How to Calculate and Use Your Training Heart Rate

Video Transcript

"An important aspect in designing a cardiovascular program is to know what your target heart rate is. My name is Alice Monsaert and I'm going to give you an easy formula today to figure out what your target heart rate is based on your age. In the fitness industry for years we have been using a simple calculation of 220 minus your age which gives us the maximum heart rate. Now it is nearly impossible to work at maximum heart rate or 100% of your heart rate for a very long period of time so we take a percentage of that and for a healthy individual we are going to multiply that number times .6 which we would be working at 60% of maximum heart rate. We are going to take a 40 year old person today and do their target heart rate for 60% so if we subtract 40 from 220 we get 180, multiply that by 6 and we get 108 beats per minute so if you have a heart rate monitor on or you want to check your pulse during your cardiovascular activity then you would need to be at about 108 beats per minute for an extended period of time to get a training effect on the heart. In the fitness industry we are kind of moving away from that and going more with perceived which means how does your workout really feel for you? On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being very easy, perhaps sitting on the couch and 10 being an all out effort where you have got to run away from someone, we want to work at about a 4 to a 7. So something that is comfortably challenging, something that is going to allow you to extend your heart rate, your target heart rate for about 20 to 30 minutes and over the course of time that will have a training effect on the heart, make the heart and lungs much stronger and you'll be a more fit person. So again target heart rate or rating of perceived exertion or your cardiovascular fitness program. This is Alice. Stay healthy and I'll see you next time."