To get the most out of aerobic exercise workouts, you must push your body hard enough and long enough to reach your target heart rate. There is no set number for a minimum target heart rate, as it is affected by personal factors. In addition, a target heart rate is more of a range in which to land, rather than a single number. You also have a maximum heart rate, and accelerating your pulse to this rate quickly leads to exhaustion.
Warning
Before learning to compute your target heart rate, consult your primary care physician. While there is a formula that provides a general idea of what your minimum and maximum heart rates are, any number of personal health factors influence exactly what you can safely do during a workout. Your doctor will advise you on beginning a workout regimen and gradually increasing the duration and how strenuously you exercise. Your doctor will also give you specifics as to where in your target heart rate zone you can work up to.
Determining Your Target Heart Rate
The first step to determining your target heart rate is finding your estimated maximum heart rate. This is done with a simple equation: 220 minus your age in years. Therefore, a 20-year-old has a maximum heart rate of 200 beats per minute, while a 50-year-old has a maximum heart rate of 170 beats per minute.
Your minimum target heart rate is 50 percent of your maximum heart rate, and the upper end of your target heart rate is 85 percent of the maximum value, as explained by the American Heart Association. So, a 20-year-old's target heart rate is between 100 and 170 beats per minute, while a 50-year-old's is between 85 and 145 beats per minute.
Minimums Change
The low end of your target heart rate zone is not necessarily the minimum rate you need to hit to have an effective cardiovascular workout. In the beginning, the two are probably about the same. However, the more fit you are, the higher into your target heart rate zone you must climb to truly benefit from your exercise regimen. Professional athletes in peak physical condition cannot just work up to the low end of their target heart rate zone and derive any real benefit from the routine. For such fit people, the high end of their target heart rate zone is in fact the minimum rate at which they get the most from their workouts. Again, your doctor is the only one who can tell you exactly what your minimum target heart rate is.
Finding Your Heart Rate
To check how you are doing during your workouts in respect to your minimum target heart rate, find your pulse periodically during the exercise. To do so, stop the routine; as the University of Iowa cautions, finding your heart rate while in motion is not accurate. While stopped, locate your pulse on your wrist or throat. Count off the beats for 10 seconds, using a watch for best results. This number multiplied by six gives you the number of heartbeats per minute. Compare this rate to what your doctor advised you to achieve. If it is too low, you are not yet pushing yourself hard enough; if it is too high, you are pushing yourself too hard and should stop for the time being.
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