Fitness From the Pro

Yesterday, we talked about what we have to do to get to the fat burning zone.  I mentioned a sustained cardiovascular workout for 60 minutes at your target heart rate.  In class when we stop to take our pulse, the question always comes up, “What is my target heart rate?”.  It is a very simple math equation.  My answer is always the same, it is 220-your age! The answer you will get is your MAXIMUM heart rate, a number you do not want to exceed.

Now, if you want to be more specific with a target heart rate range, there is more math involved.  Let’s use me as an example:

220-40 (my age)=180 I never want to go higher than 180 beats per minute (BPM).  If I want to find my range at 55% of my maximum heart rate.  The equation would be as follows:

.55 x 180=99 bpm So the lowest heart rate I’d want to maintain is at least 99 beats per minute.  The highest would not exceed 180 bpm.  But no one should maintain a maximum heart beat at 100% the entire time you are working out.  So there is another equation to find out the heart rate at 85% of maximum heart rate.  That equation is as follows:

.85 x 180=153 bpm This gives me a good target working heart rate range.

For a 40 year old person, my WORKING target heart rate range is between:

99bpm-153bpm! No matter what, I should NOT EXCEED my maximum heart rate range of 180bpm. Then you go into a different energy system and may start burning muscle for energy, and we don’t want to go there.

To keep things really simple, finding your max heart rate equation always is:  220-your age!

It is good to get a heart rate monitor to monitor your working target heart rate range!