OurChart's Bloggers
Our Favorite Sites
Tips?
thehookup@ourchart.com
Checking Your Heart...
August 11, 2008 - 11:33am — Leah Beckingham
When you are working out, to see if you are getting the most out of your cardio exercises, check your heart rate!
How to Check Your Heart Rate:
The easiest way is to take your index and middle fingers and place them on your carotid artery. To locate your carotid, place your fingers on your neck in the hollow between your windpipe and the large muscle in your neck. Gently feel your pulse and count the beats as you or a partner time 10 seconds. Multiply this number by six for your pulse.
When you are working out, you want to make sure you are burning optimal calories and working your cardio system at an optimal level.
To Find Your Optimal Heart Rate Maximum:
220 - your age in years = heart rate max
For instance, if you are 25 years old, your heart rate MAX would be 195.
Range:
When working out, you want to be between 60-85% of you heart rate max. Therefore, a 25-year-old would be working out with a heart rate between 117-165 beats per minute. Keep in mind that these numbers are a generalization; some people may be comfortable going a little higher as well.
When warming up, you want to be working at the beginning of this range and working up as your workout continues. To find out what heart rate to achieve and maintain during most of your training, you should first consider your goal.
Goal-Specific Training:
Fat Burn (Maintain/Reduce) Weight: 60-75% of your heart rate max. Fat supplies nearly 86% of total calories.
Aerobic Conditioning: 75-85% of your heart rate max. This improves cardio-respiratory endurance, which helps you become a better runner/swimmer/cyclist etc. This trains the body's tissues to use oxygen more efficiently.
Anaerobic Exercise: 85-90% of your heart rate max. This builds muscle. At this level, there is not enough oxygen and the muscles start using carbohydrates in the muscle for its energy. However, fat is burned indirectly as a result of other reactions resulting from the muscle-building process.
Keep in mind that we are always burning fat and the harder you work, the more overall calories you will burn!
Check out your heart rate during your next workout by using these ranges so that you can get the most out of every minute!
How to Check Your Heart Rate:
The easiest way is to take your index and middle fingers and place them on your carotid artery. To locate your carotid, place your fingers on your neck in the hollow between your windpipe and the large muscle in your neck. Gently feel your pulse and count the beats as you or a partner time 10 seconds. Multiply this number by six for your pulse.
When you are working out, you want to make sure you are burning optimal calories and working your cardio system at an optimal level.
To Find Your Optimal Heart Rate Maximum:
220 - your age in years = heart rate max
For instance, if you are 25 years old, your heart rate MAX would be 195.
Range:
When working out, you want to be between 60-85% of you heart rate max. Therefore, a 25-year-old would be working out with a heart rate between 117-165 beats per minute. Keep in mind that these numbers are a generalization; some people may be comfortable going a little higher as well.
When warming up, you want to be working at the beginning of this range and working up as your workout continues. To find out what heart rate to achieve and maintain during most of your training, you should first consider your goal.
Goal-Specific Training:
Fat Burn (Maintain/Reduce) Weight: 60-75% of your heart rate max. Fat supplies nearly 86% of total calories.
Aerobic Conditioning: 75-85% of your heart rate max. This improves cardio-respiratory endurance, which helps you become a better runner/swimmer/cyclist etc. This trains the body's tissues to use oxygen more efficiently.
Anaerobic Exercise: 85-90% of your heart rate max. This builds muscle. At this level, there is not enough oxygen and the muscles start using carbohydrates in the muscle for its energy. However, fat is burned indirectly as a result of other reactions resulting from the muscle-building process.
Keep in mind that we are always burning fat and the harder you work, the more overall calories you will burn!
Check out your heart rate during your next workout by using these ranges so that you can get the most out of every minute!
- Leah Beckingham's blog
- Login or register to post comments
- Share
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
YahooTagged As
Recent comments
- .:Queen~Mama:. lol yeah uhem yeah the most embarrassing thing ..haha great im glad you liked it yeah i was and thanks for the...
- Hi NicoleAkaNikkita Just wanted to say hi and welcome to OC. Sorry it took me awhile to figure out who Queen Mama was (you, ...
- I love that scene too. :) It's just one of many fairy-tale moments on the show. Like Tina and Bette getting back together ...
- Nah, I just used to be really idealistic abt pp (and when I say pp - I mean my family LOL) changing their views but yeah, ...
- That's beautiful... Children see everything. And can interpret things so purely, it's just amazing. Love is love...
3 Comments
AL...Walmart baby
So aside from checking your pulse manually.....I am a superfreak about the blood pressure monitors at the drugstore or walmart....they give you your blood pressure and your resting HR. You can also find fitness info on the bed to gauge exactly where you should be at considering your age, weight, and level of fitness. OR, splurge and go see a doc or physical trainer...they can take your BMI with calipers and do all sorts of nifty things....GO get em tiger
Resting heart rate
Resting heart rate and recovery rate are good ways to check your fitness.
Resting heart rate is just that - lying down completely relaxed what is your heart rate. Mine is decent 56, I have a friend that has a resting heart rate of 45 (yes - a girl) very fit guys are lower. Some are clocked at 25 whoa. This means that your heart doesn't beat as often as non-fit people because the stroke is strong and pumps more blood with fewer strokes. 25 blows me away.
Recovery time is the time it takes you to recover from a sprint. If your doing intervals say quarters - how fast do you recover. Say you run a quarter then jog a quarter as you get fitter and fitter you don't need the whole quarter to recover - you can feel yourself getting fitter.
I'm sure there's some formula somewhere that gives you all kinds of data.
btfan2
how do i check my cardio fitness?
how do i find out how fit i am?
for example - i do a lot of interval training, including running, spin classes, and group fitness classes. is there a way i can check my heart rate to tell me where my cardio fitness is at?