + 58 = 156 (80% of max heart rate)
Note: max heart rate = 180

Key Target Zones:

60% - 70% Good for weight loss and building endurance, energy
70% - 80% Good for weight loss and improving cardiovascular fitness
80% + Good for weight loss and interval workouts