Calculate Your Heart Rate
To get more exact with your precision cardio, you can use a heart rate monitor in addition to evaluating your rate of perceived exertion. The heart rate monitor will tell you exactly what your heart rate is as you’re exercising, which means you can then increase or decrease your intensity to get a precise workout. Monitors are available at sporting goods stores and some department stores.
First, you’ll need to figure out the heart rate range that you should be working at. The best way to do this is to get tested by an exercise physiologist or a well trained personal trainer with ACSM or NSCA certifications. If you don’t want to do that, you can get a pretty good estimate by calculating your maximum heart rate and then calculating certain percentages of this rate to work at for your warm up and cool down, your moderate pace, and your interval pace. This will be a good starting point, though keep in mind that this calculation is based on the “average” person.
To estimate your maximum heart rate, subtract your age from 226. (Men would subtract their age from 220).
226 - your age = age-adjusted maximum heart rate.
Now, take your age-adjusted maximum heart rate and calculate the following percentages for the various parts of your workout.
60 percent for your warmup and cooldown
65 to 75 percent for your moderate pace (fat burining zone)
75 to 85 percent for your vigorous or interval pace
For instance, a 40-year-old woman’s estimated maximum heart rate is 186 (226 - 40 = 186).
60 percent of her max = 112
65 percent of her max = 121
75 percent of her max = 140
85 percent of her max = 158
Keep in mind, however, that this calculation can be off by as much as 15 beats, so use the rate of perceived exertion as well. Also take into account that your heart rate can vary depending on which activity you choose. Different activities use different skills and muscle groups during your workout program, so an experienced swimmer will have a lower heart rate swimming than she does when running. Keep that in mind as you vary your cardio choices. Also, some exercises that you do while sitting down, like riding a recumbent bicycle, won’t get your heart rate as high as those that you do while standing, such as walking hills outside. So use your heart rate monitor and evaluate your rate of perceived exertion, but also learn to listen to your body.
May 27, 2009 at 1:29 pm
But what about your V02 max?— Did you know that this was made up by a doctor who took all of the studies from people with heart disease? He drew a line and made a chart. This may work for beginner clients or people who have heart disease but if you were training for example Lance Armstrong who’s max HR is 246 this would not apply for his age group. I think Vo2 max test would do better on being accurate with the amount of work a client could sustain
May 27, 2009 at 1:33 pm
yeah and than what? I never get it how can I know how much calories I burned! so what if I’m doing high impact cardio for 30 min at heart rate 160? what does it mean?
May 27, 2009 at 1:41 pm
there’s a formula ( but who wants to write down all those numbers when your sweaty) if you get a HR monitor with a calorie counter you can estimate give or take a few calories(+1,-1), how many calories you’ve burned throughout the exercise including the EPOCH (Estimated Post Caloric Consumption) in other words how many calories you burn after the exercise is over. giving you a true acurate depiction of how many calories were burned
May 29, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Good post. This is way better than my current "Run ’till you puke" method of cardio.
June 4, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Thanks for the info. I had forgotten all about that stuff.