- Maximum heart rate and resting heart rate - what are they and what is the difference between them?
- Why measure your heart rate? The importance of HRmax and HRmin for athletes
- Meaning of HRmax for people who are slimming
- Effect of training on maximum and resting heart rate
- What does the maximum and resting heart rate value for athletes say?
- How do you calculate your maximum heart rate?
- How do you calculate your resting heart rate?
- Heart rate and training zones
Every athlete who wants to achieve better and better results in his discipline should know his maximum heart rate (HRmax) and resting heart rate (HRmin). The heart rate values are also of great importance in slimming training because they determine effective fat burning. How do I calculate my maximum and resting heart rate?
Without knowing yourmaximum heart rateandrestingit is difficult to progress quickly in training, and it is difficult to lose weight effectively. Why? First of all, the heart rate shows how the body reacts to exercise, which allows you to easily track the changes taking place in it, caused by training; secondly, the range of work that our muscles are able to do during exercise is closely related to the heart rate.
If we train "blind" without knowing what we can do, we can easily overtrain or miss a chance to improve our sports results. In turn, people on a slimming basis who do not know their HRmax may not see the effects of their hard work for a long time.
In this guide, you will learn how to determine your maximum and resting heart rate, what is the importance of heart rate for people who are slimming, and how to use it to train more effectively.
Maximum heart rate and resting heart rate - what are they and what is the difference between them?
The heart rate, or pulse, according to the medical definition, is the wave movement of the arteries depending on the contractions of the heart and the elasticity of the arteries. The easiest way to test the heart rate is to put your fingers on the artery (the one that goes through the wrist, neck, thigh or under the knee) and count how many times you feel the pulsating movement of the vessel in a minute.
Heart rate fluctuates depending on many factors, including stress, emotions and physical activity. During exercise, the pulse increases, sometimes reaching even 200 beats per minute, and while resting, it has average values of approx. 70-80 beats per minute.
The highest heart rate value that can be observed in your most intense exercise ismaximum heart rate( HRmax ).Resting heart rate( HRmin ) is the lowest possible heart rate and is measured in the morning as soon as you wake up.
Sometimes the normal heart rate is also distinguished, i.e. the frequency of heart contractions that we have after getting out of bed,during daily activities. By subtracting your maximum heart rate from your resting heart rate, you can find out what your heart rate reserve is, i.e. the maximum heart rate range.
Why measure your heart rate? The importance of HRmax and HRmin for athletes
For recreational athletes who train primarily for he alth purposes rather than for better and better performance, knowing HRmax and HRmin will likely not make much difference. After all, it is worth knowing at least the approximate value of your maximum heart rate, if only to control the condition of your body during training.
Sometimes an excessively elevated pulse during moderate exercise is a signal that something is wrong with the body and you should reduce the intensity of exercise or give it up altogether.
However, if we are focused on continuous progress and increasing our exercise capacity, knowing your own HRmax and HRmin is almost an obligation. This is for at least two reasons:
- HRmax allows you to achieve your training goals more easily- for beginners, the goal may be, for example, to initially improve performance, for advanced people to learn to run at the marathon pace, and for people who are slimming - effective loss of calories. All this can be achieved if we adjust our heart rate to the type of training focused on each of the above-mentioned goals. The starting point is always HRmax, because it is used to calculate the optimal training load for our body.
- HRmin and HRmax allow you to track the progress of training- based on periodic changes in the values of maximum and resting heart rate, conclusions can be drawn as to the improvement or deterioration of our endurance. This way we know if the training gives the desired results.
Meaning of HRmax for people who are slimming
People who want to lose weight should exercise with heart rate in the range of 60-70% HRmax. Exercise in this training zone accelerates metabolism, and thus contributes to more effective fat burning.
For training results in this heart rate zone, you should exercise at the same pace for at least 30 minutes as it takes approximately 20 minutes for the fat burning process to begin. Workouts should be extended from week to week until their total length reaches 40-60 minutes.
