Listen to your heart! Monitor your heart rate while exercising

Your head tells you to exercise. Listening to
your heart rate tells you how to exercise,
and how well you’re doing. 

Why is monitoring your heart rate important?
It’s all about pacing yourself, especially if you’re starting out or returning to exercise after a day off. If your exercise effort is too light, you’re doing the work without getting all the benefits. And if you’re exercising too hard, beyond what your current fitness level is ready for, you’ll tire too quickly and may be risking injuries or health problems. 

So how do you know how hard to exercise?
Your Target Heart Rate will tell you. Your THR is the number of beats per minute required for exercise benefits to occur—while not over-doing it to the point of risk. You can find your THR from your Maximum Heart Rate—generally calculated as 220 minus your age. The chart below gives you the basic calculations. (Figures are averages; use them as general guidelines.)

Health care professionals recommend working out at between 50%-75% of your Maximum Heart Rate, depending on age or fitness levels. If you’re starting out on a fitness regime, regardless of your age, you should aim towards the lower end of the range, working up to the 75% as your fitness levels improve. 

Monitoring heart rate for fat and calorie reduction
Once you know your THR zone, you can work it into your exercise routines. For example, to burn calories, you need to exercise closer to the 75% area. To work off fat, you need to be in the lower end of your zone, where cells take up more oxygen to burn off fat.

Do the talk test
You should be able to carry on a conversation during your workout. If you’re breathless, or can't talk, you're working too hard. Slow down! Remember — lightheadedness and dizziness are warnings that you’re pushing too hard. 

How will you know if you’re working in your THR zone?
The no-tech way is to take your pulse and do the arithmetic. Count for 10 seconds, then multiply by 6 to get your beats-per-minute. This gives you an approximate bpm at best, and you may need to stop and start your workout. The better, more accurate way to be sure you’re optimizing your workout, is to use a heart rate monitor.

What is a heart rate monitor?
Heart rate monitors consist of two components: a small wireless information transmitter that straps to your chest, and an information readout that looks like a wrist watch. Some exercise equipment lets you plug in your HR monitor and view the read-out on a built-in LED screen. 

Which heart rate monitor is best? It’s strictly personal.
The best for you is whichever model tells you all you need or want to know for your exercise program. As with any exercise equipment, don’t buy more features than you will actually use. 

What can a heart rate monitor tell you?
Depending on the model, and what you need to know, you can choose from heart rate monitors that tell you your average heart rate… percentage of Maximum Heart Rate… time spent in your target zone… body/mass index…and how many calories you’ve consumed. Some have a stop watch… or in-zone countdown timer…or audio and visual alarms. Your heart rate monitor may tell you how fit you are, and help you set up your exercise programs… and it may store data from workouts and analyze your strengths and weaknesses. 

By listening to what your heart rate monitor tells you, you can evaluate the effectiveness of each workout. Even a basic heart rate monitor will guide you like a personal trainer.  Sophisticated models serve as your personal fitness manager. Your local Leisure Fitness Equipment Store can show you Heart rate monitors, with a good range of features and price points.