Heart Rate Zone

jbinga

I got a Polar FT4 for Christmas and I am in LOVE with this new piece of technology. I've been running and taking spin classes consistently for almost 9 months now and for the first time can see how many calories I'm actually burning. I've always heard that you should be able to exercise and talk (at least a little) at the same time. Well, I've NEVER been able to do that. If I'm running, I can't talk to you. Maybe a word here and there, but never a conversation. My HRM says that my max heart rate should be around 165 but I've noticed that when I'm running, my heart rate stays around 180-190. It tells me that I'm "out of the zone". Is this bad? If I were to stay "in the zone", I would have to SERIOUSLY cut back on the intensity of my workouts. I feel fine running for 30 minutes or more even if my heart rate is at 180+. Thoughts? Suggestions? Advice?

Brandirina

BUMP

brandts

I can't be much help to you, but I am always over what my target heart rate should be. I do my workouts at Planet Fitness, and when on the treadmill, and elliptical I am always over my target. If I stay in my targeted zone, I can talk to others, and don't feel as exerted as I think I should. If I am with my friend, I pace myself accordingly, if I am by myself, I push it a little harder. I am only using the machines to calculate. I hope to get one of those gadgets soon, that can calculate everything. I feel the site is giving my back way too many calories than I deserve. Not that I use them. I hope you get some more responses to your post, so we both have a good answer.

jbinga

I'm bumping my own post to hopefully get some more feedback.

kathleen2001

I am wondering this as well. Seems like if I run my HR is high but if I just walk or jog, I don't feel like I am working hard enough!

hailzp

Bump

colochel

Don't know, but I've wondered the same thing! Hopefully an HRM expert will educate us...

twhitney

I just bought myself an FT4 and would LOVE to know the answer to this question also!

Enonoid

I'm a newbie to the treadmill, but my HR seems to hover around 160 at my peak

Gemnildy

BUMP - I'm still trying to figure out my proper "burn" rate as well! Can anyone suggest a site to learn more about this or is it pretty much opinionated?

AmyG1982

You don't really want to go over 80-90% of your resting hear rate. I find I'm pretty out of breath at about 85%. Maybe you need to recalculate your resting heart rate?

This site has some good info if you're into a longer read
http://www.calculatenow.biz/sport/heart.php

TheAncientMariner

Make sure your age, height, and weight are properly configured into the device. As you lose weight, you will have to make those adjustments in order to get proper readings. You probably have done all of these things, but it doesn't hurt to give it one more look see Good luck!

wftiger

I go to see a Dr. every month for weight loss. My January visit was discussing target heart rate. He told me that you should remain in that target (and therefore, be able to carry on a normal conversation). If you remain in that target you stay in aerobic activity and burn fat. If you go above that you go anaerobic.

If you check out "aerobic exercise" on Wikipedia it gives more info on the two.

Mayo Clinic website has a target heart rate calculator - - http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/target-heart-rate/SM00083

runbyme

Same here! No answer! I just got mine today and FINALLY figured out how to operate it. Strapped it on and turned on 30 day shred and had almost hit my maximun heart rate with the first set of jumping jacks! LOL! I kind of thought maximum meant maximum! As in, your heart can't beat any faster! I must be doing something wrong! LOL! I'm curious to see what kind of feedback you get! Good luck to you!

ZyheeMoongazer

Certainly not an expert here...

I believe in order to get an accurate max HR you need to know your resting HR. I have a cheapo HRM. I get my resting HR I was told to wearing my HRM to bed and check my HR as soon as I woke up without moving around too much.

