I have heard and read about the importance of monitoring your heart rate while working out. Even at the gym, almost every cardio machine had heart rate monitors installed on them. Whether or not they actually worked was another story. The purpose of monitoring your heart rate while you exercise is to get yourself to a level of exercise that will optimize your fat burn.
Why Would You Monitor Your Heart Rate?
According to the American Heart Association, your target heart rate should be 60% to 85% of your maximum heart rate. Exceeding your target heart rate means you are burning less fat and more carbohydrates. If you want to maximize your fat burn, a heart rate monitor can tell you if you are over exerting yourself during your workout. Some people may find this information handy so they are getting the most out of their workout.
You can find your target heart rate information below:
Target Heart Rate (American Heart Association)
Heart Rate Training Zones
Healthy Heart Zone (Warm up) --- 50 - 60% of maximum heart rate: The easiest zone and probably the best zone for people just starting a fitness program. It can also be used as a warm up for more serious walkers. This zone has been shown to help decrease body fat, blood pressure and cholesterol. It also decreases the risk of degenerative diseases and has a low risk of injury. 85% of calories burned in this zone are fats!
Fitness Zone (Fat Burning) --- 60 - 70% of maximum heart rate: This zone provides the same benefits as the healthy heart zone, but is more intense and burns more total calories. The percent of fat calories is still 85%.
Aerobic Zone (Endurance Training) --- 70 - 80% of maximum heart rate: The aerobic zone will improve your cardiovascular and respiratory system AND increase the size and strength of your heart. This is the preferred zone if you are training for an endurance event. More calories are burned with 50% from fat.
Anaerobic Zone (Performance Training) --- 80 - 90% of maximum heart rate: Benefits of this zone include an improved VO2 maximum (the highest amount of oxygen one can consume during exercise) and thus an improved cardiorespiratory system, and a higher lactate tolerance ability which means your endurance will improve and you'll be able to fight fatigue better. This is a high intensity zone burning more calories, 15 % from fat.
Red Line (Maximum Effort) --- 90 - 100% of maximum heart rate: Although this zone burns the highest number of calories, it is very intense. Most people can only stay in this zone for short periods. You should only train in this zone if you are in very good shape and have been cleared by a physician to do so.
[Source: The Walking Site]
Fitness heart rate monitors are now available as watches making it much easier to keep track of how hard you are working out.
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Omron HR-100C Heart Rate Monitor Sale Price: $32.99 Average Rating:   |
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I personally never paid attention to the heart rate monitor on my eliptical machine or any other machine for that matter. I felt that as long as I was increasing my heart rate gradually, then I was burning fat accordingly.
Heart rate monitors are a very useful training tool. RPE (rate of perceived exertion) is also a great way to measure intensity and matches up nicely to heart rate. Rate how hard you’re working on a scale of 0 to 10. A 5 = 50% max heart rate, 6 = 60% max heart rate and so on.
Heart monitors are great because it gives a more accurate calorie count than other methods. They also help you stay on track when doing cardiovascular exercises.
Heart rate monitors are quite important to anyone. It keeps you informed of how your heart is doing like your heart rate and its intensity. You are also able to keep track of your heart’s activity when doing strenuous exercises. It’s like having a personal trainer on your wrist because it counts and displays the calories that you have burned during your work out session.
HR monitors are a good tool to have in the arsenal. The ones that are on the equipment are typically junk, and are inconsistent at best. Then again, if you’re doing your cardio correctly, you don’t need one. That’s one of the great things about HIIT. It’s fast, to the point, and doesn’t bother with the myth of the “fat burning zone”.
I agree with you Todd. Heart monitor is an extra expense so what I do is just do my cardio correctly. I visit my doctor regularly too to be sure I’m in shape.
This would be an excellent purchase! I think one needs to track how they are doing and if they are not burning enough or burning too much. I’ve been wanting to get one. Now I know what to look for and the range I should be in for an effective workout. Nice article
Take care,
Jen
I love my heart rate monitor. It helps me adjust my intensity. when i train without my Heart rate monitor i feel lost.
Heart rate monitors are a good addition to your conditioning program. Is there a way to monitor respiration rate and movement?