Your pulse, or heart rate, indicates how many times your heart beats each minute. What's normal varies from activity to activity and person to person, but you can assess your own healthy range during exercise by consistently monitoring your pulse and fatigue level. Proper pacing is an important aspect of getting fit because you want to challenge yourself without tiring too soon into your workout.
Your Maximum Pulse and Target Zone
Your maximum heart rate is the peak rate it can achieve during high-intensity exercise. One way to estimate your own maximum is to subtract your age from 220. You should never aim to exercise at this level because it would lead to quick burnout and potentially create heart and orthopedic risks. Rather, you would benefit most by working out within 50 to 85 percent of your maximum capacity. This range is called your target heart rate zone.
Intensity
Your heart rate will be in a different end of the target heart rate range when you change your exercise intensity. Normally, a moderate-intensity workout will cause you to be within 50 to 70 percent of your maximum, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For instance, if you're 50 years old, a moderately intense workout should cause your heart to beat between 85 and 119 beats per minute. If you pick up the intensity, your heart rate should be somewhere between 70 and 85 percent, or about 119 to 145 beats per minute. The amount of exercise you would need to do to consider a workout moderate versus high intensity depends on your fitness level, but generally a brisk walk or trekking up a hill could be considered moderately intense and running or playing football could be considered vigorously intense.
Normal Variations
The calculations for predicted maximum heart rate are based on averages, which means your maximum may be higher or lower than 220 minus your age. Certain medications or medical conditions such as heart disease could affect your pulse, or you may just be somewhere else on the scale due to your individual physiology. Your doctor would need to monitor a graded exercise test to fully assess your heart's potential.
Alternate Scale
If you and your doctor determine that your maximum heart rate doesn't fit within the realm of the standard equation, your doctor may recommend that you try a method other than target zone to monitor your workout's intensity. For example, you could use the rate of perceived exertion scale, which requires you to assess your exercise intensity with a number on a scale of 0 to 10.
References
- Cleveland Clinic: Your Pulse and Your Target Heart Rate
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Target Heart Rate and Estimated Maximum Heart Rate
- American Heart Association: Target Heart Rates
- NHS Choices: What Is Light, Moderate and Vigorous Exercise?
- Health Services at Columbia University: Exercising Beyond My Maximum Heart Rate: Is This Safe?
