How do I Determine My Target Heart Rate?
Figuring out your target heart rate during exercise is probably one of the most important things you can do as a beginner or intermediate workout participant. There are many different methods to measure your current heart rate during exercise.
Methods to Calculate Heart Rate
1. Hand Grips from a treadmill, bike, elliptical or other type of cardio machine. To calculate your target heart rate on one of these machines simply gasp the metal sensors on the machine while exercising and it will tell you your current heart rate.
2. Heart rate monitor these nifty devices can be worn on your wrist to constantly monitor your heart rate during exercise. They have recently made advances in this area and they now come without a chest strap! Myfit will be reviewing one of these soon.
3. Counting your pulses to count your heart rate you need to either count the number of beats in your wrist for 10 seconds or 15 seconds and multiply by 6 or 4 respectively. The 15 second count is considered to be more accurate as there is less chance for error.
Naturally Lower Heart Rate?
Some people have a lower heart rate than others. This can be due to many factors including:
Bigger veins/arteries to allow greater blood flow (efficient heart).
Stronger heart from either being more active or genetics
Determine your Maximum Heart Rate
To calculate your maximum heart rate:
220-AGE= MAXIMUM HEART RATE
ie. 220-28 (years of age)=198 bpm (beats per minute)
Determine your Target Heart Rate Calculator
This calculator can be used to determine your target heart rate for different types of goals. Sometimes you are focused on losing weight or increasing your VO2 max etc.
Other Target Heart Rate Links
Target Heart Rate Discussion