You have read and heard of the benefits of a heart rate monitor – how it can help you keep track of your workout and maintain your heart beating at the rate it is capable of etc., how to solve your maximum heart rate and how this is important for those people with some heart condition. But this is not just the case because you can also monitor your exercise program even without heart problems and make sure you are in the correct training zone appropriate for your heart. Yes, your heart has its own training zone and this is what we will be discussing.
Zone 1 would be called the recovery zone. In this stage your heart is beating at around 40 to 60 percent of your maximum heart rate. This is a safe zone and can be attained by doing an activity such as brisk walking. This training zone lets you toughen your heart, burn fat and can reduce your cholesterol level when this level of training is maintained and done frequently. Your health is improved through this training but it will not make you on top form if that is your goal. The amount of your endurance and your strength will remain the same and will not improve at all. This is the ideal stage for people who are not in shape and want to be, if you have heart conditions or if you just want to protect your heart and its functions without overtaxing it. This is the zone you want to target if you want to recover between interval training; thus the name.
Next we have the aerobic zone. This zone utilizes around 60 to 75 percent of the heart’s maximum rate and also known as a cardiovascular training zone. This can be achieved by lots of activities and one of which is running. The overall functional capacity of your heart and body improves when you are doing training program in this zone. The capacity of your lungs and heart improves so you can do your exercises for prolonged periods.
Anaerobic zone is the next stage. This is where you will achieve maximum training for your heart. The rate would be higher than 75 percent of the maximum rate and here, endurance and strengthening training is done. For this zone, the exercise program has rest or recovery periods because the training has shorter periods. This stage can be reached by going harder and faster, of course. This is called anaerobic due to the fact that the lungs and heart, being worked hard, cannot supply the right amount of oxygen to the working muscles so they start to do their work anaerobically. This, the muscle can do but not for prolonged periods hence slowing down to the recovery zone.
Having now known all of these, you can check for yourself the zone you are in by checking your heart rate monitor. This is to ensure that you are working out at levels that you can sustain and is safe for you. You do not need to have a heart problem to get one of these monitors, in other words. They come in all shapes and sizes and in attractive colors, too, so women who are into fashion can still remain fashionable and chic while working out.
