The Quick Guide To Running Heart Rate Zones
Understanding your running heart rate zones, before, during, and at peak exercise will help you become a better runner. Its why you see more and more running watches incorporating this feature even in the base models.
Heart rate training prevents you from running too hard or too easy, allowing you to recover better, enhance performance, and reduce the risk of overtraining.
Step 1 is understanding YOUR personal heart rate zones for training and then more importantly how to effectively use them. Because running data without a purpose is just another number to fret over.
Find Your Exact Maximum Heart Rate
Our research shows that the variation in maximum heart rate within age groups is fairly large. Genetics contribute more to maximum heart rate than physical fitness. Therefore, it’s hard to make a calculator that can estimate maximum heart rate precisely, and we recommend all of you who want to find your real HRmax to test yourself by pushing yourself to exhaustion:
If you don’t have a heart rate monitor, you can measure the maximum heart rate by holding two fingers to your neck for 30 seconds right after finishing the test. Double the number you get to find your HRmax.
Target Heart Rate Zones For Training
As described above you can use Zone training to run your best race.
Its going to involve finding a training plan that lists your workouts in Zones or understanding that 80% of your runs should be easy which means Zone 1 and 2.
That final 20% is where you work through the upper zones in those hard speed work days.
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Its Even Easier With This Heart Rate Calculator:
Lets use a 35-year old person as an example:
- max heart rate = 220 35
- max heart rate = 185
- target heart rate for max performance = max heart rate x .85
- target heart rate = 185 x .85
- target heart rate = approx. 157
Getting healthy and staying fit requires training in an appropriate heart rate zone. The easiest way to do this is by wearing a heart rate monitor or smartwatch. Many of the most popular devices are compatible with the adidas Running and adidas Training apps to make tracking your health and fitness easy and fun.
The app guides your workouts so that you are always in the most effective heart rate zone for your unique body.
Based On Age And Gender
What is the maximum heart rate of a man or a woman of a specific age?target heart rate ranges
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Target Heart Rates Chart
What should your heart rate be when working out, and how can you keep track of it? Our simple chart will help keep you in the target training zone, whether you want to lose weight or just maximize your workout. Find out what normal resting and maximum heart rates are for your age and how exercise intensity and other factors affect heart rate.
Calculate Maximum Heart Rate With A Field Test
Its not a coincidence that this comes as number 3. Field tests should only be attempted by athletes with a solid aerobic foundation who know what they are doing. Inexperienced athletes are better off estimating their Max HR and structuring the training process first, before pushing the body to the limit.
Some beginner athletes may not even be able to exercise 20 minutes non-stop, let alone go full gas for that amount of time. This can cause a variety of injuries .
In fact, beginners may not even get the full benefit from the test. The test will require a lot of mental strength , because such level of suffering is hard to maintain.
Beginners will quit or slow down long before they reach their true maximum capacity.
For everyone else tests below are listed in an order of increasing complexity from easiest to more complex.
For optimal results, each of these tests requires total freshness. Avoid scheduling any intense sessions at least 2 days before the test and get enough sleep beforehand.
Also, do a thorough warm up for these sessions, as youre going to go really hard. Most optimal would be to include both:
- 10 minutes of full-body exercises, taking all joints through a full range of motion and
- a 10-15 minute jog with 4×20-second gradual speed pick-ups. Aim to reach & maintain maximum speed for the last 5 seconds.
Obviously, adjust the warmup according to your sport
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Maximum Heart Rate Calculator
With our HRmax Calculator you can estimate your maximum heart rate based on age and gender. Knowing your own maximum heart rate is important in your own personal exercise training. It is also of great importance for exercise stress testing to uncover cardiovascular disease. Our calculator will only give a rough estimate, and we also give recommendations on how to find your real maximum heart rate with an exhaustive exercise test.
Measuring Your Resting Heart Rate
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How Do I Get My Heart Rate In The Target Zone
When you work out, are you doing too much or not enough? Theres a simple way to know: Your target heart rate helps you hit the bullseye so you can get max benefit from every step, swing and squat. Even if youre not a gym rat or elite athlete, knowing your heart rate can help you track your health and fitness level.
Calculate Your Aerobic Training Heart
This fat-burning range will lie between 50 and 75 percent of your heart-rate reserve.
Using the example above, 50 percent of 100 beats per minute is 50. And 75 percent of 100 is 75. Next, add your resting heart rate to both numbers: 50 + 80 = 130 and 75 + 80 = 155. Therefore, during aerobic training, the heart rate that will most efficiently burn fat is 130 to 155 beats per minute.
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How To Measure Your Own Pulse
There are different methods for determining individual values. The first of these is measuring by hand, by placing with the index, middle and ring finger on the throat, and counting the beats for 15 seconds. Then multiply this value by four and you have your heart rate. This method is useful for determining your resting heart rate. This should ideally be measured in the morning after waking up, since at this time we are not yet really active. You can also wear a sports watch with a heart rate strap and determine your heart rate in real time.
This method of pulse measurement can also be used for determining the maximum heart rate. As a rule you should do maximum capacity training under medical supervision, for what is known as a performance diagnostic, which means that you are subjected to increasingly high stresses on a treadmill undergoes, until you finally reach a performance dropout. The pulse at this point is defined as the maximum heart rate.
Since not everyone wants to run in order to get a performance diagnostic, which is also too expensive for most, there are different calculation models to help you try to determine your maximum pulse using approximations.
Why Calculate Max Heart Rate
Calculating max heart rate is necessary for heart rate training and understanding what your heart rate zones are. Once you know what your max HR is, you can then monitor your heart rate while exercising and track what percentage of your max you hit during certain workouts and activities.
