Boosting your heart rate during exercise strengthens the organ, making it more efficient for pumping the oxygen and fuel your body needs to function. It's a delicate balance, however. If you don't boost your heart rate enough, your exercise does little to strengthen your heart. Speed it up it too much, and you'll wear out too quickly and possibly injure yourself.
Identification
As your heart beats more rapidly during exercise, it has a maximum rate at which it can beat and still function normally. This maximum heart rate differs from person to person, depending on factors such as age, gender and fitness level. It also is the benchmark through which you can determine your target heart rate during cardiovascular exercise. The President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports suggests aiming for 70 percent of your maximum heart rate during cardiovascular exercise. Depending on your health and exercise needs, your target heart rate might range between 50 percent and 85 percent of your maximum heart rate.
Measurement
Doctors can most accurately determine your maximum heart rate through a stress test, but you can estimate it yourself by subtracting your age from 220. If you're 39, for example, your maximum heart rate should be about 181 beats per minute. You can then estimate your target heart rate during cardiovascular exercise by multiplying that estimated maximum heart rate by your desired percentage. Under the president's council's recommendations, for instance, a 39-year-old should aim for a heart rate of about 127 bpm. For a more intense cardiovascular workout, the 39-year-old should aim for a heart rate of about 153 bpm.
Considerations
If you're beginning an exercise program, the American Heart Association, or AHA, recommends keeping your heart rate in the lower range of your target zone -- about 50 percent of your maximum heart rate -- for the first few weeks. From there, you should gradually build up. Pushing yourself close to your maximum heart rate is not necessarily dangerous, but it can wear you out quickly and increase your risk of injury, according to the Cleveland Clinic. The maximum heart rate formula provides a rough estimate. In particular, it might be lower if you have a heart condition or are taking any sort of heart medications.
Alternatives
Your heart rate is an excellent guideline for exercise intensity, but you also should listen to your body. The AHA suggests trying to talk and sing during exercise. Effective cardiovascular exercise should be intense enough that it's difficult to sing while doing it but not so intense that it's difficult to talk or catch your breath. Additionally, fitness specialist Mike Boggs of Providence Fitness Services suggests rating your exercise on a scale from 6 to 20, with 6 representing your feelings at rest and 20 being the most strenuous exercise you can bear. Cardiovascular exercise should be in the middle of that range: hard, but not so difficult that it saps your energy quickly.
References
- U.S. President's Council on Exercise and Physical Fitness: Guidelines for Personal Exercise Programs
- American Heart Association: Target Heart Rates
- Purdue University: Target Heart Rate Zone Training
- Cleveland Clinic: Pulse and Target Heart Rate
- Providence Health & Services: Exercising at the Right Intensity
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