-HEART RATE: RESTING, TRAINING, WHERE SHOULD IT BE?

What should be my Training Heart Rate? Is my Resting Heart Rate too High?

The heart begins working before you were born and continues to work until your death. It works faster and less efficiently when you give it little to do than it does when you make more demands on it. It is a remarkable engine, deserves major attention and it is directly affected by your physical condition. Both anaerobically and aerobically conditioned individuals who exercise regularly will have a resting heart rate of about 60 beats per minute or less. Someone who is not in a good physical condition, a person who does not exercise may have a resting rate of about 80 or more. Women tend to have a slightly higher heart rate than men, as do children. Obesity, stress and many other factors can, of course, speed your heart rate up considerably, even though you may appear to be in great condition.

Resting Heart is the number of times the heart beats in one minute - 72 beats per minute for the average adult.
Just as an example, suppose that you were at complete rest for a full 24 hours, a comparison might go something like this:
Sixty beats per minute, times 60 minutes, equals 3,600 beats per hour. Times 24 hours, equals 86,400 beats per day.
Eighty beats per minute, times 60 minutes, equals 4,800 beats per hour. Times 24 hours, equals 115,200 beats per day.
Even at complete rest, a deconditioned person who does not exercise his heart forces it to beat nearly 30,000 times more during every day of his life. But no one is at complete rest 24 hours a day, and for ordinary activity, like getting up from a chair, walking across the room, and climbing a flight of stairs, the deconditioned heart would beat proportionately faster than a conditioned heart for the same activity.
Conditioned hearts, as they grow larger and stronger, can beat more slowly because they are pumping more blood with each stroke. Almost of all of the great distance runners have had low heart rates. Some of them are reported to have a resting rate of 32 beats per minute.
To determine resting heart rate, sit still for five minutes in front of a clock, then take the pulse and count the beats for a full 60 seconds. If the heart rate is at 80 beats or above, then your health is not likely in good condition.
Maximum heart rate is the highest rate at which an individual is capable, you can estimate it subtracting your age from 220. Ex. 220 - 35 = 185 (maximum heart rate)
Training also reduces maximum heart rates, which is just as important. Healthy hearts will peak, without strain, at 190 beats per minute or less, while poorly conditioned hearts may go as high as 220 beats or more during exhausting activity, which is dangerously high depending on the age of the subject.
Finally, training can condition the heart not only to reduce its maximum rate, but also strengthen it so that it can hold near-maximum rates for longer periods before fatigue sets in.
What should be my Training Heart Rate?
Exercise intensity is a very important recommendation in Fitness. The prescribed level of intensity must be sufficient to overload the cardiovascular system, but not so severe that it overtaxes any of the systems of the body. For the apparently healthy individual who wants to develop and maintain an adequate level of cardiorespiratory fitness I recommend 55% to 85% of the person's VO2max.
There are different techniques for monitoring levels of exercise intensity. The most common used methods are target heart rate (THR), rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and metabolic equivalent units (METS). I think THR is the easiest one to figure out quickly, just by using the following formula: THR range = maximal HR x 0.70 and 0.85 - where 70% and 85% of maximal heart rate is equal to approximately 60% and 80% of functional capacity VO2 max.
For any Fitness matter please email to DavidSilva@DSFitness.com or visit www.DSFitness.com

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