Different percentages of your max HR represent various heart rate training zones, which are useful to target depending on what your goals are. For example, as you can see in the chart below, exercising at 70-80% of your max heart rate is good for improving your overall level of aerobic fitness.
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How To Determine Your Maximum Heart Rate
Did you know you can calculate your highest heart rate? There are several ways to calculate exercise intensity. However, using your highest heart rate to create target training zones is the most familiar and dependable method. Below we provide you with a concise overview of how to estimate your max heart rate.
Cross Referencing Max Heart Rate Calculations
While we know these calculations are reasonably accurate, my suggestion is to wear a heart rate monitor when you go to the gym to workout. Keep an eye on your heart rate throughout your workout and see how you respond to various exercise intensities. If you are in pretty good shape, you can run on the treadmill for 15-20 minutes, than at the end really sprint hard for 1-2 minutes. Whatever your heart rate shows at the end of that sprint, add another 5 beats per minute and thats a pretty decent estimate of your max heart rate.
Another even easier way is if you are breathing extremely hard during a workout so that you cant even talk at all, youre probably within 5-10 bpm of your max heart rate. For me, after a set of walking lunges with a lot of weight, my heart rate jumps through the roof and Im pretty close to my max.
In future posts, I will go into more depth about how to use training zones to help you get leaner, and give you some sample cardio training workouts.
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Meters Of Indoor Rowing
We base the test on your best time on an indoor rower over a 2000-meter distance. If youve never used a machine like this before, practice with it first. Use the damper setting that provides the best 2000-meter result. You must choose your sex and weight, as well as your training level, in the calculator. We recommend selecting Highly trained if you have been rowing for several years, training at least four days per week, and executing a range of workouts. Otherwise, select Not well trained if you are more of a fitness rower who does not push the limits when exercising and rowing.
How To Calculate Target And Maximum Heart Rates
You can calculate your target and maximum heart rates using the formula below.
To determine your maximum heart rate, subtract your age from 220. Your target heart rate zone is determined based upon your maximum heart rate. You want to stay within 5075 percent of your maximum heart rate during exercise, depending upon your fitness level.
To find your target heart rate, multiply your maximum heart rate by 0.50. This will give you the low range number.
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Why Should You Calculate Your Maximum Heart Rate
Heart rate-based training enables you to run at the right intensity in order to reach your training goals. In other words, training smart is better than always training hard.
Training intensity is divided into five heart rate zones from very light to maximum intensity. The heart rate zones are calculated as percentages of your maximum heart rate.
To determine your personal heart rate zones, you first need to know or estimate your maximum heart rate.
For example, within heart rate zone 4, youll be training at 8190% of your HR max and increasing your maximum performance capacity.
Alternatively, at heart rate zone 3 , youll be training at the slightly reduced level of 71-80% of your HR but you will still be improving the efficiency of blood circulation.
To determine your personal heart rate zones, you first need to know or estimate your maximum heart rate.
What Is A Good Running Heart Rate
The average heart rate varies from person to person and is based on a number of factors, including:
- Age
- Genetics
- Caffeine intake
Research has also shown that dehydration, temperature, altitude, and even time of day can affect heart rate
What that means is that heart rate can change from one day to the next, so take an average of your heart rate in the beginning so you can learn more about how your body reacts to different stress.
This can also make HR training frustrating for many runners because they are suddenly doing easy runs at a much slower pace, but in return the body is recovering faster and ensuring you have energy to go hard on speed work days.
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Resting Heart Rate And Maximum Heart Rate
The two opposite poles of the heart rate are the resting heart rate and the maximum heart rate. As the name suggests, the resting heart rate is the heartbeat at rest. In healthy adults this should be between 50 and 100. Trained athletes can fall below this range and achieve a minimum heart rate of 30 beats per minute. But if you have a resting heart rate of over 100 beats per minute, this is known as tachycardia, and you should get checked out by your doctor.
The maximum heart rate on the other hand indicates the upper limit which our heartbeat can reach. The maximum heart rate is a very individual value and is dependent on age, gender, genetic predisposition, training level and daily variation. Because of this high level of variability, it is not possible to make exact predictions about whether a high maximum heart rate is good or bad. You should however exercise caution. If you trains for too long or too often in the maximum heart rate zone, this can quickly lead to a overtraining. For hobby athletes doing interval training once or a short training session at a continuous intensity is sufficient.
Calculate Max Heart Rate
To identify your personal target heart rate zone, you must first calculate your maximum heart rate. The easiest and safest way to calculate your maximum heart rate is using the Karvonen Method: 220 your age = your maximum heart rate. This method is accurate enough for most people and is a good starting point to base your heart rate zone training.
Then, you will need to take 85% of your maximum heart rate in order to find out your target heart rate zone for maximum performance.
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How To Calculate Your Target Heart Rate
This article was co-authored by Steve Bergeron. Steve Bergeron is a Personal Trainer, Strength Coach, and the Co-Owner of AMP Fitness in Boston, Massachusetts. With over a decade of experience, Steve specializes in educating, guiding, and empowering his clients to develop healthy habits and reach their individual fitness goals. He holds a BS in Exercise Physiology and is an NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach , ASCM Health and Fitness Specialist , Strong First Kettlebell Coach , and Certified Functional Movement Screen Specialist . AMP Fitness mission is to create a community that is inclusive and gives people the tools and support they need to succeed.There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, 80% of readers who voted found the article helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 2,673,636 times.
Do you want to get the most out of those 35 minutes on the treadmill, or any kind of cardio exercise? You can maximize the benefits of cardiovascular activity when you exercise in the zone of your target heart rate . All you need to get started is a calculator and a pulse. There are quick and easy ways to get good estimates of your target heart rate zones, but if you want to get the most reliable measurements possible without any fancy equipment, follow this formula.