This website has a calculator and an excel spreadsheet you can download to calculate your zones.

http://www.brianmac.co.uk/hrm1.htm

It has worked well for me.

chubbybunnee

What my trainer told me is that if we are over our max heart rate, we are not as effective at burning calories and it is more for endurance training. For example:

My friend and I both ran a 5K last Saturday. I jogged until my heart rate went high then I walked and let it go back down to 150-160, then would jog again into the 170 range. She consistently jogged and was around 170/180 the whole time. She normally burns more calories then me doing the same thing because we have a weight difference of 50lbs. I was shocked to find out however, at the end of the race when we compared calorie burns on our identical HRM's that she burned just over 300 while I burned over 500!!! The fact that I let my heart rate go down was making my body work harder because I was throwing it off with different speed intervals and I was using more energy (calories) during my routine. Since my friend kept a steady pace, her body was able to remain more stable during her jog and didn't need as much energy me to get her through it.

That is the only way I can explain it, is if you keep your rate above the max zone, you are not AS effective as the Fat Burning Zone which is your Max Heart rate I believe. You are still using energy just not as much energy, it more for building the endurance in your body since you body will try to evolve at that rate and help so next time your run would be easier. Don't quote me on this, but by gathering information from people, this is what I have put together and it makes sense to me.

CyberEd312

Here is a basic break down of each zone:

TRAINING ZONES

Healthy Heart Zone (Warm up) --- 50 - 60% of maximum heart rate: The easiest zone and probably the best zone for people just starting a fitness program. It can also be used as a warm up for more serious walkers. This zone has been shown to help decrease body fat, blood pressure and cholesterol. It also decreases the risk of degenerative diseases and has a low risk of injury. 85% of calories burned in this zone are fats!

Fitness Zone (Fat Burning) --- 60 - 70% of maximum heart rate: This zone provides the same benefits as the healthy heart zone, but is more intense and burns more total calories. The percent of fat calories is still 85%.

Aerobic Zone (Endurance Training) --- 70 - 80% of maximum heart rate: The aerobic zone will improve your cardiovascular and respiratory system AND increase the size and strength of your heart. This is the preferred zone if you are training for an endurance event. More calories are burned with 50% from fat.

Anaerobic Zone (Performance Training) --- 80 - 90% of maximum heart rate: Benefits of this zone include an improved VO2 maximum (the highest amount of oxygen one can consume during exercise) and thus an improved cardiorespiratory system, and a higher lactate tolerance ability which means your endurance will improve and you'll be able to fight fatigue better. This is a high intensity zone burning more calories, 15 % from fat.

Red Line (Maximum Effort) --- 90 - 100% of maximum heart rate: Although this zone burns the highest number of calories, it is very intense. Most people can only stay in this zone for short periods. You should only train in this zone if you are in very good shape and have been cleared by a physician to do so.

It really depends on what you are trying to accomplish. I am still losing weight but want to increase my endurance during my cardio so I train in the Fitness zone (burning fat) every other day and on the opposite day I train in the Anaerobic zone. I have a FT60 that figures my Vo2Max and if I go above 162 BPM I go out of zone which I tend to avoid. Even at 80-90% of my Max HR I am burning a crap load of Carbohydrates so I don't see a point to push above that zone.... I may enter the 90-100% of my Max HR for short burst (1 to 2 minutes) but then get back down around 155-160 BPM...

earnestfarley

Well, I also use a Polar HR monitor but I entered my own values. I recommend you take your true resting heart rate in the morning while laying in bed BEFORE getting out of bed. Once you have that Resting Heart Rate enter your values into an online calculator. There are a bunch of calculators and methods. I prefer the Kavnonen method because it factors gender, weight, age and resting heart rate. I put a link to the site I use. Its a great site because it will show you side by side comparisons useing 6 different methods. Also, it will show you what each zone means.

For me, my Resting heart rate dropped from 65 to 58 in a couple of months due to my workouts. That changed my zones a bit. I now also know at what point I am burning more Carbs than Fat etc.

Let me know if this was helpful.

http://www.racedaynutrition.com/HeartRate.aspx

76tech

If your HR goes up to 180-190, then 165 is not your max heart rate.

Make sure the device is configured with the right stats. Even so, it might be a little off on max hr. Then you can base your workouts around what your resting and max heart rates really are.

