Heart Rate...

amg5157

Sometimes I wonder HOW IMPORTANT keeping your heart rate in the right 'zone' is when I do cardio. My resting rate is really high on average so when I actually do get to my cardio it is almost always going "above". I can still breath and still have a convo if someone were to walk up to me and I dont THINK im ganna give myself a heart attack lol.

Is staying in the "cardio zone" or "fat burning zone" really that important???

cobygrey

Yes it is!

Your heart rate , generally speaking, is how you know how hard you are working. It's great that it is taking more time for you to get it up there! I think if you feel okay it is safe to go beyond your suggested max heart rate. After all any equation you get for this is just a general number not your personal number.

Be careful though. Heart rate isn't always accurate during strength training.

canstey

You have to determine your personal max heart rate first before you can determine your "zone". The standard formula of 220-age can be off by quite a bit for some people. Mine is actually lower than that formula and my wife's is much higher. It can take a few weeks to determine something close to your max heart rate depending on how fit you are to start. If you are very fit then you can just push yourself to the limit and that should be very close. If you are cardiovascularly unfit then it will take time to be able to approach your actual max heart rate so you can use other things like perceived effort and sustainable heart rate to estimate it. If you can exercise for an hour then that heart rate will likely be at or below 80% maximum depending upon your fitness level.

Your actual maxHR cannot really be increased, only your ability to tolerate how close you can get to it and for how long (anabolic threshold tolerance).

SHBoss1673

Well, I mean, the zones are artificial, and as such they don't really encompass you individually, they basically try to lump everyone into a really generic area.

if you want to be more accurate, I would use your perceived rate of exertion to tell, it's more accurate for you individually.

give this blog a perusal, it's pretty good at explaining RPE (the different methods) and how you can use it to help you gauge your levels.

http://www.ginmiller.com/gmf06/articles/target_heart_rate/RPE_talk_test.html

Laceylala

I think anything about your regular HR is good. There is a great blog on this site posted by Azdak regarding heart rate monitors and cardio vs. fat burning zones. Take a look at what he writes about it. It is very concise and to the point, plus easy to understand.