Target Heart Rate

As I've said before, I'm a visual kind of gal. When I'm working out, I want to know how hard I'm working and how many calories I've burnt....I guess the burning muscles and sweat-soaked attire aren't enough "proof" that I'm working hard for me!

As a solution, I invested in a Polar heart rate monitor. I love it. It tells me my heart rate, calories burnt, time lapse, THE TIME, is water (and sweat) resistant, and keeps a running log of my previous results. When I first got my monitor, I was like a kid on Christmas. After reading through the technical manual though, I realized that I didn't really know WHY I needed to know about anything other than how many calories I was burning. I started to research heart rates; why they're important, the ideal HR for optimum calorie burning (fat burning vs. muscle building), and what my average HR should be. Basically, how and why does my heart rate effect the outcome of my exercise?

Did you know that there are 2 types of calories that are burnt when working out? According to the American Heart Association, the energy spent on calories burnt during exercise affects 2 areas: Building muscle and burning fat. Lower intensity workouts (maintained at 60 - 65% of you max HR) spend 50% of the total calories burnt on dissolving fat, and the other 50% on building muscle, however less calories are burnt in total. Higher intensity workouts (maintained at 80 - 85% of you max HR) spend 30% of the total calories burnt on dissolving fat, and the other 70% on building muscle, however more calories are burnt. Your Max HR is the highest BPM that your heart can beat to maintain safety and health, and can can be found by subtracting your age from 220.

Confused yet? Let me see if I can clarify...

Your body is a machine and burns fuel (calories) as it works. The "average" 35 year old 135 pound 5' 6" woman burns around 1500 calories every day just by existing. Muscles are very high maintenance, and require more calories to maintain. The more muscular you are, the more calories you naturally burn at rest. When you're inactive for a long period of time, you muscles are the first thing to depleat, thus burning less calories which are turned into fat.

Determining you target heart rate is specific to YOUR main goal...do you exercise to become toned and trim, or because you need to lose fat? If you exercise to maintain your weight, tone, or trim, your THR (target heart rate) will be in the 80 - 85% zone of your MAXIMUM heart rate. If you exercise to lose weight, your THR should be in the 60 - 65% zone of your MHR.

Formula to determine upper & lower limits of TARGET HEART RATE:

MAX HR (220 -age) - Resting HR (take your pulse for 60 seconds)

(Sum * .65) + RHR = Target for Low Intensity THR (aka "fat burning zone")
(Sum * .85) + RHR = Target for High Intensity THR (aka muscle building zone)

Example of my THR:

(220 - 31) - 65 = 124

(124* .65) + 65 = 145
(124*.85) + 65 = 170

Therefore, my THR is 145 - 170, depending on my main goal.

I hope this was helpful and not too confusing!!

Until Tomorrow!

Keep healthy, keep safe and keep going!

Have an awesome day!

♥Fit~NOW~Girl♥