It's important to train at different heart ranges to train different things. Endurance requires lower heart rate, so even if it doesn't seem like you're working hard, it adds up by the end of the workout.

I don't know how to translate things into something usable for you, but here are my heart rates and some info on what I do when running, perhaps it helps:

Max HR 186
Resting HR 60

Average 30 minute runs my HR is around 167 (90%). These are steady state runs, usually around 5k. When pushing to see what I would do in a 5k, I let it go up to around 175 (95%) I can't do this on every run.
Interval runs, I cover anywhere between 100 meters to 3/4 mile, HR getting up to 180-185 (higher HR on shorter intervals)
Long slow run, my heart rate is around 150.

Remember that a lot of people use their HRM to make sure they're not pushing too hard...pros included.

xsmilexforxmex

I raised my max on my ft4 so my zone is up to 176 as opposed to 167... 197max to 204 made that change... i feel better about my working out now... i think as long as you are listening to your body you will be fine...

Azdak

Here is a basic break down of each zone:

TRAINING ZONES

Healthy Heart Zone (Warm up) --- 50 - 60% of maximum heart rate: The easiest zone and probably the best zone for people just starting a fitness program. It can also be used as a warm up for more serious walkers. This zone has been shown to help decrease body fat, blood pressure and cholesterol. It also decreases the risk of degenerative diseases and has a low risk of injury. 85% of calories burned in this zone are fats!

Fitness Zone (Fat Burning) --- 60 - 70% of maximum heart rate: This zone provides the same benefits as the healthy heart zone, but is more intense and burns more total calories. The percent of fat calories is still 85%.

Aerobic Zone (Endurance Training) --- 70 - 80% of maximum heart rate: The aerobic zone will improve your cardiovascular and respiratory system AND increase the size and strength of your heart. This is the preferred zone if you are training for an endurance event. More calories are burned with 50% from fat.

Anaerobic Zone (Performance Training) --- 80 - 90% of maximum heart rate: Benefits of this zone include an improved VO2 maximum (the highest amount of oxygen one can consume during exercise) and thus an improved cardiorespiratory system, and a higher lactate tolerance ability which means your endurance will improve and you'll be able to fight fatigue better. This is a high intensity zone burning more calories, 15 % from fat.

Red Line (Maximum Effort) --- 90 - 100% of maximum heart rate: Although this zone burns the highest number of calories, it is very intense. Most people can only stay in this zone for short periods. You should only train in this zone if you are in very good shape and have been cleared by a physician to do so.

It really depends on what you are trying to accomplish. I am still losing weight but want to increase my endurance during my cardio so I train in the Fitness zone (burning fat) every other day and on the opposite day I train in the Anaerobic zone. I have a FT60 that figures my Vo2Max and if I go above 162 BPM I go out of zone which I tend to avoid. Even at 80-90% of my Max HR I am burning a crap load of Carbohydrates so I don't see a point to push above that zone.... I may enter the 90-100% of my Max HR for short burst (1 to 2 minutes) but then get back down around 155-160 BPM...

If you don't know (or have a good idea) of your maximum heart rate, then the "zones" are going to be off. The HRM doesn't know the difference.

I use an FT60 as well (although I never get around to using most of the features-I'm just a gadget dork). So I am not criticizing Polar per se, but their "% Fat" numbers are a lot of nonsense. The HRM has absolutely no clue what fuel substrate you are burning--and even if it did, it means nothing when it comes to fat loss.

That being said, you are correct in training at the different zones and your ratio is appropriate as well.

zookeepersuzy

did you do any tests to determine your max heart rate or did you just use the default zones? there are a few different ways to find your max heart rate.. I had testing done at my gym & my zones are way higher than the standard charts said they should be. My resting heart rate is around 60, but my zones that I use while exercising are as follows:

zone 1 166-176 (easy)
zone 2 176-184 (medium)
zone 3 184- 192 (hard)
zone 4 192 - 202 (very hard)
zone 5 202 - peak (extremely hard)

If you can talk a few words at a time and are mouth breathing, I would guess you are either in middle/high zone 3 or low 4. When I'm in 4, all I can think is "wanna stop wanna stop wanna stop". I've never made it to zone 5.

here is a link to a pdf chart that my gym uses. I did the "gold" measurement, but it was pretty much just the "silver" while hooked up to a computer. http://www.lifetimefitness.com/modules/heart_rate/heart_rate_training_chart.pdf

I hope that helps.

