Taking the time to track your heart rate when you walk helps you monitor your fitness progress. Your heart rate is a valuable fitness tool that can help you monitor your pace and help you estimate the number of calories you burn. A reading of 115 during a walking session is a good pace for most people, but your own target heart rate depends on your age and fitness level.
Target Heart Rate
Subtract your age from 220 if you're a man or 226 if you're a woman to find your maximum heart rate. Always keep your heart rate below this number when you work out, or you risk a coronary event. For most people, keeping your heart rate between 60 and 80 percent of your max is a good exercise goal. This ensures that you are working hard enough to burn fat and overall calories but not so hard that you risk an injury. The actual numbers depend on your age.
Warm Up
The first five to 10 minutes of every session should be your warmup, where you maintain a comfortable pace to allow your heart rate to climb gradually while your muscles wake up and your joints become lubricated. The best warmup range is between 50 and 60 percent of your max. For example, a 25-year-old woman with a heart rate of 115 is working within her warmup zone at 57 percent, but a 60-year-old man with a 115 reading is well outside the zone at 72 percent and should slow down for now.
Main Exercise
Once you're warmed up, you can gradually increase your speed to within 60 to 80 percent of your max. If you are doing a steady-pace session, 70 percent of your max is considered vigorous. If you are doing intervals, gradually work your way up to 80 percent during the fast intervals and 60 percent during the recovery periods. The 60-year old man with a heart rate of 115 is in the endurance zone, where his body learns how to sustain a moderate speed for longer periods of time. If he were to speed up until he reached a heart rate of 128, he would be in the performance zone, where he would improve his body's use of oxygen. For 115 to be a performance zone heart rate, the person walking would have to be a 77-year-old man or an 83-year-old woman.
Cool Down
The last five to 10 minutes of every exercise session should be your cool down, or the reverse of the warmup. This where you return to your comfortable pace to allow your heart rate to gradually slow and your body to cool off. The 25-year-old woman may spend most of her cool down at 115, but even she should eventually slow down even more. When your heart rate returns to resting, which is the rate of your pulse when you've been sitting still for 10 minutes, you know your body has recovered from the exercise session.
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