Your heart rate is an excellent guide for assessing the intensity of workouts that involve sustained effort such as running, walking or cycling. You'll need just a few simple calculations to compute the target workout heart rate appropriate to the level of exercise intensity you want to achieve. A target heart rate is always a range, or zone. For example, your target zone might be 120 to 140 beats per minute.
Step 1
Estimate your maximum heart rate, or MHR. Maximum heart rate is the number of times each minute your heart beats when you are putting forth an all-out effort. You can estimate MHR by subtracting your age from 220 if you are male or 226 if you are female, according to the Walking Site. You can obtain a precise determination of MHR by taking a medically supervised treadmill stress test. However, this isn't really necessary for adequately computing workout heart rates.
Step 2
Multiply your MHR by 50 percent and by 60 percent. For example, if your MHR is 190, multiply 190 by 0.5 to get 95, and multiply 190 by 0.6 to get 114. This sets a target workout heart rate range of 95 to 114 beats per minute. The 50 percent to 60 percent level is about right if you are just starting an exercise program, according to the American Heart Association. This is also a good range for warming up to prepare for workouts after you gain a measure of physical fitness.
Step 3
Compute other workout heart rate ranges best suited to the purpose of the workout. For weight loss or maintenance, multiply MHR by 60 percent and 70 percent to find the lower and upper ends of the target heart rate zone. If you want to train for an athletic event such as a marathon, multiply MHR by 70 percent and 80 percent. For high performance workouts, you want 80 percent to 90 percent. This level of intensity would be appropriate for something like sprint training, but can't be sustained for long periods. For this type of workout, you'll exercise in a series of short bursts of effort with recovery time between each burst.
Step 4
Compute your actual workout heart rate to determine whether you are exercising hard enough to be in the desired heart rate range. If you don't have a heart rate monitor, use a watch. Count your heartbeats for 15 seconds and multiply the total by four. The result is your actual heart rate.
Tips and Warnings
- If you have medical issues such as heart disease or a recent injury, consult your doctor before starting an exercise program. While you will almost certainly benefit from exercise, you may need to modify workouts for reasons of safety.
Things You'll Need
- Heart rate monitor
- Watch
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