by J.P. McCauley

Created on: May 08, 2011   Last Updated: May 10, 2011

From elite athletes to first-step dieters, it is important to know how hard you should exercise in order to meet your goals. If you do not exercise hard enough, your progress will be slow and you may never meet your goals. If you exercise too hard, you greatly increase your risks of potentially serious consequences. Too hard and too easy are relative terms, though. So how is one to measure how hard you are working out, and just how hard should you be working out?

In order to increase your level of fitness, you have to put stress on your body. Heart rates are used to measure just how much stress that exercise is putting on your body. There are other ways to measure exercise, but these other ways all require expensive lab equipment and tests witch make them impractical in most cases.

Measure It

You must learn how to take an accurate measure of your heart rate if you are going to use heart rate to track your fitness. Heart rate is measured by measuring your pulse: count the beats of your pulse over a 60 second interval, and that is your heart rate. There are a number of places you can place your fingers to feel your pulse: on your wrist on the side of your thumb and on your neck are the two most convenient locations. Find which works best for you and practice taking your pulse. You can could for a full 60 seconds, or take a shortcut and measure for 30 seconds and multiply your count by two.

Maximum Heart Rate

Before calculating your Workout Heart Rate targets, you must first have a number to start with. There are a few different methods you can use to find your target rate, but the most common method is to calculate your theoretical Maximum Heart Rate and target your exercise to bring your heart rate up to certain percentages of this maximum. These numbers and percentages are not a perfect measurement for everybody, but they are considerate to be accurate enough by those in the health profession.

The simplest and most often quoted formula for Maximum Heart Rate is:

HRmax = 220 – age

That is, subtract your age from 220, and that is your Maximum Heart Rate. So a forty year old will have a Maximum Heart Rate of 180 (220 minus 40).

Target Zone

A number of different Target Zone charts have been developed. An example Target Zone might be to aim for 60-70% of your Maximum Heart Rate if weight lost is your primary goal, and aim for 70-90% of your Maximum Heart Rate if Cardiovascular training is your primary goal. If you are just starting to exercise, you should use the simple guidelines from the American Heart Association (link) and target a zone of 50-85% of your Maximum Heart Rate in order to improve your physical fitness.

The great thing about zone training for the beginner is that your workout will increase as your fitness gets better. That is, as you become more fit, you will have to exercise harder to get your heart rate up to your Target Zone. Start slow, and aim for the low end of your zone. As your fitness level and experience grows, refine your workouts to hit the Target Zones which best match your goals.

Formulas and You

When using generic formulas and theoretical zones, keep in mind these numbers may not be right for you. Some medicines, high blood pressure medications for example, can lower your Maximum Heart Rate significantly. If your starting number is wrong, all of the other numbers will be wrong as well. Each individual is slightly different, so do not get too caught up in exact numbers for Zones. Discuss your exercise program with a doctor if you have any concerns, and exercise smartly. Don't aim for 90% of Maximum Heart Rate if your goal is just to lose 10 pounds. On the flip side, exercising to 40% of Maximum Rate Rate will not get you the exercise you need.

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