Please explain Heart Rate to me?

loubidy

I have a polar ft7 and I love it. Though I'm not really sure how to use its to its best. I'm 20 years old so 220-20=200 should be my max? Though personally I find 192bpm is where I feel like I'm about to die!! haha

I'm also aware that there is 'fat burn' and 'fitness' range.

I'm really looking for someone to explain to me at what heart rate gets what results? If that makes sense as I understand there are different benefits from different levels?

rmdaly

You might google your question to get a better answer. Does the info with your Polar have any suggestions or formulas?

It used to be and still is a rough estimate to use 200-age as your max. That means that you shouldn't go over that. That doesn't mean it is where you should be exercising at. The guidelines used to be 65% -80% of your max for fat-burning range so that would be 130 - 160 bpm. That might feel slow when you first get started.

Again, these are rough and I think that the formulas have changed over the years, so a little research will go a long way.

MB2MN

At 192 you should feel ready to die! Lol. You shouldn't reach your ACTUAL max heart rate ever, so 192 is as high as you should be going probably. For me, I'm 26 and a girl, my resting is between 58 and 64, try to keep my steady state at 130-140 and can get my high intervals up to 175-180.

Hawkrcr285

These might help,

http://www.polar.com/us-en/support/How_to_calculate_target_heart_rate_zone_

http://www.runningforfitness.org/calc/heart-rate-calculators/hrzone

jos05

My Polar has an "IN THE ZONE" screen... I just try to keep myself in the zone...

MeanderingMammal

I have a polar ft7 and I love it. Though I'm not really sure how to use its to its best. I'm 20 years old so 220-20=200 should be my max? Though personally I find 192bpm is where I feel like I'm about to die!! haha

The whole issue of 220-age is theoretical, and very much related to a wide range of other factors, including your base level of fitness. As you train and improve your fitness your ability to operate at higher HRs improves, so your practical Max Heart Rate should improve. Getting to your MHR is very hard work, particularly as you go through the aerobic range into anaerobic range at about 85%MHR. You can't perform in the anaerobic range for long.

My theoretical MHR is 176bpm, in practice I've hit 195, and can sustain 170 for about 25 minutes of fast running so that's still in the aerobic range.

I'm also aware that there is 'fat burn' and 'fitness' range.

The idea of HR zones is quite old fashioned and a bit crude for performance improvement, particularly when one of the zones is called "fat burning", which doesn't help understanding. Essentially at different heart rates you're getting different effects on your CV system, and as a result sports performance.

The traditional "fat burning zone" is broadly medium intensity, a rate that you can sustain for a long period of time. That builds endurance and stamina, essentially filling the tank. As you increase to a higher intensity you're better able to improve your cardiovascular performance, helping to perform at that higher intensity and improving your ability to convert fuel to performance. As you get into the highest performance range, you go anaerobic and it helps develop your capacity to push yourself into that range and perform under a significant level of stress. The latter is where you get into interval training, as you can't sustain the performance for long.

All of those together improve the strength of the heart and as a result your zones will improve.

You'll see that through either maintaining a pace and level of exertion, but you'll see a lower HR as a result, or you can push your HR up and see your performance around pace improving. You benefit most from doing both of those at different times.