Get Weight Loss Results Faster with Heart Rate Training

To get the most out of a fitness program and reach your goals sooner, you should know that keeping up with your heart rate is vital. Yet, you can take it to another level. Instead of just monitoring what your heart rate is during a workout, you can use these numbers continually throughout your workout and do heart rate training. Heart rate training is when you keep up with your heart rate so you can take your body into different heart rate zones during your workout. Heart rate training is becoming the preferred method of exercise for many people because exercise goals are met sooner and more efficiently.

To start heart rate training you must know what your maximum heart rate is as it will be the number that you use to determine your heart rate zones. However, before you get started learning what your maximum heart rate is, you should realistically judge which fitness category you fall within:

Poor Shape: You haven’t exercised in the past two months. Fair Shape: You do aerobic activity at least twenty minutes, or walk one mile or more, at least three times a week. Good Shape: You run at least five miles per week or you exercise almost every daily.

Do the following test to help you see what range your maximum heart rate will be in.

One Mile Walking Test: Use a treadmill or go to a track where you can accurately walk one mile. Walk at a steady and even pace. The last quarter of your mile you should take your heart rate. If you listed your fitness level as poor, add 40 to this number. If you listed your fitness level as fair, add 50 to this number. If you listed your fitness level as good, add 60 to this number.

Now that you have determined your maximum heart rate, or maximum heart rate zone, you can start heart rate training. The most efficient and easiest way to monitor your heart rate during a workout is to use a treadmill, or other equipment, that is equipped with a heart rate control monitor. It will be your guide to let you know which heart rate zone you are in while you are working out. Using them will take the guess work out of your heart rate and let you know exactly where your heart rate is at any given moment. Machines, like treadmills, that come with heart rate control monitors act as your personal trainers and the numbers tell you whether you should maintain your pace, slow down a bit, or step it up a notch depending on your current heart rate zone.

Various Heart Rate Training Zones

The good news about heart rate training is it is short and intense. Routines should last between 20-30 minutes and you should rotate in and out of your individual heart rate zones throughout.

Healthy Heart Zone: You feel comfortable and your heart rate is at 50%-60% of your maximum heart rate.

Fitness Zone: You find it is getting a little harder to talk and you are breathing heavier. You heart rate is at 60%-70% of your maximum heart rate.

Aerobic Zone: You are really stepping it up and talking is limited to short phrases only. Your heart rate is at 70%-80% of your maximum heart rate.

Anaerobic Zone: You are getting close to your maximum heart rate and your breathing is very heavy and labored. Your heart rate is at 80%-90% of your maximum heart rate.

Red Line Zone: In this zone you are at, or near, your maximum heart rate and breathing will be nearly impossible.

If you are looking for a workout routine that will help you lose weight, or reach your exercise goals sooner, consider heart rate training. To make your workout as efficient as possible, workout on a treadmill or other exercise machine, that has a heart rate monitor. Don’t waste your time trying to judge and calculate your heart rate yourself. Let the machines do the monitoring so you can focus your time on your heart rate zones.