Determine Your Maximum

Determine your maximum heart rate

Know the Training Zones

Now you will use your maximum heart rate to set your training zones as a percentage of your maximum. Before reading this manual, you may have heard about the TARGET HEART ZONE. Well, unfortunately, there is no one zone, no single range of heart rates, that are best for everyone. Each body is different, and everyone’s fitness/ training goals are different. So, there are different zones and in each of these zones you get different benefits.

For the new heart zone trainer, there are three zones to learn about. Each of the zones is named for the benefits that you get from exercising within them. They are:

Healthy Heart Zone	Fitness Zone	Performance Zone *
50-70% of maximum heart rate	70-80% of maximum heart rate	80-100% of maximum heart rate
This is the zone that you should try to keep your heart rate in for establishing good general fitness	Once you have been working out for a while and you are feeling strong you can start working out in this zone to further improve your fitness	Use this zone for achieving your maximum fitness

*WARNING: Exercise at this level only after you are comfortable exercising for extended periods (30-45 minutes) in the Fitness Zone

Getting Started

If you are just starting an exercise program, you only need to understand one zone, the Healthy Heart Zone. For you, every workout will be in this zone. This is not only for your key initial health benefits, it’s also because the Healthy Heart Zone is very safe for those who are not currently physically active. As you become comfortable with being active and the Healthy Heart zone becomes comfortable, then you will progressively move up into the two higher zones. Use these steps to determine what your heart rate for the three zones should be:

Step 1:

Get your maximum heart rate from one of the options on the right

Step 2:

Use the table above to find the numbers that match the zones that you are going to use

Step 3:

Note the top and bottom of each zone, these are the numbers that you are going to use to program your heart rate monitor

Maximum Heart Rate Calculation

The best way to determine your maximum heart rate is with a stress test. If this is not possible, there are a couple of ways of estimating your maximum heart rate. One way, if you are already working out, is to use the highest number you have ever observed on your monitor when exercising and call that your maximum. You can also estimate your maximum heart rate by using a mathematical equation.
One of the more reliable is the following:

Men	Women
210 minus (half your age) minus (.05 x your weight) + 4	210 minus (half your age) minus (.05 x your weight)
Here are examples for a 150-pound woman and 200-pound man who are both age 50:
Men	Women
210 minus (1/2 x 50 years) minus (.05 x 200 pounds) + 4 = 210 – 25 – 10 + 4 = 179 bpm (beats per minute) maximum heart rate.	210 minus (1/2 x 50 years) minus (.05 x 150 pounds) = 210 -25 – 7 = 178 bpm (beats per minute) maximum heart rate.

Benefits of heart rate How to Get Started Before you start your exercise programs Setting up your workout

About Sally Edwards. For the past thirty years, Sally Edwards has been racing in the front of the pack in business, sports, and lifestyle training. She is the author of eight sports and nutrition books, including Heart Zone Training (1996) and the Heart Rate Monitor Book (1993) and has lectured worldwide on a broad range of topics including breaking through the barriers that keep us from our personal achievement. She resides in Sacramento, California, and lives the fitness lifestyle that she preaches.