Occasionally, we invite experts to write about the subject they know best. The following main content was written by the Mayo Clinic and put together by:
Shawn Dassie, MS, CSCS, USAW, NASM-PES
Director of Fitness and Sports Performance
360 Health Club
Diet and lifestyle are two of the top factors for heart disease. If you live a sedentary life and eat the wrong foods, there is a good chance that you will have high cholesterol and blood pressure, which could lead to heart disease. Physical activity – exercise – is key to a healthy heart. Regular exercise has many potential benefits:
- Improving and strengthening your cardiovascular system
- Increasing your energy, strength, flexibility and mobility
- Increasing your body’s circulation and strengthen your bones
- Reducing stress, anxiety and fatigue
- Lowering your blood pressure
- Enhancing your endurance
- Reducing weight
- Improving your balance
- Reducing heart attack risks
If you have recently had a heart attack or have signs of heart problems, ailments, or disease, you should immediately consult a doctor before exercising.
Cardiovascular exercise – commonly referred to as “aerobic” – is considered the best kind of exercise for a healthy heart because it strengthens your heart and lungs and maximizes your body’s oxygen optimization. Aerobic exercise can improve your heart rate and lower your blood pressure.
Several different heart rate training zones exist and training within each of these zones will produce different physiological effects that can enhance your overall fitness in a variety of ways. Heart rate training zones are calculated by taking into consideration your Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) and your Resting Heart Rate (RHR).
Calculating Resting Heart Rate
Determining your Resting Heart Rate (RHR) is very easy. First, find somewhere nice and quite, lie down and relax. Next, position a watch or clock where you can clearly see it while lying down and after 20 minutes remain where you are, do not sit up, and determine your pulse rate (beats/min) and use this value as your RHR. As you become fitter, however, your heart becomes more efficient and as a result, your RHR will become lower. For this reason, you will need to check your RHR on a regular basis (e.g. monthly).
Calculating your Maximal Heart Rate
The easiest and best-known method to calculate your maximum heart rate (MHR) is to use the formula (MHR = 220 – Age). Miller et al (1993) from Indiana University propose the formula MHR = 217 - (0.85 × Age) as another suitable formula to calculate MHR, but please remember that any algorithm used to determine your maximum heart rate (MHR) is only a best guess (based on research) and not a guarantee of your MHR value.
Calculating your Training Zone
Calculating a training zone value is performed in the following way:
- Determine your working heart rate (WHR) by subtracting your RHR from your MHR.
- Multiply the desired Training Zone % to your WHR and then add your RHR to determine your training zone heart rate ( i.e. - 70% training zone heart rate for an individual with a MHR of 180 and RHR of 60)
- MHR (180) – RHR (60) = WHR (120)
- 70% (0.70) x WHR (120) = 84
- 84 + RHR (60) = 144 bpm
Energy Efficient or Recovery Zone Training – (55% to 65%)
Training within this zone develops basic endurance and aerobic capacity. Another advantage to training in this zone is that you will be allowing your muscles to regenerate glycogen (muscle sugar), which has been expended during more intense training periods.
Aerobic Zone Training - 65% to 85%
Training in this zone will provide fat-burning effects and development of your cardiovascular system, which results in an improvement of your body's ability to transport oxygen to, and carbon dioxide away from, the exercising muscles, which positively affects your overall recovery ability.
Anaerobic Zone Training - 85% to 100%
Training in this zone will develop your lactic acid system and greatly reduce the amount of fat burned during exercise. Training in this zone also results in a buildup of lactic acid and a more rapid onset of fatigue; therefore training in this zone will only be possible for short periods of time, and is typically reserved for interval training bouts by very fit individuals.
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