Heart rate zone are used to group physical exercises according to their intensity levels. Heart rate zones allow an individual to target specific physiological adaptations in there body. By using heart rate zones, an individual remove the guesswork of their intensity for each exercise routine.
Heart rate zones ensure that an individual does not find themselfs either under training too hard or too light for their body. To utilize the benefits of heart rate zones, an individuals maximum heart rate must first be calculated. To calculate one’s maximum heart rate, an individual must subtract their age from 220.
Heart Rate Zones and How to Use Them
Based off this calculation, the person will calculate heart rate zones as percentage of that maximum heart rate. For instance, if an individual calculated their maximum heart rate to be 185 beat per minute, their heart rate zones could be calculated based on that number. The first heart rate zone is the recovery zone, which represents 50 to 60 percent of an individual’s maximum heart rate.
This heart rate zone is typicaly used for active recovery, which is low-intensity exercise such as walking on a treadmill or sidewalk. Using this recovery zone benefit an individual as it increases the blood flow to the bodys muscles, permitting them to clear the metabolic waste built up during intense exercise. However, the body does not have to tax these muscle heavily during this exercise routine.
Many athlete use active recovery to build the fat-burning efficiency in their bodys cells. The second heart rate zone is the aerobic zone, which is 60 to 70 percent of an individual’s maximum heart rate. This zone is also referred to as the endurance zone as it develop an individual’s cardiovascular endurance.
An individual can speak in full sentence while in this zone. The aerobic zone increases the number of mitochondria within the bodys cell and allows the body to use fat as its primary fuel source. The third heart rate zone is the tempo zone.
This zone is used for moderate hard exercise intensities. An individual can speak while in the tempo zone but will have shorter sentence than while in the aerobic zone. This zone help an individual build the bodys ability to manage lactate in their system.
This zone act as a bridge between the aerobic zone and faster race speed that can be developed through exercise. However, an individual should not remain in this zone for too long or their body will find it difficult to recover from these exercises. The fourth heart rate zone is the threshold zone, which is 90 percent of an individual’s maximum heart rate.
This threshold zone is for intense exercise as acid rapidly build up in an individual’s muscle. This zone increases the power that an individual possess and their muscle efficiency. However, this threshold zone is very demanding of the body.
Therefore, threshold exercise should be performed for short period of time. The fifth and final heart rate zone is the anaerobic zone. This zone is used for maximum effort exercises.
An individual cannot speak while performing exercise in this zone. This zone increases the VO2 max that an individual can produce and increases the strength of their fast-twitch muscle fiber. However, this exercise is also very taxing on the body.
Therefore, individuals should only use this zone for short periods of time each week and allow for their body to fully recover from these intense exercise. To produce the best results for an individual’s strength, endurance, and cardiovascular fitness, an individual should use all heart rate zones for exercise. The most popular protocol is the 80-20 rule.
This rule state that an individual should train 80 percent of the time in the low-intensity heart rate zones and 20 percent of the time in the high-intensity heart rate zones. Additionally, individuals must use accurate equipment to measure their heart rate. As the wrist-based exercise tracker are not accurate when individuals perform high-intensity exercises, an individual should use a chest-strap exercise monitor to obtain accurate heart rate measurement.
Finally, as an individual’s fitness increase, their maximum heart rate will change. To ensure that their heart rate zones remain accurate, an individual should perform their maximum heart rate test every few month. Should the heart rate zones not remain accurate, they will not be able to effective target the physiological adaptations that their bodies require.
