What does the term target heart rate mean?
The intensity component of training for cardiovascular fitness is critical. The principles of aerobic and anaerobic energy production make it clear that exercise at too great an intensity will use anaerobic metabolism, not the aerobic system that can increase your fitness levels. The higher a client’s level of fitness, the higher their appropriate exercise intensity. Heart rate during exercise can provide an excellent monitor of intensity. Research shows that optimum exercise intensity for fitness improvement is in the range of about 60-90 percent of maximum heart rate. (Maximum heart rate or MHR is typically the number 220 minus your age.) “Target heart rate” is a shorthand term used to describe a heart rate at the “training-sensitive zone.” To compute your Target Heart Rate, multiply your MHR by .60 and again by .90. This range is, for most people, the heart rate at which you will achieve maximum aerobic benefits. For example: If you are 40 years old your MHR is 220 minus your age (4
Your age and weight determine the amount of calories that you burn during an exercise. Your target heart rate helps you to measure and monitor the level at which you have to perform the exercise to burn the amount of calories you have in mind. If you want to burn 600 calories in 60 minutes your heart rate will have to be much higher than someone wanting to burn 300 calories in 60 minutes. There are three ways in which you can measure your target heart rate. 1. By taking your pulse this approach requires measuring your pulse periodically as you exercise and staying within 50 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate 2. By using a heart rate monitor 3. By using the conversational method if you can talk and walk at the same time, you aren’t working too hard. If you can sing and maintain your level of effort, you’re probably not working hard enough. If you get out of breath quickly, you’re probably working too hard.
