How to determine your target heart rate

Heart Rate

The following lines will be dedicated to the heart rate, which is expressed with bpm, or the beats per minute, which shows us the number of heartbeats during a certain amount of time. Heart rate can be changed and this happens due to the alteration need of the human body for the absorption of the oxygen and the excretion of the carbon dioxide. When we sleep or exercise, our heart rate alters.Heart rate is mostly measured by athletes who need to reach certain heart rate in order to produce the best results during their exercises and physical activity. Maximum heart rate of an individual is crucial for those who are into aerobic exercising. Resting, working and recovery heart rate are thus very important for those who exercise a lot. Also, there is a scale to which you can compare your heart rate and see if your aerobic health and the wanted heart rate have been fulfilled.

How to Measure Heart Rate

Resting heart rate is the first heart rate that should be measured and it should be measured only when you are resting. There are certain times preferred for heart rate measuring and morning and time after you wake up are preferred for this kind of heart rate measuring. Men should have resting heart rate from 72 to 78 bpm, while women from 74 to 84 bpm. These numbers are considered normal.Working heart rate needs to be measured after strenuous exercising lasting no less than five minutes. You can move or march when measuring the pulse. To get the measurements in beats per minute, measure pulse for six seconds. Then put a zero on this number and you will get a working heart rate in bpm. Also, you can measure it for ten seconds and multiply the result with six to get the working heart rate.

Training or target heart rate is very important for getting the best results from your exercising activities. The best benefits from exercises are associated with range between the 55 and 85% of the maximum heart rate. In order to measure your target heart rate, subtract your age from the number 220 and multiply it with 0.55 and multiply the result with 85. The best benefits from the aerobic exercises can be attained if you reach target heart rate from 20 to 60 minutes after a warm up, from 3 to 5 times during one week. Remember to consult a doctor before starting with the exercise plan.