Matters of Heart Rate

Regularly my clients approach me about what type of cardio they should be doing, and should they be doing it faster or slower because the read that slower burns more fat, and well they are trying to lose weight, etc etc. Here is an easy to understand break down for all of you out there wondering exactly what it means when you read about or your trainer talks about different heart rate zones.

* Remember you should always train in each of the different zones, while you may have an emphasis in one, there is a time and place for all of them *

Long, slow runs, easy or recovery runs:

Training in this zone improves the ability of your heart to pump blood and improve the muscles' ability to utilize oxygen. The body becomes more efficient at feeding the working muscles, and learns to metabolise fat as a source of fuel.



60-70% Rate of perceived exertion (this is how hard you believe you are working)
 
 
Aerobic zone or "target heart rate zone"



Most effective for overall cardiovascular fitness. Increases your cardio-respiratory capacity: that is, the your ability to transport oxygenated blood to the muscle cells and carbon dioxide away from the cells. Also effective for increasing overall muscle strength.


70-80%  Rate of perceived exertion
 
Anaerobic zone
 
The point at which the body cannot remove lactic acid as quickly as it is produced is called the lactate threshold or anaerobic threshold. It generally occurs at about 80-88% of the Heart Rate Reserve. Training in this zone helps to increase the lactate threshold, which improves performance. Training in this zone is hard: your muscles are tired, your breathing is heavy.



80-90% Rate of perceived exertion
 
 VO2 max



"Red line zone" You should only train in this zone if you're very fit, and only for very short periods of time. Lactic acid develops quickly as you are operating in oxygen debt to the muscles The value of training in this zone is you can increase your fast twitch muscle fibers which increase speed.


90-100%  Rate of perceived exertion
 
 
Here is a link to a very easy to use heart rate calculator. Check your resting pulse first thing in the morning, enter your resting pulse, age, and gender into the calculator and it will give you the approx. ranges you should be working in depending on which heart rate training zone you are aiming for.
 
http://www.sarkproducts.com/targetzonecalculator.htm