This week we chatted about the importance of fitness trackers & metrics, now let’s dive deeper into one of the most common metrics: MAXIUM HEART RATE!
REMEMBER, Max Heart Rate is the maximum number of beats made by your heart in 1 minute of effort. Max Heart Rate tells us the upper limit of what your cardiovascular system can handle during physical activity. Whether you’re sweating or your muscles are sore and tired exercise intensity is also shown in your breathing and heart rate.
First: CALCULATE YOUR MAX HEART RATE
You can calculate your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220.
Ex: I’m 34yo (220-34=186)
My MAX HEART RATE: 186
This is the average maximum number of times your heart should beat per minute during exercise.
Two: Calculate your desired target heart rate zone — the level at which your heart is being exercised and conditioned
Moderate exercise intensity: 50% to about 70% of your maximum heart rate
Vigorous exercise intensity: 70% to about 85% of your maximum heart rate
Step 2 is typically used by performance athletes to help create a training program that allows room for improvements & recovery while actively training. So basically, if you’re an athlete you want to train often but you can’t always train up to 85% so understanding each percentile allows athletes to train but not over train.
My 3 favorite benefits of understanding Max Heart Rate & Target Heart Rate:
1. Ability to maximize workouts by exercising at the proper exercise intensity for personal health and fitness goals.
2. Easy to assess intensity & efforts because if you're not feeling any exertion or your heart rate is too low, pick up the pace.
3. Perfect Safety Gauge: If you're worried that you're pushing yourself too hard, trying a new boot camp and feel as if your heart rate is too high, check your heart rate & slow it down, go at a comfortable pace.
Sometimes knowing less is more, and when it comes to data & metrics you guys often confuse yourself with the deets. So, here’s a quick pro tip for anybody with or without a fitness tracker: GET YOUR HEART RATE!
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