It is important for overall health to know when you can train hard, and when you should give your body a bit of a break. One of the most effective ways to do this is by understanding your own individual heart rate patterns. By understanding some basic terms and concepts about heart rate, you will be able to exercise more effectively and reduce injury and over training.
To design and implement any sort of serious exercise program it is essential to understand your own heart rate, maximum heart rate, anaerobic thresholds and your resting heart rate.
Heart rate refers to the speed at which your heart pumps blood. It is measured in beats per minute (bpm). As your body requires more blood your heart pumps faster. However, it also pumps faster when you are stressed, sick or your system is ineffective, so be wary of always pushing yourself hard.
The measure of your baseline health and fitness is your resting heart rate. This shows how hard your heart has to work just in order to maintain your body without any extra demands on it. One of the most important reasons to exercise is to train your body to be able to do more with less effort. As such, generally speaking, as you get fitter, your resting heart rate will go down. Your heart will be able to pump more blood with less effort.
Because of this, it is important to know your resting heart rate at the beginning of a new fitness program, so that you will be able to see how much your fitness improves and current fitness levels.
It is very simple to measure your resting heart rate. All you need is a clock that counts seconds. The best time to take your resting heart rate is as soon as you wake up, before you have gotten out of bed. However, it can also be taken after any extended period of lying down with no movement, such as watching TV.
There are two places you can easily find your pulse. First is the radial artery on your wrist just below your thumb. This is not as strong, but easy to find. Remember to only use your index and middle finger to feel for the artery, as your thumb has its own pulse and can confuse the counting. The other place is your carotid artery in your neck, which can be found on either side of your throat.
Once you have found the pulse and can count it, time yourself for ten seconds and count the number of beats, starting at 'zero'. Multiple this number by 10 and you have the beats per minutes. You can also use other divisions of 60 such as 10 seconds and multiple by 6, or 30 and times by 2 etc.
A general guide is that a resting heart rate below 60 means you are very fit. 60-80 is average, and 81-100 is high but still okay. If your resting heart rate is consistently over 101bpm, this is not very good and you should think about seeing your doctor.
It is best to record your heart rate every morning for a week to try and get an average as its quite easy to have an unusual reading, such as waking up after a nightmare, or falling back asleep as you count.
Finally, if you are a serious athlete, or are starting a new program which will push you hard, you should be taking your resting heart rate every morning before getting up to work out. The reason for this is that generally your resting heart rate will increase around 10bpm if your body is trying to fight illness or is overtrained. If you are registering higher than usual heart rates, you need to think about having an easier training session that day.
To design and implement any sort of serious exercise program it is essential to understand your own heart rate, maximum heart rate, anaerobic thresholds and your resting heart rate.
Heart rate refers to the speed at which your heart pumps blood. It is measured in beats per minute (bpm). As your body requires more blood your heart pumps faster. However, it also pumps faster when you are stressed, sick or your system is ineffective, so be wary of always pushing yourself hard.
The measure of your baseline health and fitness is your resting heart rate. This shows how hard your heart has to work just in order to maintain your body without any extra demands on it. One of the most important reasons to exercise is to train your body to be able to do more with less effort. As such, generally speaking, as you get fitter, your resting heart rate will go down. Your heart will be able to pump more blood with less effort.
Because of this, it is important to know your resting heart rate at the beginning of a new fitness program, so that you will be able to see how much your fitness improves and current fitness levels.
It is very simple to measure your resting heart rate. All you need is a clock that counts seconds. The best time to take your resting heart rate is as soon as you wake up, before you have gotten out of bed. However, it can also be taken after any extended period of lying down with no movement, such as watching TV.
There are two places you can easily find your pulse. First is the radial artery on your wrist just below your thumb. This is not as strong, but easy to find. Remember to only use your index and middle finger to feel for the artery, as your thumb has its own pulse and can confuse the counting. The other place is your carotid artery in your neck, which can be found on either side of your throat.
Once you have found the pulse and can count it, time yourself for ten seconds and count the number of beats, starting at 'zero'. Multiple this number by 10 and you have the beats per minutes. You can also use other divisions of 60 such as 10 seconds and multiple by 6, or 30 and times by 2 etc.
A general guide is that a resting heart rate below 60 means you are very fit. 60-80 is average, and 81-100 is high but still okay. If your resting heart rate is consistently over 101bpm, this is not very good and you should think about seeing your doctor.
It is best to record your heart rate every morning for a week to try and get an average as its quite easy to have an unusual reading, such as waking up after a nightmare, or falling back asleep as you count.
Finally, if you are a serious athlete, or are starting a new program which will push you hard, you should be taking your resting heart rate every morning before getting up to work out. The reason for this is that generally your resting heart rate will increase around 10bpm if your body is trying to fight illness or is overtrained. If you are registering higher than usual heart rates, you need to think about having an easier training session that day.
About the Author:
Now that you know about resting heart rate, find out how to calculate your maximum heart rate. For more fitness advice and programs, see my blog at http://fitbuster.blogspot.com.au - Testing the best and worst of fitness programs and fads.
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