You may have heard exercise recommendations with subjective terms such as "moderate" and "vigorous" intensity; but when it comes to making sure you're working hard enough to reach your fitness goals, it's important to measure your heart rate. Reaching optimal heart rate during exercise gets you into a fat-burning zone, and the number, measured in beats per minute, is specific to age.
Recommendations
Most health professionals recommend exercising at moderate intensity most days of the week, or at vigorous intensity three days per week. Moderate intensity exercise means getting your heart rate between 50 and 70 percent of maximum, and vigorous intensity means getting up to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate.
Calculations
Determine your personal maximum heart rate based on your age, and then calculate the optimal rate for exercise based on the percentages recommended for moderate and vigorous intensity levels. Maximum heart rate is approximately 220 bpm minus a person's age. For example, a 40-year-old person has a maximum heart rate of 180 bpm. That person's target heart rate for moderate intensity exercise would be from 90 to 126 bpm or between 126 and 153 bpm for vigorous activities.
Approach
Cardiovascular activity is the best way to increase your heart rate. Moderate intensity exercise includes brisk walking, water aerobics, doubles tennis and gardening. Vigorous intensity exercises include jogging, running, swimming laps, singles tennis and hiking. Use a heart rate monitor to measure your intensity during exercise, or assess your pulse using a stopwatch to determine beats per minute.
Considerations
Recent evidence shows that optimal heart rate during exercise should account for sex. Researchers from Northwestern University found that women should subtract their age from 206 rather than 220 to determine their maximum heart rate. These findings are significant because they potentially change the standards for how hard women need to work in order to reach an optimal heart rate zone.
References
- U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Target Heart Rate and Estimated Maximum Heart Rate; February 2011
- U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Measuring Physical Activity Intensity; February 2011
- The New York Times Health Blog: Recalibrated Formula Eases Women's Workouts; Tara Parker-Pope; July 2010
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