Effect of training on maximum and resting heart rate
Every athlete who trains regularly will experience a decrease in resting heart rate over a period of several months. This is because, as a result of regular exercise, the circulatory system is going througha series of adaptive changes that increase its efficiency. The heart becomes stronger, it can pump more blood, and so it can do the same job with less energy.
It is estimated that your resting heart rate drops 1 beats per week as a result of aerobic training. After 10-20 weeks this value stabilizes and amounts to about 50 beats per minute.
Physical effort also reduces the maximum heart rate, but it is not a constant relationship over time. A decrease in HRmax in athletes is observed during the period of increased preparation for the competition, but after training, this value returns to its average level.
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What does the maximum and resting heart rate value for athletes say?
As mentioned, the lower the resting heart rate, the higher the athlete's aerobic capacity and exercise capacity. In professional athletes, HRmin can be as high as 30 beats per minute, which proves that their cardiovascular system is adapted to very high training loads.
However, if there is a sudden deviation from the downward trend (e.g. an increase in HRmin by 10 beats overnight), it could be a signal that your body is becoming inflamed. Then it is better to give up intensive training. A resting heart rate significantly lower than the average may be a symptom of overtraining. This symptom is usually associated with fatigue quickly and inability to achieve high HRmax.
Maximum heart rate decreases with age, especially in people who are not physically active. The average HRmax of women is lower than the HRmax of men.
Maximum heart rate is generally not a measure of an athlete's aerobic capacity. In fact, its amount is genetically determined and, to a lesser extent, it depends on the discipline being practiced. The highest HRmax is recorded for cross-country runners, and lower for long-distance runners, cyclists and swimmers. Therefore, comparing your HRmax with that of other athletes is pointless as it is not an indicator of your fitness.
Find out how to choose the best heart rate monitor for your needstraining:
This will be useful to youHow do you calculate your maximum heart rate?
The simplest, but also the least accurate method of calculating your HRmax is to use the formula:HRmax=220 - age . This wayhowever, it is characterized by a very high error limit - the difference between the actual HRmax and the calculated one can be as much as 20 beats / min.
A more precise formula for calculating HRmax (error limit is 5%) was invented by triathlete and runner Sally Edwards, who introduced the division into HRmax for women and HRmax for men:
women: HRmax=210 - (0.5 x age) - (0.022 x weight in kg)
men: HRmax=210 - (0.5 x age) - (0.022 x weight in kg) + 4
The most accurate result can be obtained only by an exercise test carried out in a laboratory with the use of a special apparatus measuring all respiratory parameters - a spiroergometer. In addition to your maximum heart rate, the device can calculate VO2max, metabolic thresholds and individual training zones.
How do you calculate your resting heart rate?
You should have a heart rate monitor to measure your resting heart rate. If we do not have it at hand, you can check the pulse by traditionally placing two fingers on the artery in the wrist, neck, elbow or under the knee. We measure the heart rate by counting the pulsating movements felt under the fingers for a minute (a watch with a second hand will be useful for accurate measurement).
The most important thing, however, is the time of measuring - we do it right after waking up, still lying in bed. The measurement should take a minimum of 5 minutes - the lowest recorded heart rate value will be our HRmin. It is important not to conduct intensive training the day before the measurement, as it may distort the result.
Heart rate and training zones
Training zones are heart rate ranges in which exercise has different effects on the body. Choose the right zone for you depending on your training goal.
| Zone |
% HRmax | Suggested duration | Training characteristics |
|
1 (very light) | 50-59% | 20-40 minutes |
|
|
2 (light) | 60-69% | 40-80 minutes |
|
|
3 (moderate) | 70-79% | 10-40 minutes |
|
|
4 (intense) | 80-89% | 2 - 10 minutes |
|
|
5 (maximum) | 90-100% | under 5 minutes |
|