P90X is a popular series of videos that guides you through a diverse set of exercises with a goal of increased fitness, body composition change, and greater health. These videos incorporate elements of weight lifting, aerobics, martial arts, and yoga into a 90 day workout program. It makes use of principles of cross training and muscle confusion to prevent a plateau effect. Target heart rate, or your Target Zone, is the way you know if you are working hard enough to make the most of your workout time.
Finding Your Target Heart Rate
In order to have the greatest effectiveness and results from your work out plan, you need to be working at a level that is greater than your normal daily routine. At the same time, you don't want to be working out at a level of intensity that risks injury or demands too much recovery time to be able to stay on schedule. That area is referred to as the Target Zone. Everyone can determine his own Target Heart Rate Zone by using a formula that starts with your age.
Establishing Your Maximum Heart Rate
You will start by determining what is considered your Maximum Heart Rate, or MHR, which is found by subtracting your age from 220. So, a 20 year old would start with a MHR of 200 and a 50 year old would start with 170.
Determining Your Target Zone
Now that you have your maximum heart rate, a little math will help you find your Target Zone. If you want your workout to be of a moderate intensity, your heart rate should be between 50 and 70 percent of your MHR. That means for the 20 year old with a MHR of 200, the Target Zone for a moderate intensity workout should be between 100 and 140 beats per minute. That same intensity workout for the 50 year old would be between 85 and 119 beats per minute.
If you want to increase to a vigorous intensity workout, you should be in the 70 to 85 percent of MHR range. That means the 20 year old should be in the 140 to 170 beats per minute range and the 50 year old should be in the 119 to 145 range.
Checking Your Rate While Exercising
At any point in your workout, you can check to see if you are in the Target Zone by checking your pulse rate. To do that, either check your wrist pulse by placing the tips of the first two fingers of your hand on the other wrist, feeling for a pulse, and counting the rate. Start the count with zero and keep counting for one minute. Or, you can count for 30 seconds and multiply by two or count for 10 seconds and multiply by six.
Alternately, you can take your carotid artery pulse, which tends to be felt more easily, by taking those same first two fingers and placing them on the side of your neck, just below your jaw. Compare your pulse rate with your Target Zone for moderate or vigorous intensity and you can tell if you are not working hard enough and need to pick it up a bit, or if you are working too hard and need to ease off.
Target Heart Zone and P90X
Because the exercises in the P90X workout series include a broad range of forms and styles, frequently checking your pulse and making sure you are in the Target Zone is a great way to make each different workout produce similar gains. Whether you are doing the high cardio-vascular demands of the plyometrics workout or the slower paced YogaX, you want to be pushing to stay in that productive range.
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