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Find Your Heart Rates Do you know how to find your pulse? Take two fingers - your index and middle fingers - and place them across your other wrist (the radial artery), or the front side of your neck so you can feel your pulse (your carotid artery). You can also use a heart rate monitor, if you have one. Now, count the number of beats you feel while at rest for fifteen seconds. Multiply that number by four (or just count for a full minute). This is your resting heart rate. Normal resting heart rates range from 40 to 100. Ideally, you want to be between 45 and 80 beats per minute. Generally, the better your cardiovascular shape, the lower your heart rate. Mine is 50 beats per minute because I get a lot of aerobic activity. Before I started working out, when I was 340 pounds, it was over 100 beats per minute. According to the American Heart Association, the average resting heart rate for a man is 70. Average for a woman is 75. Then again, those averages are based on the "average" American - who isn't in that good of shape. Now that you know what your resting heart rate is, you can calculate your maximum heart rate. You can calculate it by totally beating yourself up with an all-out, fast-as-you-can-run-til-you-drop workout... or... you can just estimate it using the following calculation: To estimate your maximum heart rate, subtract your age from 220. This number should be within 15 or so beats per minute of your actual max heart rate, but it doesn't take your physical condition into consideration. It's usually a "good enough" estimate. In my case (I'm 32) my max heart rate should be 188. Now, since my heart is in pretty good shape and my max heart rate should in reality probably be somewhere around 175. OK, now that you know your max heart rate, you can calculate the intensity of your workouts. When you're just starting out, as a beginner, you want to try to keep your daily cardio workout in the 50% to 65% of max heart rate zone... so if your max heart rate is 175, you want to keep your heart rate between 88 and 113 beats per minute. Obviously the more intense your workout, the faster your heart will beat. This is the fat-burning zone. Anything slower, and you're not maximizing your time exercising. Anything faster and you might be beating yourself up too much. Now, you can go out and buy one of those heart rate monitors if you like. They strap on to your arm or leg and let you know how you're doing. Some exercise machines (treadmills, stationary bikes) come with heart monitors. Now, as you progress and your heart and lungs become stronger you will notice that your resting heart rate drops. This means your max heart rate will also drop... so you should keep an eye on this. As you progress with your workouts, you may find that you feel best keeping your heart rate between 70% and 80% of your max. That's OK. The faster you run, jog, swim, etc., the more calories you'll burn. Just remember to take it easy when you're starting out - and don't try to increase your workouts by more than a little bit each week. Vary either your duration or your intensity. If you run for 30 minutes at 60% max this week, try 35 minutes at 60% next week, or go 30 minutes at 65% max. A big myth in the weight-loss business is that you burn more calories with slower exercises over long periods of time. This is not true. A slow jog at 40% max heart rate intensity for an hour may burn the same amount of calories as a fast run at 80% intensity for only 20 minutes. A sprint around your block may burn the same amount of calories as a leisurely walk down the beach... for an hour. Calories burned is a measure of intensity x time. That's it. Personally, I prefer a mixed cardio session. I like to jog lightly at first, then once I'm warmed up, I sprint for 20 to 50 yards. Then, I cool down by jogging again for a minute or two. Then, sprint again. This builds up both endurance and speed, while burning a good amount of calories for the time I spend running. |
