Using a Heart Rate Monitor for the Best Results

Want to maximize your fitness results? A heart rate monitor could be the cheapest personal trainer you ever “hire.”

A heart rate monitor is a simple, efficient tool that monitors intensity and helps you create an individualized training program that is customized to fit your body and needs. Some people don’t exercise hard enough, while others exercise too hard—a heart rate monitor takes the mystery out of the process.

Understanding Heart Rate

Unless you are a professional athlete, you don’t need to understand all of the complicated science of exercise—you only need to know the basics. In order to build fitness, you want to strike the right balance between aerobic and anaerobic exercise.

• Aerobic exercise refers to the body’s fat-burning capability. An example of aerobic exercise is a long, slow bike ride at a comfortable pace where you can talk.
• Anaerobic exercise refers to the body’s sugar-burning capability. An example of anaerobic exercise is a sprint to the finish at the end of a bike race.

Your current fitness level and your fitness goals will determine how much time you spend training aerobically and anaerobically.

Target Heart Zone

You may have heard people referring to their “target heart zone.” This is a bit of a misnomer, as there are actually five true heart rate training zones (see chart below), but most people refer to the aerobic training zone as the “target heart zone” because that’s the one where we should spend the majority of our time.

By exercising in an aerobic heart zone, you teach your body to choose fat as its fuel source. The Maximum Aerobic Heart Rate is the heart rate at which you get the maximum aerobic benefits with the least amount of anaerobic stimulation. (For most people this is 80%.) When you train below this ceiling, you are actually training your body to choose fat as its fuel source (over glucose) and teaching it to use oxygen more efficiently.

The average exerciser who wants to increase fitness and lose weight should spend the majority of their exercise time between 65-80% of their maximum heart rate. Most people really only need to focus on three zones (based on a simplified version of the five zones).

A good rule of thumb is to look at your workouts for the week and plan to spend:

·      70% of your time in your target zone (which we are calling 65-80%)

·      10% above it (working harder at Anaerobic Threshold; sprints, intervals)

·      20% below it (warm up and recovery)

Benefits of Training Aerobically

There are many benefits to exercising in the aerobic heart zone (below 80%):

• Heart size increases (can pump more blood so heart doesn’t work as hard)
• Decrease in exercise heart rate
• Decrease in resting heart rate
• Increase in oxygen uptake in muscle fibers
• Increase in capillarization (builds more capillaries)
• Increase in fat utilization

It’s important to note that none of this happens when you exercise in the anaerobic zone. If you want to see the best results from your exercise, stick to a moderate (aerobic) intensity to get the most bang for your buck.

Heart Rate Training Zones
Zone	Percent of MHR	Description
Recovery	50-60%	This is very low-impact activity such as walking the dogs. You don’t feel winded or fatigued in this zone. The recovery zone has its place, but it won’t make you more fit.
Endurance	60-70%	This is fairly low-impact, could include walking, hiking, jogging, cycling, etc. You’ll break a sweat, but you’ll feel energized rather than super fatigued after working in this zone.
Aerobic	70-80%	This is moderate activity. You’re working, but you’re staying somewhat in the comfort zone. You can still talk and you shouldn’t feel exhausted after a workout in this zone. You could spend several hours working in this zone and will likely spend the majority of your exercise time here.
Threshold	80-85%	You’re on the aerobic/anaerobic threshold. You’re working hard, maybe doing intervals or just riding/skiing/running hard. You can only maintain this zone for about 15-55 minutes. You’re tired after working here and should take a day of recovery the next day. Use this zone 1-3 times a week, depending on your goals.
Anaerobic	85-92%	This is red-line, all-out sprint. You should spend very little time here. A true all-out sprint lasts all of about 10-20 seconds. You shouldn’t spend more than 2-4 minutes in this zone, once a week.