In this article, we will look at heart rate training. Take a poll of why most people work out on cardio equipment. You would find 90% or more will tell you they want to lose weight or tone up. So out of those people how many do you think heart rate train? I’ll bet not many.  Some may know what their heart rate is. Chances are, they don’t know where it should really be. That’s not helping them achieve their fat loss goal in the most efficient way possible.

Heart Rate Training – How Many Calories Do You Want to Burn?

What if I asked you if you wanted to lose 400 fat calories out of 600 calories burned in an hour? What about losing only 150 fat calories out of 800 total calories burned in an hour? Which would you choose?! Hands down you would pick 400! Well then why aren’t people doing this during their workouts? It is because they do not know the benefits of heart rate training. All your top athlete’s use it. That’s because they work with exercise physiologists. They know how to get them to their top potential in the shortest time possible.

What Is Heart Rate Training?

Before you can know the benefits, you have to know what it is. It’s using your heart rate zones to monitor your workout. Your body has 5 heart rate zones. I will describe them later on. In order to heart rate train you first need a heart rate monitor. For a good basic one you will pay between $40-150. You can expect to pay up to $400+ for more advanced heart rate monitors. These are used for performance training such as triathlons or marathons. But for the general population we don’t need anything too fancy.

Next, for heart rate training, you need to find out where your heart rate should be. The heart rate charts you see on the exercise equipment are not correct (example 220-your age). As a fitness professional I can tell you that the chart is obsolete and needs to be improved. Instead you need to find your Anaerobic Threshold. This is the point in which your body stops burning fat and starts burning glucose.

If you are trying to lose body fat, this is extremely important. That’s because you could be training too hard. Just because the treadmill says you burned 800 calories doesn’t mean you burned 800 fat calories. Let’s get one thing straight. You can’t burn just fat calories. Your body burns glucose also. You can train to where you are burning the most amount of fat calories possible.

Heart Rate Training: Vo2 Max Self Test

This best and most accurate way to test your heart rate is by getting a Vo2 max test done. This can cost around $100-250. For zero cost I can get you close to your actual anaerobic threshold hold. I can do this using a formula or a self perceived test. The formula is as follows: 180-your age.

To find your heart rate training zone, take that number and add 10 if you exercise 4+ times a week. The number stays the same if you exercise 2-3 times a week. Subtract 10 if you have not been exercising. For the self perceived test: Hop on a treadmill and warm up for 3-5 minutes. Then go up to a comfortable speed for 5 more minutes. Next go up in speed every minute until you reach the point of heavy breathing. At this point make note of what your heart rate is. This is your Anaerobic Threshold.

Heart Rate Training: 5 Zones:

Zone:

1 = Warm-up/Easy

2 = Aerobic Development/Medium

3 = Aerobic Development/Hard (the top of this zone is your Anaerobic Threshold)

4 = Anaerobic Endurance/ Very hard

5 = Speed & Power/Extremely Hard (You can usually only stay in this zone for 30sec-1min at a time)

Example of Zone chart:

Heart Rate Training Zone 5	Peak 132	Peak 138	Peak 143	Peak 149	Peak 154	Peak 160	Peak 165	Peak 171	Peak 176	Peak 182	Peak 187	Peak 193	Peak 198	Peak 204	Peak 209
Heart Rate Training Zone 4	132 120	138 125	143 130	149 135	154 140	160 145	165 150	171 155	176 160	182 165	187 170	193 175	198 180	204 185	209 190
Anaerobic Threshold	120 —-	125 —-	130 —-	135 —	140 —-	145 —	150 —-	155 —-	160 —-	165 —-	170 —-	175 —-	180 —-	185 —-	190 —
Heart Rate Training Zone 3	120 108	125 113	130 117	135 122	140 126	145 131	150 135	155 140	160 144	165 149	170 153	175 158	180 162	185 167	190 171
Zone 2	108 84	113 88	117 91	122 95	126 98	131 102	135 105	140 109	144 112	149 116	153 119	158 123	162 126	167 130	171 133
Heart Rate Training Zone 1	84 72	88 75	91 78	95 81	98 84	102 87	105 90	109 93	112 96	116 99	119 102	123 105	126 108	130 111	133 114

* Lifetime fitness reserves rights to this table

Get Cardiovascular Fit

use heart rate training and get more cardio fit. The more carido fit you get, the higher your anaerobic threshold gets. So I would recommend testing your Anaerobic Threshold every 6-8 weeks. Want to burn the largest amount of fat calories? Work out in zones 2-3 for the majority of your workouts.

Want to move your Anaerobic Threshold up and improve cardiovascular endurance? Train in zones 4-5 once or twice a week. Do you train in zones 4-5 more than twice a week? I would recommend taking a rest day or an active rest day. This means working out in zones 1-2. Now that you have the tools to work out more effectively let’s get heart rate training!

By: Kristy Donathan