How to Increase Your Fitness and Improve Your Health

These charts should look relatively familiar to some of you. It hangs in every gym I have ever been to and is probably one of the most overlooked tools in fitness training. The chart above shows how to calculate your ideal training heart rate. Each one of the zones on the left hand side of the chart is utilized for different training. These zones include the red zone, the anaerobic threshold, the aerobic threshold, the temperature or more commonly known as the fat burning zone and last but not least, the healthy heart zone. So, did you know that all those hours logged at the gym could be going to waste because you're not utilizing your heart rate? Let's see how you did.... Contact us for more weight loss tips for your own personalized weight loss program....

Let’s talk first on how to take your heart rate. The first, which most of us have done in high school gym class, is place two fingers on the neck, just to the side of the larynx. Secondly, you can place a hand across the chest. Thirdly, you can place two fingers across the wrist, at the base of the thumb. You should watch the clock for 10 seconds and count how many beats, then multiply this number by 6, giving you yo ur beats per minute. My personal favorite, what I call the lazy ......

Man’s way to take your heart rate, is to purchase a heart rate monitor. This is one of the fastest and most consistent ways to keep tabs on what zone your heart rate is within. Keep in mind when I say a heart rate monitor, I do not mean the monitor on a piece of equipment at the gym. This is by far one of the least accurate ways to test your heart rate. The reason being, that most people when they get on a piece of cardio equipment do not enter all the necessary information into the machine, for example, age, weight, etc.

Secondly, next time you go to the gym I want you to take a test. I want you to get on the treadmill start running and then jump off by placing both feet on either side of the treadmill pad, on the rails.

Amazingly, the treadmill’s heart rate monitor does not stop and continues to tell you that you are working as well as utilizing calories as though you were still on the treadmill. Therefore, a personal heart rate monitor is the best way to stay as close to accurate as possible.

So, now you ask, how does it take your heart rate? Well by placing a strap, no thicker than a bra band, around the chest and wearing a watch that reads the strap, you are able to literally “watch” your heart rate go up and down. By using this you can gage when you are not working hard enough or you are working too hard depending on your fitness goal.

I currently use a polar monitor which I have had for the last 5 years, it just lasts forever. They range anywhere from 50 dollars to 250 dollars, depending on what features you need. Check them out at polarusa.com.

Each zone is specific to a fitness need and should be utilized depending on your fitness goal. Many times I have people tell me, “I do cardio.” All cardio is not necessarily good cardio. Why work out longer when you can work out smarter, and for a shorter period of time? So, my response is usually, “where is your heart rate?”, or, “do you use a manual program?”

When people get on a machine and press

start or quick start what they might not realize is that the program that comes across their screen is usually straight across, meaning no hills or valleys. This is not a good sign since this program will typically keep your heart rate the same throughout the entire session and not necessarily challenge the body to push through “comfort zones”. Therefore, I recommend for best results if you do not want to get a heart rate monitor is to place the machine, a treadmill or elliptical for example, on a random or interval program. These programs will force you to have to work harder. In addition to this, it is important to adjust the level and resistance.

Alright, so which zone is right for you? The heart healthy zone is used most frequently throughout our everyday lives. We do this by walking swiftly, or by light intensity exercise such as climbing a small flight of stairs. This zone between 50 and 60 percent helps you to reduce your risk of disease, reduce blood pressure and cholesterol. This zone helps to keep you healthy but it does not help your cardiovascular system advance in improving endurance or strength or muscle conditioning.

The second zone, the temperature zone or the fat burning zone helps us use calories from fat stores as opposed to carbohydrate stores. Meaning that up to 85 percent of the calories burned during a session will come from fat stores. If you burn 100 calories, 85 will come from fat. This zone from 60 to 70 percent of your max heart rate is still a low amount of effort, a slow jog, speed walking up a hill, or walking up 50 steps. It is important to remember that when the body searches for fuel to exert energy it will either come from fat or carbohydrate stores depending on heart rate. If your goal is to lose fat, you should stay in the fat burning zone for at least 75 to 80 percent of your workout. Then use the other 15-20 percent of the workout to help increase endurance and increase fitness levels by using the aerobic threshold.

The aerobic threshold which is between 70 and 80 percent of your max heart rate helps to increase the number and size of blood vessels, lung capacity, respiratory rate, the heart increases in size and in strength, and overall it increases your endurance. People on average use this zone the most. The ratio of calories coming from fat and carbohydrates is approximately 50-50 percent.

The anaerobic threshold is between 80 and 90 percent of your max heart rate. In this zone you are working HARD. During this zone are unable to supply enough blood and oxygen to the muscles and your muscles contract anaerobically, to cause a lactic acid build up in the muscle. This is the burning sensation that makes you want to turn down the level and resistance. The muscles protect themselves by not being able to continue at this high level by fatiguing. This level is usually maintained no longer than an hour before the muscles fatigue.

The last level is the red zone, between 90 and 100 percent. This zone primarily burns carbohydrates, because the body is working at an intense level. This is generally not a long lasting zone and is used in interval training to help gain performance, strength and overall endurance. This zone is all out, where you are literally going 100 percent effort, where there is nothing left to give.

Now that you know about each zone, you need to know how to find it for yourself. So the general rule of thumb is that you need to find your maximal heart rate, which is 220 minus your age. Let’s say Suzie Q is 30, her max heart rate would be 190. Then you go up to the chart and across the top to find 190. The numbers in the column below are the numbers that Suzie Q will use to keep her heart rate in check for her fitness goals.

I hope many of you find this interesting as well as helpful. If anything, I hope you keep a closer eye on your heart rate or go out and buy a heart rate monitor! Good luck and happy interval training. See for yourself, weight loss can be easy with an in home personal training program, DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY FOR YOU!!