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Athletes of all ability levels have discovered that heart rate training is one of the most effective ways to ensure that your workouts are really doing what you want.
What heart rate training offers is the ability to know at all times exactly how hard you are working. This is important for three reasons:
- People over train: Surprisingly, many athletes actually train too hard. This means that they spend too much time at high heart rates - in the red zone - which leads to injury and breakdown.
- People undertrain: Conversely, a lot of people don't like to push themselves - as a result they go so slowly that they never make any progress.
- Finding your training zone: Different heart rate zones (listed below) have different effects on the body. Once you understand how to use them, you can plan your training according, spending the correct amount of time at easy, medium, and hard efforts.
All heart rate zones are based on your Maximum Heart Rate (MHR), which varies with age. The usual calculation for figuring out your MHR is:
220 - Age = Maximum Heart Rate
Alternatively - and more accurately - you can try:
217 - (Age ? 0.85 ) = Maximum Heart Rate
Once you have figured out your maximum heart rate, you use the following training zones:
- The Warm-up or Recovery Zone - 60% to 70% - For warm-ups, cool downs and recovery training
- The Aerobic Zone - 70% to 80% - Your basic endurance zone
- The Anaerobic Zone - 80% to 90% - For distance race training
- The Red Line Zone 90% to 100% - For pure speed work
How much time you spend in each zone will depend on the event or distance you are training for.
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