Stupid Question about Target Heart Rate

[khead]

I feel stupid even asking this question, I hope no one laughs! I just got a heart rate monitor and used it for the first time to a video I consider to be intermediate for me. I felt fine working out, I don't think I was even "pushing" myself and my heart rate was around 85%. I don't know if maybe the monitor is wrong or if I'm working out harder then I need to be. My question is what happens when you exercise above your THR? I always hear you shouldn't, but I don't know why. Does anyone know? Should I lower my intensity? Thanks!

 

[khead]

Another Stupid Question

How does everyone get the blue smiley faces?

 

[LisaG]

Smiley faces

I'll answer the smiley face question since I'm quite the smiley freak most times when I post...

Let's see if I can get this right without totally confusing you:
you put a colon, dash, and right parentheses for a smile; a semi-colon, dash, and right parentheses for a wink; and a colon, dash, and left parentheses for a frown.

I tried to demonstrate this for you with the actual symbols, but those cute little blue guys keep popping up! The symbols just look like symbols as you're typing in the text box, but when you preview or actually post the message, the blue guys will magically appear.

Hope this helps...if all else fails, I think there are directions under the "Help" icon...good luck!

 

[gvaughn]

Calculating Target Heart Rate

If you're calculating your THR just based on the age/gender charts, it may be too low for you. Sally Edwards has a couple of good "submax" tests in her book *Heart Zone Training.*

The one for use with a step is to warm up, then do a basic step on an 8" step for 3 minutes at a rate of 80 bpm (I found a Smash Mouth song at this rate--but I can't remember which one!). Measure your heart rate during the last minute, take the average rate, add 55 bpm if in poor shape, 65 bpm in average shape, and 75 bpm if in excellent shape. That's your maximum heart rate.

With this test, I calculated my maximum HR at 195, which is a little higher than the charts for a 29-year-old female. The ranges I calculated from this seem to match my perceived exertion pretty well.

Hope that's helpful! It's an excellent book, by the way.

Gretchen

 

[khead]

The blue guys

Thanks, I think I figured it out!

 

[khead]

Thanks!

Thanks for the info! I was going off the age/gender chart, so maybe thats the problem. I'm going to stop at the library today on my lunch hour and see if they have that book!

 

[trevor]

karvonen heart rate calculation

Hi there,
I calculate my heart rate using this method. Works for me.

find max heart rate(MHR): 220-age
find resting heart rate(RHR): measure heart beats for 10 secs. early in morning and multiply by 6 to give beats per min.
find (HRR): MHR-RHR
Find upper(85%) exercise limit: (HRR*.85) RHR
Find lower exercise(50%) limit: (HRR*.50) RHR
This method takes into account individual resting heart rates, which vary for different people.
So...for me my RHR is 66bpm
My MHR 220 -34 = 186
My HRR is 186-66 = 120
At 50% lower exercise limit i should be at ([email protected]) 66 = 126 bpm
At 85% upper limit i should be exercising at(120*.50) 66 = 168 bpm.
This works great for me and I definitely feel the intensity working in about the middle of this range(126-168)
Trevor