Exercise and Your Heart Rate
During a workout, our body tells us certain things, and the heart is largely what communicates those messages. For example, you may be aware of the fact that resting heart rate can be used as a general indicator of a person's overall fitness level, but you may not know that a person who is in excellent shape can actually have a resting heart rate that begins to rise slowly over time. This is actually a sign that you are training too hard, too often, a condition referred to as overtraining. When a person has overtrained themselves, they stop seeing gains from their workouts because they are not allowing their body enough time to rest and rebuild its tissues. Checking your resting heart rate periodically for unexpected increases is a good way to detect overtraining before it can become a serious problem.
What else can you learn from your heart rate? During extended aerobic workouts, paying close attention to your heart rate can help you work out longer, and burn more calories. People who are new to physical fitness, and may not have any experience with maximum and target heart rates, are likely to assume that the more vigorously they exercise, the more calories they will burn. Although it is true that more calories are burned per minute during more vigorous exercise, people who exercise in this manner with the goal of weight loss are likely to end up disappointed, because as you get closer to your maximum heart rate, more of the calories that are burned will come from the carbohydrates that you have recently eaten than from stored body fat. Also, if you continually exercise as hard as possible, your body will approach its lactate threshold more quickly, meaning that the heart will no longer be able to keep up with the lactic acid that is accumulating in the muscles. The resulting muscle burn will end up forcing you to end your workout early. Most importantly, continually pushing your body to the limit can be dangerous if you are not in peak physical condition. No one should ever try exercising at or near their maximum heart rate without first being cleared by a doctor. Exercising at a more moderate pace is actually the best way to burn body fat, and the only way to find your own personal fat burning zone is by listening to your heart.
Another way that you can listen to your heart is by paying attention to your recovery rate, the rate at which your heart rate falls for the first minute after finishing an exercise routine. This can be an excellent way to gauge the overall health of your heart, and help confirm that you are safe to exercise with minimal fear of heart problems. Generally speaking, if your heart rate returns to normal at a rate of 12 or less beats per minute following exercise, you may have a reason to be concerned. If your recovery heart rate is closer to 15-25 beats per minute, however, you most likely have a healthy heart and can be assured that you are exercising at the correct pace.
Please note: The information presented in this article is informational and can never replace the advice of a medical doctor in determining the health of your heart. Always consult a doctor before beginning a new exercise program.