CyberEd312

Here is a basic break down of each zone:

TRAINING ZONES

Healthy Heart Zone (Warm up) --- 50 - 60% of maximum heart rate: The easiest zone and probably the best zone for people just starting a fitness program. It can also be used as a warm up for more serious walkers. This zone has been shown to help decrease body fat, blood pressure and cholesterol. It also decreases the risk of degenerative diseases and has a low risk of injury. 85% of calories burned in this zone are fats!

Fitness Zone (Fat Burning) --- 60 - 70% of maximum heart rate: This zone provides the same benefits as the healthy heart zone, but is more intense and burns more total calories. The percent of fat calories is still 85%.

Aerobic Zone (Endurance Training) --- 70 - 80% of maximum heart rate: The aerobic zone will improve your cardiovascular and respiratory system AND increase the size and strength of your heart. This is the preferred zone if you are training for an endurance event. More calories are burned with 50% from fat.

Anaerobic Zone (Performance Training) --- 80 - 90% of maximum heart rate: Benefits of this zone include an improved VO2 maximum (the highest amount of oxygen one can consume during exercise) and thus an improved cardiorespiratory system, and a higher lactate tolerance ability which means your endurance will improve and you'll be able to fight fatigue better. This is a high intensity zone burning more calories, 15 % from fat.

Red Line (Maximum Effort) --- 90 - 100% of maximum heart rate: Although this zone burns the highest number of calories, it is very intense. Most people can only stay in this zone for short periods. You should only train in this zone if you are in very good shape and have been cleared by a physician to do so.

It really depends on what you are trying to accomplish. I am still losing weight but want to increase my endurance during my cardio so I train in the Fitness zone (burning fat) every other day and on the opposite day I train in the Anaerobic zone. I have a FT60 that figures my Vo2Max and if I go above 162 BPM I go out of zone which I tend to avoid. Even at 80-90% of my Max HR I am burning a crap load of Carbohydrates so I don't see a point to push above that zone.... I may enter the 90-100% of my Max HR for short burst (1 to 2 minutes) but then get back down around 155-160 BPM...

If you don't know (or have a good idea) of your maximum heart rate, then the "zones" are going to be off. The HRM doesn't know the difference.

I use an FT60 as well (although I never get around to using most of the features-I'm just a gadget dork). So I am not criticizing Polar per se, but their "% Fat" numbers are a lot of nonsense. The HRM has absolutely no clue what fuel substrate you are burning--and even if it did, it means nothing when it comes to fat loss.

That being said, you are correct in training at the different zones and your ratio is appropriate as well.

Well from my figures (whether they are correct or not) I have used the Londeree and Moeschberger method: MHR = 206.3 - (0.711 × Age) and compared that to the basic MHR = 220 - Age and also used Miller et al method: MHR = 217 - (0.85 x Age)

All these give me a Max Heart Rate of between 178-180 BPM.... So 80-90% of my max HR is 145-162..... So I am pretty sure I am close to these zones.......

WeeFirePlug

The information above is great stuff!

Something I read is that you rHR zones change depending on the type of exercise you engage in. In other words, your 50% - 60% zone while cycling is different than your 50% to 60% zone while running. Also, as for optimal fat burning, I read that while you burn a higher percentage of fat at the lower zone, because you burn more calories overall at the 'aerobic' zone, you will still burn more actual fat calories. And anything you do anaerobically will need glycogen from the muscles that needs to be replaced while you rest afterwards. And what does your body like to replace it with? Those carbs and fats floating around in your blood that, if unused, will turn to fat! That's why you get hot hours after a hard exercise session - you are rebuilding glycogen. Here's my disclaimer - this is information I picked up over the years from sources I can't remember so there is a chance I am incorrect! If anyone knows better, please chime in. I just put this out for discussion. I have no problem being wrong as my wife will attest to...

