Your optimal heart rate is a calculation that enables you to work out at the proper intensity level to maximize the benefits of aerobic exercise. To calculate your optimal heart rate, it is first necessary to determine your resting heart rate. The next step is to calculate your maximum heart rate during exercise. By working out at 75 percent to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate, you will be training at your optimal heart rate.
Resting Heart Rate
Your resting heart rate is best calculated in the morning after a good night's sleep while still in bed, according to the American Heart Association. A normal resting heart beat is in the 60 to 80 beats per minute range. As people age, the rate tends to rise. People who are more fit usually will have lower resting heart rates.
Other Factors
According to Dr. Edward Laskowski, a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist at the Mayo Clinic, the lower your heart resting heart rate, the more efficiently your heart is functioning and the better cardiovascular fitness you possess. Factors that can affect your resting heart rate, in addition to your fitness level, include the air temperature when you count your pulse beats per minute, whether you are lying down or standing up, your emotional state, your body size, and your medications. Resting heart rates above 100 are called tachycardia, and rates under 40 are called bradycardia. Those conditions, plus symptoms such as fainting, dizziness, and shortness of breath, should be investigated by your doctor.
Maximum Heart Rate
Your maximum heart rate during exercise is determined by subtracting your age from 220. You never want to work out at 100 percent of your maximum heart rate, because you cross over into the anaerobic threshold. As Body Building.com explains, the body can't meet the demand for oxygen at that level of maximum exertion. If you go over 100 percent of your maximum heart rate, your body will hyperventilate due to a build up of lactic acid, and all the normal benefits of vigorous exercise will be lost.
Optimal Heart Rate
Your optimal heart rate, often described as being the "the zone" or as "the target rate," is to work out at 75 percent to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate. This is easily calculated by taking your maximum heart rate, 220 minus your age, and multiply it by 0.75 to 0.85. That's your target rate or zone to stay in when you do any kind of aerobic exercise, according to bodybuilding.com.
Calculating When Exercising
As Body Building.com explains, if you don't want to stop to take your pulse rate while exercising, you can use an easy method to figure out if you are in the zone. On a scale of 1 to10, with 1 being "Very, very easy" and 10 being "Very, very hard," decide which level best describes how you feel when you are at 75 percent to 95 percent of your maximum heart rate. Then, in the future, you will know when you are at your optimal heart rate when you feel yourself exercising at roughly that same intensity.
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