The easiest and most effective way to design a fitness program which is personalized to you is by basing it on your individual heart rate patterns. If you want to exercise effectively and prevent injury, you need to understand certain basic terms and concepts surrounding how your own heart reacts to stress.
Some of the central aspects of your own individual heart rate that you need to understand include your maximum heart rate, aerobic and anaerobic thresholds and your resting heart rate. This will allow you to develop a program tailed to you.
Your heart rate, as might be obvious, is the speed at which your heart is pumping. When your muscles require more blood, your heart pumps faster, when you are at rest, your heart pumps slower. However, a higher heart rate doesn't always mean you are doing good things to your body. Your heart also pumps faster when it is stressed, sick, or working very inefficiently.
The measure of your baseline health and fitness is your resting heart rate. This shows how hard your heart has to work just in order to maintain your body without any extra demands on it. One of the most important reasons to exercise is to train your body to be able to do more with less effort. As such, generally speaking, as you get fitter, your resting heart rate will go down. Your heart will be able to pump more blood with less effort.
Because of this, it is important to know your resting heart rate at the beginning of a new fitness program, so that you will be able to see how much your fitness improves and current fitness levels.
It is very simple to measure your resting heart rate. All you need is a clock that counts seconds. The best time to take your resting heart rate is as soon as you wake up, before you have gotten out of bed. However, it can also be taken after any extended period of lying down with no movement, such as watching TV.
Find your pulse either at your radial artery on your wrist just below your thumb or at your carotid artery in your neck either side of your throat. Make sure you are using just your index and middle finger to find the pulse, as your thumb has a slight pulse of its own and can confuse the counting.
Having found the pulse point, time yourself for six seconds and count how many times it pulses, remembering to start by counting 'zero'. You then multiple this number by ten in order to establish your beats per minute.
It is suggested that: 60 or below beats per minute: = a fit athlete. 60- 80 bpm = average. 81-100 bpm = is high, but ok. 101 bpm = not so good, think about seeing your doctor.
It is best to record your heart rate every morning for a week to try and get an average as its quite easy to have an unusual reading, such as waking up after a nightmare, or falling back asleep as you count.
Finally, if you are a serious athlete, or are starting a new program which will push you hard, you should be taking your resting heart rate every morning before getting up to work out. The reason for this is that generally your resting heart rate will increase around 10bpm if your body is trying to fight illness or is overtrained. If you are registering higher than usual heart rates, you need to think about having an easier training session that day.
Some of the central aspects of your own individual heart rate that you need to understand include your maximum heart rate, aerobic and anaerobic thresholds and your resting heart rate. This will allow you to develop a program tailed to you.
Your heart rate, as might be obvious, is the speed at which your heart is pumping. When your muscles require more blood, your heart pumps faster, when you are at rest, your heart pumps slower. However, a higher heart rate doesn't always mean you are doing good things to your body. Your heart also pumps faster when it is stressed, sick, or working very inefficiently.
The measure of your baseline health and fitness is your resting heart rate. This shows how hard your heart has to work just in order to maintain your body without any extra demands on it. One of the most important reasons to exercise is to train your body to be able to do more with less effort. As such, generally speaking, as you get fitter, your resting heart rate will go down. Your heart will be able to pump more blood with less effort.
Because of this, it is important to know your resting heart rate at the beginning of a new fitness program, so that you will be able to see how much your fitness improves and current fitness levels.
It is very simple to measure your resting heart rate. All you need is a clock that counts seconds. The best time to take your resting heart rate is as soon as you wake up, before you have gotten out of bed. However, it can also be taken after any extended period of lying down with no movement, such as watching TV.
Find your pulse either at your radial artery on your wrist just below your thumb or at your carotid artery in your neck either side of your throat. Make sure you are using just your index and middle finger to find the pulse, as your thumb has a slight pulse of its own and can confuse the counting.
Having found the pulse point, time yourself for six seconds and count how many times it pulses, remembering to start by counting 'zero'. You then multiple this number by ten in order to establish your beats per minute.
It is suggested that: 60 or below beats per minute: = a fit athlete. 60- 80 bpm = average. 81-100 bpm = is high, but ok. 101 bpm = not so good, think about seeing your doctor.
It is best to record your heart rate every morning for a week to try and get an average as its quite easy to have an unusual reading, such as waking up after a nightmare, or falling back asleep as you count.
Finally, if you are a serious athlete, or are starting a new program which will push you hard, you should be taking your resting heart rate every morning before getting up to work out. The reason for this is that generally your resting heart rate will increase around 10bpm if your body is trying to fight illness or is overtrained. If you are registering higher than usual heart rates, you need to think about having an easier training session that day.
About the Author:
Now that you know about resting heart rate, find out how to calculate your maximum heart rate. For more fitness advice and programs, see my blog at http://fitbuster.blogspot.com.au - Testing the best and worst of fitness programs and fads.
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