Heart Rate Monitor and Exercise:
Control Your Heart Rate

If you’re a regular gym enthusiast, you’d probably have noticed rather large watches on people’s forearms and perhaps even heard the strange ticking as they go by. These people are working out using a heart rate monitor — a great way to monitor their fitness and keep within their body’s own aerobic activity zone.

A heart rate monitor basically measures the pulse rate of an individual’s heart using a telemetry strap that is strapped across the chest. This strap then interacts with a special watch or exercise equipment to display the results and let you know what your current heart rate is.

A heart rate monitor is a great tool to monitor safe and effective fitness training for your cardiovascular system.

A lot of the cardiovascular equipment in the gym is also equipped with a heart rate reader which measures your pulse in your hand and displays it on screen.

Your heart rate will help you determine if you are training too low and if you should push yourself harder or if you’re working your heart into the danger zone. It’s a great tool that can benefit anyone, irrespective of your fitness level.

To determine your maximum heart rate, take 220 and subtract your age. For example, if you are 25 years old your maximum heart rate would be 220 – 25 = 195bpm (beats per minute). This figure is the absolute maximum that a person of 25 can take their heart to. You should never push your heart to the maximum, especially if you are a beginner into physical fitness. Conditioned athletes generally have a lower heart rate when working out due to their high level of fitness.

For exercises to benefit your heart you should aim to reach about 60-70% of your maximum heart rate. Using the same example as above, a person who is 25 years old will have to get their heart rate to 117 bmp in order to be working out at 60% intensity and 136bpm to work their heart at a 70% intensity.

Author: Dimi Ingle
Copyright: Remedium. This article may not be copied, in whole or in part, without the written consent of Remedium.