Hooray! You are here because you want to exercise your heart! After all, your heart is your most important muscle. And if you are exercising, you may as well get the most out of it - right? Here are your rules of thumb for exercising at the optimal heart rate (HR).
1) Calculate your max HR by subtracting your age from 220. This is an estimate. Your actual max heart rate can be off by 15 to 20 beats in either direction. But this is a good place to start. For example, if you are 45 years old, your max heart rate is 220-45 = 175 beats per min (bpm).
2) Decide your heart rate target for your exercise session.
Moderate exercise is about 50% - 70% of your max heart rate
Vigorous exercise is about 70% - 85% of your max heart rate
The recommended minimum of exercise per week is:
2.5 hours of moderate intensity OR
75 minutes of vigorous intensity
Are you getting in your quota?
By the way, what you do in the remaining 23 hours of the day MATTERS! A sedentary lifestyle is a top risk factor for heart disease and many other illnesses.
3) Calculate your target HR by multiplying your max heart rate by the target percentage. Using the example above, if you've decided to do some moderate exercise, your target heart rate would be between 87.5 and 122.5 bpm (math as follows: 0.5 x 175 = 87.5 bpm and 0.7 x 175 = 122.5 bpm)
4) Use tools to track your heart rate. Using an Apple Watch or FitBit is the easiest way to check your heart rate while exercising. There are a range of heart rate devices that fit any budget. Or you can manually take your pulse the good old fashioned way.
* Use the chart below as a quick cheat sheet and GET EXERCISING!
Learn more about CoreForm360 here...
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