HEART RATE
WHAT IS IT?
WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF HEART RATE AND FITNESS.
Medical | Research | Session
If we are an athlete, sports person, a fitness freak or a recreational runner, our aim should be to achieve a healthy heart rate as per our age and current fitness level.
In order to improve our heart health, we must focus on improving our fitness with a STRUCTURED WORKOUT format.
Workout format for all Genre of Fitness Training:
1. Cardio
2. Strength workouts
3. Stretching or yoga.
Why does a runner or a cyclist need strength workouts and yoga?
So that they do not end up loosing muscle mass and therefore avoid injuries or joint issues.
How do I determine my TARGET HEART RATE ?
(explained more in details towards the end)
You can calculate your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220. For example, if you're 45 years old, subtract 45 from 220 to get a maximum heart rate of 175. This is the average maximum number of times your heart should beat per minute during exercise.
Target heart rate is generally expressed as a percentage (usually between 50 percent and 85 percent) of your maximum safe heart rate. The maximum rate is based on your age, as subtracted from 220. So for a 50-year-old, maximum heart rate is 220 minus 50, or 170 beats per minute.
It is recommended that you exercise within 55 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate for at least 20 to 30 minutes to get the best results from aerobic exercise. The MHR (roughly calculated as 220 minus your age) is the upper limit of what your cardiovascular system can handle during physical activity.
Resting Heart Rate :
What Is a Normal Heart Rate?
What's normal depends on your age and activity level, but generally a resting heart rate of 60-80 beats per minute (BPM) is considered to be in the normal range.
If you are an athlete, a normal resting heart rate can be as low as 40 BPM.
Why a Low Resting Heart Rate is a Sign of GOOD Fitness?
Your physical fitness is directly correlated to the strength of your heart. When your heart is in better condition and doesn't need to work as hard to push blood throughout the body and deliver oxygen to your muscles, your fitness improves.
One must workout at 70 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate during vigorous activity. This is known as your target heart rate. A moderate heart rate falls between 50 and 70 percent of your maximum heart rate.
How & when to check your RESTING HR?
Best time to check your Resting HR is first thing in the morning immediately after you wake up.
If you have a heart rate tracker, it will help you check it with 2 fingers on your pulse.
During the day : do check it after you relax and rest at a place for 20-25 minutes.
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VO2 Max. - Understand it :
The best indicator of your CARDIORESPIRATORY fitness
The Primary indicator of your Fitness Level / Fitness Age is your VO2 Max, that is the maximal oxygen up-taking capacity of your body.
Anaerobic training and Structured workouts explained here is the key to enhance and maintain a good VO2 Max.
VO2Max is important to determine the functioning of heart, lungs and skeletal muscles ( that is the peripheral muscles) with the maximum effort in fitness training.
A high VO2 Max means your heart can supply more oxygen to the body organs and muscles in that particular time.
How do you calculate VO2 Max on a treadmill?
The general formula to calculate VO2 Max, you need to input the resting HR and Max HR.
(Maximum HR / Resting HR ) X 15.3 mL / bodyweight / min
BUY A HEART MONITORING DEVICE – A SPORTS WATCH OR HEART TRACKER.
Or start monitoring your breath when you run.
If you are finding it difficult to breathe or talk to someone while running, you must slow down or take walk breaks.
Heart rate monitoring should be through out the session. Learning to listening to heart, be it any activity, running, HIIT, swimming or cycling – is extremely tricky and important.
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How do I define my Fitness Age with a healthy Heart Strength?
Fitness Age is a concept, that we must understand and focus on as the core for our training.
Focus to achieve your fitness age as lower than your actual age.
Structured workout with adding anaerobic training along with frequent rest periods will help you achieve a healthy fitness age.
Because of the increase in the usage of cycling and recreational running in our society and surroundings, we are obsessed with the pace or mileage achieved with cycling or running.
Fitness age is not managed by covering more mileage. Its directly proportionate to your Heart Health. And you achieve a good heart health with regular Structured workouts.
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How to Lower the Resting Heart Rate ?
Lowering the Resting Heart Rate is an important aspect to manage a Healthy Heart.
And how can we do that?
Step 1 : Regular workouts:
The easiest and most effective way to achieve a lasting lower heart rate is to do regular exercise.
read it, its not more but regular and structured workouts with regular resting and cross training sessions.
A Structured workouts has a balanced focus on Cardio, Strength workouts and yoga.
Step - 2 : Hydration : Avoid dehydration during the workout and during the day too.
When the body is dehydrated, the heart has to work harder to stabilise blood flow.
