August 31, 2015
Target Heart Rate: What is a Healthy Heart Rate? What is your heart rate? • Your heart rate is the speed of which your heart is beating and pushing blood out to the rest of the body. • Your resting heart rate, inactive for 10 minutes or more, should be between 60-100 beats per minute. - If your resting heart rate is over 100 beats per minute, you should consider starting a physical activity program.
How to find your heart rate?
Fast Facts
• Two main places - Neck – midway between your ear lobe and chin. This is called the carotid pulse. - Inside wrist – closer to your thumb. This is called your radial pulse.
• Your carotid pulse is the most accurate spot to take your heart rate because it is closest to your heart.
What is your max heart rate? • Max heart rate is the speed of which your heart can beat safely when inducing stress upon it. • Your max heart rate is used to determine how hard you are working.
What should your heart rate be while exercising? • Depending on your health, you want to begin an exercise program slowly and work up to getting your heart rate around 50-65% of your max heart rate. • When working at 50-65% of your max heart rate, you are in an endurance and fat burning zone. • This is a good rate to work at if you are trying to lose weight or trying to build up your endurance. • As you become more conditioned, you should slowly increase the percent you are working at. • As you increase the percentage of your heart rate max, you are also increasing the benefits you will get out of exercise.
• Calculate your max heart rate! Max Heart Rate = 220 – (your age) • When you work at 60-80% of your max heart rate, you are receiving the most benefits for your heart and lungs. • In under a minute, your heart can pump blood to every cell in your body.
Raising Your Heart Rate Slowly: Quickly raising your heart rate from its resting state to one that nears its maximum capacity is not an effective way to begin a workout. This is because your body's other systems (including blood pressure, circulation and muscle flexibility) have not had time to adjust to this rapid change in metabolism. The Mayo Clinic states that it’s best to slowly elevate the heart rate before intense workouts and to gradually lower it again after exercising. Simple body movements at low intensity, which are then raised to moderate levels of work, are easy and safe to do.
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