Many people check their heart rate during workouts to determine if the exercise is intense enough to achieve their fitness goals. Once you know what target heart rate you need to achieve, you can change the speed or incline of your exercise to ensure your workout is challenging enough. If you use an exercise machine, ask a personal trainer or consult the manual to create workouts that vary speed and incline periodically.
Function
When you increase the difficulty of exercise, your muscles work harder, and your heart must beat faster to meet the elevated need for oxygen. If you have a standalone heart monitor or an exercise machine with heart monitor sensors, you can adjust the intensity of your workout to keep your heart rate within the target range, maximizing the fitness benefits of your exercise.
Effects
One way to increase your heart rate is to increase your speed. For example, running, swimming or pedaling faster will increase the oxygen needs of your muscles and raise your heart rate. Increasing the incline on which you exercise also increases your heart rate because your body has to work harder to push itself upward. For example, you can run or bicycle uphill to make your jogging more rigorous. Inside the gym, increase the speed and incline on treadmills, elliptical trainers or other exercise machines to make your workouts more difficult.
Expert Insight
If you are a healthy adult, your target heart rate range is 50 percent to 80 percent of your maximum heart rate, which you can find by subtracting your age from 220. Another option is to use an online calculator. Use your result to keep track of the intensity of your exercise regimen. Increase the speed or incline until you hit your target heart rate, then keep the speed and incline consistent to stay in that range. Typically, people who are out of shape should stay near the lower end of the range, and people who are fit should aim for the upper end. If you are unsure, ask your doctor what your target heart rate should be.
Interval Training
One effective method of increasing the intensity of your exercise is interval training. Exercise for a short period of time at a steady, normal pace. Once your body is warmed up, increase the speed and the incline so that you exercise hard for a while. Continue alternating periods of low-intensity exercise with periods of increased speed and incline. This type of workout challenges your muscles, leading to greater fitness gains. It also works well for those who wish to lose weight because it burns many calories.
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