Heart Rate Zone Training - A Guide to What Your Heart is Saying
If you truly wish to be healthy, you must understand your heart rate. The heart rate is a vital metric when looking at one’s physical fitness. The heart rate has many reasons why it is a cornerstone for understanding someone’s fitness levels. Heart rates can be easily monitored and tracked to provide substantial amounts of data to review. But first, you must understand the five heart rate zones.
In this collection of data researchers and trainers have developed 5 “Heart Rate Zones”. These five zones are used in endurance training. This is called “Heart Rate Zone Training”. The zones are broken up into warmup zone (Zone 1), easy zone (Zone 2), aerobic zone (Zone 3), anaerobic threshold zone (Zone 4), and maximum zone (Zone 5). Each zone is measured based on an individual’s maximum heart rate.
Before we can understand how to use these five zones to improve our training, we must determine our individual maximum heart rate. I say this because everyone’s maximum heart rate is a little different, but there are guidelines for finding a close number. Though genetics and baseline physical fitness do play a factor in maximum heart rate, the rule of thumb is as follows:
Max HR = 220-Age
Now that you can calculate your maximum heart rate, let’s look at heart rate zone training. You’ve probably come to this post while researching the infamous Magical Zone 2 training that everyone talks about on social media. If that’s true, let me tell you something, there’s no such thing as a magical zone 2 that will get you from a 5+ hour marathon to the Olympic stage by next year. But there are benefits to understanding and training in all the heart zones, not just Zone 2.
To obtain these benefits, you must first understand how your body reacts to the different zones. Each zone provides a different understanding of your workout’s intensity. This gives you a better idea of when to push and when to rest. This ideal understanding of your body’s extrusion levels aids recovery and overall performance.
The five heart rate zones
1. Warmup Zone (50-60%):
In Zone 1 the target heart rate is 50-60% of your max heart rate. At this low heart rate, roughly 85% of the calories consumed are fat cells. But with the increased fat-burning efficiency, the total number of calories burned is minuscule. This target heart rate can be obtained with a simple walk around the block or a light exercise routine. Within this zone, you should be able to make conversation easily, maybe even sing a little.
2. Easy Zone (60-70%):
In Zone 2 the target heart rate is 60-70% of your max heart rate. This zone is also sometimes referred to as the base zone. The name represents that this zone should be the base of your endurance training. Zone 2 training should not be the end all be all of your training, but it should be 60-80% of it. This target heart rate can be obtained with a light jog or somewhat strenuous exercise routine.
3. Aerobic Zone (70-80%):
In Zone 3 the target heart rate is 70-80% of your max heart rate. Within this zone, you are beginning to put a strain on the heart and lungs. At this point, it should start to become difficult to hold a conversation. This zone is where mental endurance training begins.
4. Anaerobic Threshold (80-90%):
In Zone 4 the target heart rate is 80-90% of your max heart rate. Here the body switches from aerobic to anaerobic. Lactic acid begins to accumulate within the muscles and your breathing becomes much more difficult. It feels as if you are starting to push the pace. This is a more focused zone, again building your mental endurance.
5. Maximum Effort (90-100%):
In Zone 5 the target heart rate is 90-100% of your max heart rate. By this zone, your body is pushing its limits. This would be if you are running at an almost sprint pace. This pace can only be kept for a relatively short period as lactic acid floods the muscles.
Though Important Heart Rate Isn’t Everything
Your heart rate isn’t the end all be all of your training. Everyone is different and these are just cold hard numbers. They don’t account for your genetics, your fitness, or your goals. Our hearts are not all the same, so take this training advice with a grain of salt. When training listen to your body. Are you comfortable? Can you breathe? Can you talk? There are many signs to tell how difficult your training is, but it’s still good to understand your heart.
Just don’t get too focused on one thing. To be physically fit there is no one method. There are very many. Sometimes too many. So what do we do? We keep learning and growing. We keep challenging ourselves to be better.
We Go Challenge Everything.
