Does your heart rate matter when you workout?

Women know they SHOULD exercise and many of you ARE walking daily. Fantastic! You are doing great! But, how do you know if what your doing its making a difference in your health and getting an adequate workout for your heart? By being aware of your heart rate training! I have begun my TREAD AND SHRED classes at Amarillo College and loving working with these ladies on heart health. They have learned about the resting heart rate, their endurance "working' heart rate as well as how to get a training effect on the heart and muscles with adequate recovery as well. We use the heart rate monitors built into the treadmills and elipitcals to keep track.

There are many health trackers like apple watches, fitbits and more which track many things about your health. There are apps to track your food intake, your calories, steps and even how hard your heart is beating. But just HOW hard should you be working according to your age and fitness level.

By knowing your TARGET HEART RATE.

Before you learn how to calcuate those numbers, you must now your RESTING heart rate. Your resting heart rate is how many beats per minute you can count for one minute.

Average can be anywhere from 45-90 . Its best to check early in the morning right after getting up and recomned you take it at least 3 mornings to take an average.

How to find it:

Trace 2 fingers down your left jawbone about 2 inches from your ear. Press in under the jaw bone and feel your pulse. Count how many beats you get for 60 seconds. Write that down. When you exercise, you want to maintain a steady pulse between 50-85% of that number. Chart below to help

THEN

Subtract your age from the number 220

Example if you are 60 220-60 = 160

That is your MAXIMUM heart rate is 160

When doing endurance training ( long slow walks ) or HITT training (intervals of higher heart rates followed by recovery slow heartrates) you do need to be aware of what your goals are . If doing HITT training , your heart rate is that high for 10-20 seconds followed by recover of 10 seconds or more, repeating that interval anywhere for 4-8 times. Be SURE you have 24 hours minimim recovery after doing HITT training.

If you want to be more specific and know exact numbers for YOU, try usling this calculation. You will need to know your resting heart rate before plugging into this done for your calculataion.

http://www.briancalkins.com/HeartRate.htm

Again, For endurance training or long walks its best to stay in your 60-70 percent zone. For HIIT training ( high intensity interval training) you can alternate between your higher zones for a short period like 20 seconds followed by an active rest period of the same or longer.

I would love to have you in one of my upcoming classes that I offer in Amarillo Texas at the brand new Amarillo College fitness facility. Its a FUN crew of women ages 39-72!

Message me for questions at Suzi@live-well-fit.com

Class listings here : Cost is $20 for a class membership to AC then only $10 for entire month of classes!!

https://www.live-well-fit.com/about-1