Target Heart Rate for a beginner.

christopher_stockdale

Picked up EA Sports Active 2 (I really liked the first). one of the perks of it is a heart rate monitor. I'm 315lbs (25lbs down so far), have been working out 3-4 days a week for about 3 months using EA Sports Active 1.

Did my first workout yesterday, and afterwards the reported I was averaging 139BPM, with lows around 90PBM and highs of 170BPM. Didn't feel any problems during the workout, and felt really good about the workout. Do these numbers sound ok for now? I know the heart rate numbers will go down as I lose the weight, but I just want to make sure it's not dangerous in half hour workouts.

goron59

There is a discussion of the various calculations for max heart rate here:

http://www.brianmac.co.uk/maxhr.htm

Might be worth a read; see which one applies best to you.

There are other discussions there about training zones too.

mhotch

I am no expert, but I do not think your target heart rate changes. What does change is your body's ability to reach it. As you continue to work out, and become more fit, your body adapts to that routine. So you have to work a tab bit harder to get your heart rate to the target rate.

Egger29

The Standard Equation for Max Heart Rate is 220 - Age.

Thus, a 20 year old has a Max Heart rate of 200 beats per minute, a 40 year old 180 etc.

There are more accurate formulas, but this one suffices for the majority of the general population. (Eg. Those little scale images that are on the side of almost every piece of cardio equipment you'll find.

For Cardio Vascular benefits, you strive to raise your Heart rate to between 60 - 80% of your maximum.

As a beginner, start slow and build up your ability over time.

In the long run, any significant increase over your daily resting heart rate will be of benefit over time.

----

Checked your profile and see you're 39. We'll use 40 for math simplicity.

That puts your Max estimate at around 180 Beats / Minute (220 - 40 = 180)

So with that in Mind - 60% would be 108 BPM, 80% would be 144 BPM.

Sounds like you're training in your target range to me so keep it up!

Cheers!