If you use heart rate training correctly, it can help you with all of that and more. Let’s investigate:
How Does Heart Rate Training Help You?
Before we jump into how to do it properly, let’s take a look at why you’d want to do it in the first place. Heart rate training can help you in a few different ways:
Which Rates Pair With Which Exercises?
Now that we know how heart rate training can benefit your workout, let’s take a look at which zones are the best for certain types of exercise. It looks like this:
Easy: 60% – 70% This zone is ideal for slow runs or recovery runs. It’s the best place for your heart to pump blood and for your muscles to use oxygen. Aerobic: 70% – 80% This zone helps you develop cardiovascular fitness and helps improve your body’s ability to get oxygen to your muscles and pull carbon dioxide away from them. In this zone, you should still be able to carry on a conversation. Anaerobic: 80% – 90% This zone is where your muscles build up lactic acid, also known as “the burn.” Training in this zone helps your body increase its threshold before lactic acid buildup, meaning that your muscles get stronger and have more endurance. In this zone, you’re breathing heavily and your muscles are quite tired. Red Line: 90% – 100% This zone should be used sparingly and only for short periods of time. Here is where you’re building up a sizeable oxygen debt to your muscles, so you can’t maintain this zone for long.
How Do I Know My Own Heart Rate Zones?
All right, so we understand the different zones and when to use them, but how do you determine your own heart rate zones so you know whether you’re training at 60% of your max or 80%? It’s a pretty straightforward process: Featured photo credit: Targeted Heart Rate Training via nordictrack.com