Throughout the day, drink plenty of sugar- and caffeine-free beverages, such as water and herbal tea.
During the workout, make a pattern to have 1,3 sip after every 10-15 min.
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ANAEROBIC INTERVAL TRAINING / HIIT (HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING) :
what is that and how does it improves our heart strength?
Anaerobic interval / HIIT workouts = train our heart in minimum supply of oxygen = improved VO2Max = improved Heart Health
High Intensity Interval Training is the key to improve our fitness levels and at the same time it helps build up the muscle mass also.
HIIT / Interval training :
1. Sprinting
2. Stairs running
3. Interval Brisk walking
4. On spot anaerobic workouts : burpees, mount climbers, jump squats, jump lunges, skipping – where we challenge our heart rate for a short duration.
Anaerobic Interval Training / HIIT format can be :
30 sec to 1 min
1-5 min break
repeat 5-10 times.
Here we train our heart to get strong and at the same time giving regular recover period also.
Pointing out few examples of ANAEROBIC – HIIT again :
Sprinting
Bodyweight workouts – high intensity done with minimum rest periods – jump squats, jump lunges, spot fast jog, burpees, mountain climber, stairs running etc.
Do these workouts and then you will notice a sharp increase in your heart rate while training.
This is where you are training your heart to perform in a lower supply of oxygen and in turn improving your VO2 Max.
HIIT = increase in heart rate = lower supply of oxygen = increase in Vo2Max = improved fitness age = improved heart rate.
A Good Vo2 Max shows that your heart health is strong and heart is oxygenating the blood and muscles more effectively.
HEART ZONE –
As per our age, there are various zones defined for our training.
ZONE 1 – WARM UP
ZONE 2 – WARM UP
ZONE 3 – AEROBIC ZONE
ZONE 4 – AEROBIC ZONE
ZONE 5 – ANAEROBIC ZONE
Our focus should be to remain within Zone 4 while training.
We can reach till zone 5 while doing Anaerobic Training.
Focus should be to achieve an average heart rate as per our age.
Focus should be to achieve as low resting HR as 50-60.
Calculation or YOUR MAXIMUM HR :
70 to 80 % of (220-your age )
try to be within this zone while running or cycling or working out.
In running, gradually your pace will improve by staying within this HR Zone.
In a 1 hour workout / run, the heart rate should be managed as :
1. Warm up and cool down – 50-60 % of your range – it should be 5 min each.
2. Sustainable pace – 60-70% of your range – it should be 30 min. you can do a combination of run and walk or a very easy mode run or easy mode workout.
3. A little high 70-80 % - for 10 min.
4. And in extreme Anaerobic mode – 80 % and high – for 2 min.
EXAMPLE:
Suppose you are running at your favourite and target pace of 5 or 6 or 7.
You have successfully achieved that.
But your HR was above your prescribed HR.
Here, you may have achieved your desired Pace, but your Heart Rate was not what it should have been.
So work reverse. Start running within your HR zone and then try to understand now what your pace is.
FAT BURNING ZONE :
OTHER BENEFITS OF HIGH HEART RATE OR HIIT TRAINING :
Fat Burning Theory says that you must workout as HIIT and remain in 70-80% of your max Heart Rate.
Aerobic metabolism produces the most energy and can use the widest range of fuels, such as sugars, fats, and even proteins.
When you do so, your body looks to get energy from the Fat stored in the body, instead of the Glycogen stores.Body burns more body fat when your heart rate is high. But that doesn’t mean that one should start training endurance activity on higher heart rate
High heart rate should be maintained for a short duration supported by recover period.
How to Find the INTENSITY / MHR Zone OF YOUR WORKOUT?
- Few HR BASED POINTERS as per my experience and study :How to Find the INTENSITY OF YOUR WORKOUT?1. If you are SEDENTARY, with NO ACTIVITY. 57% to 67% of your MHR.2. MINIMUM ACTIVITY ZONE. 64% to 74% of your MHR.3. If you workout sporadically. 74% to 84% of your MHR.4. If you workout regularly. 80% to 91% of your MHR.5. If you train @ high Intensity. 84% to 94% of your MHR.
Your Max HR is not an indicator of your FITNESS LEVELS.
How do you judge a sustainable and high pace when you don’t have any HR instrument?
Sustainable pace : You are capable to talking with someone.
High Pace : You get breathless or find it difficult to talk.
Latika Goel
Practising Psychologist & Lifestyle Trainer
Founder of Fitness World LetzBFIT with Latika
Author of a Book on Strength Fitness
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