Am I allowed to mention an author here if I have absolutely no gain from his book sales? If so, I recommend a writer called Covert Bailey for this type of discussion. It gets quite technical but really gets into the details.

heybales

Wow, lot of confusing ideas on here.

Should only work out at a percentage of resting heart rate (don't even know how that is possible).
Don't go over your max heart rate (how could you if max).

You need some stats for the calculation on the monitor to not only report correct calories, but to suggest correct zones.
Without more detailed info, it goes off general estimates, which are very off. it's a flat bell curve that is very wide.

The monitor hopefully had you enter age, weight, and gender. If you find a setting for max HR, it is probably pre-estimated with standard formula (220-age for men, 226-age for women).

If that MHR is off, and it likely is, than the zones it suggests for fat burning or fitness will be off (though I've noticed it changes that point as I add more workouts FT7.

So the training zones listed above are excellent start, but first you need a correct foundation to base that on.

So, first, find or estimate you max HR by actual test.
Then enter that info in the monitor.
If it has no setting for MHR, then adjust your age so that it reflects it correctly.
For example, at 43 yrs formula says my MHR would be 177. Tested it's actually 194. So I would lie and say my age is 26.

Here is a decent test for finding out max HR, without actually doing the maximal test I did.

The SubMax Step Test. Use an 8" step (almost any step in your home or in a club will do) and perform a 3-minute step test. After your warm-up, step up and down in a four-count sequence as follows: right foot up, left up, right down, left down. Each time you move a foot up or down, it counts as one step.

Count "up, up, down, down" for one set, with 20 sets to the minute. It is very important that you don't speed up the pace--keep it regular. After 2 minutes, you'll need to monitor your heart rate for the last minute. The SubMax Step Test now can be used to predict your Max HR. Add to your last minute's heart rate average one of the following numbers:

1. Poor Shape: +55 bpm
2. Average Shape: +65 bpm
3. Excellent Shape: +75 bpm

Your result should be pretty close to your Max HR.

Goosiesnougs

bump

athensguy

Here's a page of info on testing it professionally or estimating it yourself.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/338405-treadmill-maximum-heart-rate-test/

BuildABetterMe

The most important thing to take away from all the discussion is this:

Your heart is a muscle, and needs to be trained just like any other muscle.

Would you jump into lifting weights at 80-90% of your tolerated maximum and expect your arms and legs to function for long periods of time? NO! You increase the weight you lift slowly, as the muscles in your body strengthen.

I'm using Polar's Heart Rate based training with the "zones" and at first it was horrible. I couldn't walk a mile without having to stop or slow down in order to stay in Zone 2, which was the stamina building zone. This zone also strengthens the heart and builds cardio endurance.

After a few weeks, my heart has gotten stronger, and doesn't have to work as hard, so my heart rate stays lower. I know this because I now have to walk faster and with an incline in order to get my rate into the same target zone.

Polar has some great material at this link:
http://www.polarusa.com/us-en/training_with_polar/training_articles/get_active

All the articles under the "Getting Started" section shed a lot of light on this topic. Read the material and see if it makes sense to you. TRUST THE SYSTEM for a few weeks. You'll feel like it's not working, but it is - I'm proof!

Natihilator

bump

Erica002

Curious about this too. Mine says 164 and today I hit 192...

heybales

Curious about this too. Mine says 164 and today I hit 192...

And if you stayed there for anything longer than a second, than your MHR is even higher. If you hit that number and had to stop to get breath, that was it.

Change the MHR value then to get better estimate of calorie burn, and change the zones around.
if you can't change the MHR, then see my post above on how to do it.

Good job.