GETTING IN THE
TARGET HEART RATE ZONE

What's all this fuss about target heart rate, you ask?

Well, we know to improve our cardiovascular endurance we must perform cardio/aerobic exercise, right? But there is a little more to it than that. We need to get our heart rate up into the desired target heart rate zone for a sustained period of time in order to utilize the overload principle and to lead to substantial fitness improvements over time.

ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) says we need at least 20 minutes, 3 to 5 days a week. However, research has shown that this time can be divided into 10-minute bouts of aerobic exercise to total at least 20 minutes daily as long as you reach your target heart rate and keep it there during that time.

WHAT IS YOUR OPTIMUM EXERCISE INTENSITY?
Studies show that optimum exercise intensity for fitness improvement is in the range of about 60% to 90% of maximum heart rate. Of course, the fitter you are, the higher the appropriate exercise intensity. Untrained individuals begin to improve at about 50% of max heart rate.

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OKAY, HERE IS AN ISSUE THAT CALLS FOR SOME SIFTING OF FACTS FROM FICTION, OR AT THE VERY LEAST, POINTING OUT UNRELIABLE DATA.

Below is the popular Target Heart Rate chart seen in most gyms across America. I suggest you use it in conjunction with other ways of measuring intensities too, just to be more safe and closer to accurate.

Age	Target HR Zone 50–85%	Average Maximum Heart Rate 100%
20 years old	100–170 beats per minute	200 beats per minute
25 years old	98–166 beats per minute	195 beats per minute
30 years old	95–162 beats per minute	190 beats per minute
35 years old	93–157 beats per minute	185 beats per minute
40 years old	90–153 beats per minute	180 beats per minute
45 years old	88–149 beats per minute	175 beats per minute
50 years old	85–145 beats per minute	170 beats per minute
55 years old	83–140 beats per minute	165 beats per minute
60 years old	80–136 beats per minute	160 beats per minute
65 years old	78–132 beats per minute	155 beats per minute
70 years old	75–128 beats per minute	150 beats per minute

This theory surmises that your maximum heart rate is about 220 minus your age. The figures above are averages, so you should use them as "general" guidelines at best.

The actual equation, then, is 220 - age x target heart rate. For example: A 28-year-old wanting to do 85% intensity would go for a heart rate of about 163 BPM (beats per minute) and about 27 BPM for a 10-second count.

Note: Some high blood pressure medications lower the maximum heart rate and thus the target zone rate. If you're taking such meds, call your doctor to see if you need to use a lower target heart rate.

BIG HONKIN' NEWS FLASH: There is a great deal of controversy over the 220-minus-age theory. Here it is in a nutshell: It overestimates the maximum rate in young adults, does a pretty good job for people who are around 40 years old, and then increasingly underestimates the maximum rate as people get older.

Apparently, it can be off by as much as 30 beats or so. And get this, the guy who invented it didn't EVEN mean for it to become the "LAW" of max heart rates. To read the real facts about this issue, click here. It is a very short and enlightening article and well worth the read.

MORAL OF THIS STORY: Use caution when using age group average maximal heart-rate tables and the 220-minus-age formula for the aforementioned reasons.

The lazy (and my favorite) way to get your THR is to simply go to straightforward.efitnesstracker.com and click on Find your ideal heart rate zone...under Fitness Tools & Resources in the lower right hand corner on the page. You should check out that whole section on CARDIORESPIRATORY FITNESS while you are there. Or if you just want your target heart rate, scroll down to the Calculate your Heart Rate section and enter your info in the calculator and voila...there's your THR.

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So, how do we know what our heart rate max is, and once we know what we are aiming for, what is the best way to measure it, you ask?
My advice as a fitness professional is use the 220-minus-age numbers with caution and experiment with other strategies for finding your max heart rate and desired target heart rate, because everybody's is different. Use a combination of THR (target heart rate), the RPE (ratings of perceived exertion), and common sense when exercising and you should be able to find "your" best training zone.

NOTE: If you are in the habit of trusting the built-in heart rate monitor on your favorite piece of cardio equipment, you may want to give it an accuracy test by checking your heart rate manually and comparing the numbers. Many times these are inaccurate and should not be solely relied upon for monitoring your intensity.

In summary, you will want to check your pulse every so often while exercising and try to assess on a scale of 1-10 how hard you are working and compare it to what the chart says your heart rate should be and alter your intensity accordingly, trying to stay in what you think is "your" zone.

CHECKING YOUR HEART RATE
To check your heart rate you can find your pulse in 2 different locations.

1)The carotid artery on the side of your neck as my friend, Rachel, is so graciously showing here:

2) Or at your radial artery on your wrist at the base of your thumb, as she shows below:

Put your first 2 fingers over your pulse and count the number of beats within a 10-second period. Multiply this number by 6, and you will have the number of heartbeats in a minute. For example, if you counted your pulse to be 20 during the 10-second pulse count, your heart rate would be 120 beats per minute.

THE TALK TEST
Or…if you aren’t motivated by numbers, you can always check your intensity level by using the talk test. This method entails maintaining an intensity of exercise at which conversation is comfortable. If breathing is labored and difficult, the intensity is too great.

RATINGS OF PERCEIVED EXERTION OR RPE
Yet another way is to use ratings of perceived exertion or RPE. The easiest way to do this is use the 0-10 scale, as shown in the chart below. Using this scale, you should exercise between an RPE of 4 (moderately easy) and an RPE of 5 or 6 (getting challenging and becoming difficult).

Level	Feeling
1-2	Extremely easy. You can easily carry on a conversation.
3	Very easy. You can converse with almost no effort.
4	Moderately easy. You can converse with a little bit of effort.
5	Starting to get challenging. Conversation requires more effort.
6-7	Difficult. Conversation requires a lot of effort.
8	Very difficult. Conversation requires maximum effort.
9-10	Full-out effort. No conversation is possible.

Back to how do we know...

HEART RATE MONITORS
Let's not forget to mention the heart rate monitor. This is the easiest method since you don't have to find your pulse or do any math or counting. But, let's face it. Not many of us want to strap on a monitor around our chest, arm, or wrist every time we go for a cardio workout. However, it is a very reliable option, so I thought I'd better mention it.

And one more thing! Be careful not to get into the habit of strolling comfortably along on the treadmill for hours, never challenging your heart barely past the napping stage. I see it all the time in the gym. Come on peeps! We gotta move it to lose it! They don't call it "progressive" training for nothing.

Most importantly, get up and go do your cardio on a regular basis and make sure you are getting into your what?...that's right...all together now...YOUR TARGET HEART RATE ZONE!! Yay...and the crowd goes wild!

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