Heart Rate Training - Target Heart Rate Training Zone to burn Fat

Heart Rate Training using a heart rate monitor or manual method is the quickest and most reliable way to train for in your Target Heart Rate Zone. Burn fat, lose weight and get fitter with Heart Rate Training now!

Professional athletes use it, top athletic coaches use it and now so can you. Its called a Heart Rate monitor and will help you a long way in training in your target zone training workouts. I will also explain how to train in your Heart Rate Zone even without a monitor!

In this article I will show you how to use your own Heart Rate to monitor your fitness workouts, track progress of your workouts and make sure your training burns fat and gets your heart fit.
 

What is Heart Rate Training?

Heart rate training is a workout regimen in which you exercise in such a way and at such a level that you reach and sustain your target heart rate for much of the workout time.

Heart rate training is intended to strengthen the muscle that is your heart, and in so doing cause the body to use oxygenated blood more efficiently and get more of it to your cells. This stimulates an increased metabolic rate, something desired by athletes in training as well as people seeking to lose weight without starving themselves to death.
 

Target Heart Rate

Needless to say, you will need to know what your target heart rate is for doing heart rate training. The easiest way to find your target heart rate is take the number 220 if you are male or the number 226 if you are female and from this number subtract your age. The resulting number is your maximum heart rate (measured in beats per minute).

Target Heart rate = 220 minus your age in years for men and 226 minus your age in years for women.

If you don't want age to be as much of a factor, you can use the somewhat more complex and goal-specific Karvonen Formula.

Once you know your maximum heart rate, you need to decide what training zone you are in (your training zone is defined by your personal heart rate training goals).


Weight Loss Training Zones

If you are engaging in a heart rate training regimen to lose weight, then your training zone will be one of the lowest two.

The first training zone is the Healthy Heart Zone. In this zone, you are more interested in just losing weight and feeling more energetic. Take your maximum heart rate and multiply that number by 50 to 60 percent (.50 or .60). The result is the heart rate, or number of beats per minute, that you want to get your heart rate up to in your workout. This zone is ideal for novice heart rate exercisers and for people who have gotten way out of shape and are re-training, and it has a low risk of injury. You want to sustain this heart rate for about 12 minutes.

The next level up from the Healthy Heart training zone is the Fitness Zone. This zone has similar goals to the Healthy Heart Zone but you are now seeking to actually get more fit, not just lose or keep off weight, so there is some more intensity to the workouts. Your target heart rate in this zone is 60 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate. (Multiply your maximum heart rate by .60 or .70). You want to sustain this heart rate for 20 minutes.


Heart Rate Training Zones for Athletes

If you are already fit and are now getting involved in a sport or you wish to improve your athletic performance in your sport(s), you will be in one of the three higher heart rate training zones. In the lower two, your goal is to sustain the target heart rate for 30 to 60 minutes.

The lowest of these three is the Aerobic Zone. In the Aerobic Zone, the goal is to increase your endurance, meaning you can perform a physical task such as distance running at a high level for a longer period of time before you become winded or "burned out" and have to slow down or stop. In the process of increasing your endurance, you will strengthen and actually enlarge your heart (an enlarged heart can take in and pump out more blood per beat). The target heart rate in this zone is anywhere from 70 to 80 percent of your maximum heart rate.

In this and the other athletic training zones, your body begins burning less fat for its caloric fuel (which means it will begin burning off protein, so that muscles get torn down--only to rebuild during rest and recovery, and in the rebuilding grow stronger than they were before).

The next level up is the Anaerobic Zone (aerobic means "with oxygen" and anaerobic is the opposite, meaning "without oxygen", referring to the amount of stress placed on the muscles during the workouts). The goals in this zone are to elevate what is called your VO2 maximum, which is the most oxygen you are capable of taking in during the workout (sometimes called your "heart rate reserve"), and increase your muscles' tolerance for lactic acid buildup (which naturally happens during higher level exercise) so that you will breathe better, have even higher endurance and strength, and make faster recoveries from becoming winded.

The highest training zone is called the Red Line. The heart rate goal here is 90 percent of or all of your maximum heart rate in order to reach for elite athletic performance. This workout is worked up to and then is only sustained for a short period of time such as two minutes. Only already well-trained athletes should even attempt to reach this goal, and the risk of injury is higher than in any other zone.


Your Ideal Heart Rate

Your ideal heart rate is what your target heart rate is if you base it on age and resting heart rate.

To get your resting heart rate, measure your heart rate upon first getting out of bed in the morning for three days in a row. Add all the numbers together and divide the total by three. This is considered to be your resting heart rate. (To measure your heart rate, place the tips of your index and middle fingers against your carotid artery on the side of your neck. Look at a clock or watch for exactly six seconds, counting the number of beats during that time. Then multiply the count by 10.)

Now take the number 220 (if male) or 226 (if female) and subtract your resting heart rate. Divide this difference by 2. Now add your resting heart rate back on to the resulting number. This number is your ideal heart rate.

Ideal heart rates are used to reduce the risk of serious injury or inducing heart attacks from doing workouts that your body isn't fit enough to handle. Depending on your fitness level and training zone, you may spend the bulk of your workout time at your ideal heart rate instead of a training zone's target heart rate.


Aerobics for Heart Rate Training

Aerobic fitness exercises are the perfect heart rate training exercises for the average person who wants to remain physically fit, energized, and looking her best without becoming a serious athlete. "Striding", jogging, running, stair climbing, bicycling, in-line skating, swimming, rowing, dancing, and playing racquetball or squash are the best aerobic exercises (aerobics classes are basically running-in-place and dance mixed together).

These are covered in the Best Aerobic Exercises Section.


A Brief note on Heart Rate Monitors

Some athletes and exercisers like to use electronic heart monitors to let them be more precisely aware of their heart rate level throughout their workout without having to be distracted by thinking about it or briefly stopping to take their heart rate.

Most of these monitors work by having an electrode placed on the chest, against the skin, during the workout, an electrode which is connected back to a small monitor worn typically on the wrist. The electrode sends electronic impulses to the monitor and the monitor displays the current heart rate. Some monitors can be programmed to give off a signal such as a beep when a target heart rate is reached or dropped out of. However, it is not necessary to heart rate training that you use a heart monitor.


FIVE TIPS FOR GETTING STARTED RIGHT AWAY WITH HEART RATE TRAINING

1. Consult your doctor to see what training zone you should begin with.

2. Look into hiring a fitness coach to help encourage as well as push you.

3. Choose the exercises or sports that seem the most interesting to you and that you want to begin with and do some background reading about them. If you are a workout novice, the best things to begin with are striding, jogging, or bicycling. Also research energy-rich diets.

4. Once you have chosen your workout regimen, write out your workout schedule for at least the next month and commit to sticking to it barring emergency. If you are a beginner, you want to do your workouts three times a week for at least 20 minutes at a time. Once you are more advanced you want to do your workouts five or more times per week for up to an hour or maybe even longer.

5. Always make sure you stretch thoroughly before you begin any workout to diminish the risk of injury and to increase your muscles' power through greater elasticity.

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