Working out is an integral aspect of any weight-loss plan. After all, doing cardio will burn all those calories while strength training will build your lean muscle. The latter ensures that you’re burning fat even during your rest.
But when hitting the gym, you need to ensure that you’re getting the most out of your workout routines in Gold’s Gym. In this guide, you’re going to learn how your heart rate affects your exercises. Read on and find out more today.
Why Heart Rate is Important to Fitness
It’s important to have the right heart rate since it makes your workout routine more effective. This works best with cardio exercises since you need an elevated heart rate from your resting state. Once you achieve this, you’ll get the exercises’ benefits, which include improved heart health and calorie reduction.
To know how your exercises affect your heart rate, you need to get a heart-rate monitor. But even with this device, you won’t get anywhere if you don’t know what it means. That’s why you need to learn the right heart rate to get into the fat-burning zone.
How to Get the Right Heart Rate
According to expert cardiologists, determining your current max heart rate is to subtract your age from 220. For example, if you’re 40 years old, your maximum heart rate should be 180 beats per minute. If you want to start burning fat, you need to achieve about 60-70% of your maximum heart rate whenever you exercise.
Take note, your heart health and level of activity can vary. That’s why it’s possible for someone to reach 60% of their max heart rate within a minute of doing exercises. For others, it can take either longer or shorter to get into that zone.
You should also consider the medications you’re taking before you exercise. If you’re taking meds that can affect your heart rate, the formula will become inaccurate. In this case, ask your physician how to get the right heart rate.
How to Exceed the 60% Heart Rate
A lot of personal trainers recommend that increasing your heart rate a little more can help you get the most out of its benefits. If you’re doing steady-state cardio exercises, your primary goal is to reach 70-80% of your maximum heart rate. Once achieved, do your best to stay this way for a while.
This applies whenever you run, walking, ride the bicycle, or swim. In most cases, you’ll need to continue doing this for 18 minutes. After all, it takes around that time for your body to start using your body fat as its fuel.
Do you prefer shorter, more intense workout routines like HIIT (high-intensity interval training)? If so, ensure that your heart rate should be around 80-90% of your maximum heart rate. Instead of maintaining it for a long time, do this in short bursts and rest until your heart rate goes back to 60%.
How to Measure Your Heart Rate
If you want to get the most accurate measure of your heart rate, you’ll need to use a heart-rate monitor. The wearable ones will work best if you want to measure it while exercising. Otherwise, you might need to rely on your perceived exertion, rating it on a scale of 1-10.
Your heart rate should be faster while your breathing gets faster. That way, you’re roughly around your target heart rate range while exercising. On the perceived exertion scale, a rating of one means rest while 10 means you’re overworked and unable to move afterward.
If you want the optimal level using this scale, it’s between 6-8 out of 10. Always aim to get an eight to get your blood pumping and make your heart beat faster. But if you’re not that keen to go all-out, a six is often enough to get some results.
How to Choose the Best Cardio Exercise
The most important thing to remember when choosing is that there’s no “best” exercise. If running works best for some people, it doesn’t automatically mean the same for you. It’s especially the case when you feel like running makes your body fall apart.
Anything that increases your heart rate will count as cardio. That’s why doing rigorous chores like washing the car or raking leaves can qualify. With that said, it’s best to do activities that you enjoy or tolerate at the very least.
Conclusion
Your heart rate plays an important part in the effectiveness of your exercise routine. That’s why it’s best to get a heart rate monitor to know if you’re in the fat-burning zone. Follow the formula and make sure that you get to at least 60% of your maximum heart rate to ensure that your cardio exercises will burn your fat better.
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