Aerobics heart rate

There is no fixed value that is universal for everyone. The most commonly used reference range for ordinary people's daily fitness is 60%-80% of the maximum heart rate. However, in the end, it must be dynamically adjusted based on your own exercise foundation, health status, and exercise purpose. Never regard the number on the watch as the only standard.

The calculation method that many people are first exposed to is "220-age=maximum heart rate", and then use the ratio of 60%-80% to calculate their own aerobic zone. This formula has been circulated for almost 50 years. It is really convenient, but it is also true that it is inaccurate. It was originally an empirical value summarized by researchers when conducting exercise stress tests on patients with heart disease. It was not originally designed for healthy exercise groups. For people who exercise for a long time, people with a large weight base, and middle-aged and elderly people, the error can reach 10-20 times/minute.

This error is not a small number. I used to help a 32-year-old programmer in the company's running group adjust the training plan. He calculated his maximum heart rate as 188 by subtracting his age from 220, and his aerobic zone card was 113-150. After running for two months, his weight did not move at all. Every time he ran, he felt as if he was walking. Later, I switched him to the reserve heart rate method and recalculated: (maximum heart rate - resting heart rate) × zone ratio + resting heart rate. His resting heart rate was 72, and the calculated aerobic zone jumped directly to 142-165. I adjusted the pace card to run in this zone. He lost 4 pounds in three weeks, and he no longer panted when climbing stairs.

However, there are also many senior athletes who simply do not accept this logic of calculation. The "speaking test" that has been circulated in the running circle for more than ten years is a typical somatosensory standard: if you can speak a complete sentence while running, without having to gasp for words, you are just in the aerobic zone. The last time I took LSD with Sister Zhang, who has been running horses in the group for 10 years, she didn't even wear a heart rate monitor. While running, she chatted with me about her grandson snatching biscuits from the children in the kindergarten last week. She said that the rhythm was just right. If one day she was out of breath and couldn't speak a whole sentence, she must have drifted into the anaerobic zone, and the proportion of fat energy supply has dropped directly, which is a waste of time.

Of course, this method is not a panacea. When a novice starts to do cardio training, he will be out of breath after just two steps. If he insists on saying that he can speak, it is easy to accidentally overload and hurt the body. Instead, it is not as reliable as staring at the heart rate monitor.

Oh, by the way, if you have underlying diseases such as high blood pressure or coronary heart disease, the above two methods must be put aside. My mother has mild coronary heart disease, and the doctor specially set the upper limit of her aerobic heart rate to 100. She usually stares at the bracelet when dancing in squares and walking fast. If she exceeds the limit, she will stop for two minutes. She never dares to compete with her older sisters. In the past six months, her heart function indicators in physical examinations have improved a lot than before. For basic patient groups, personalized recommendations from doctors are always more useful than generic formulas.

Many novices are particularly prone to anxiety when they first start exercising. As soon as their heart rate is five times higher than the standard range, they quickly stop walking for fear of falling out of the aerobic zone. In fact, it is really unnecessary. When I first started running, I could reach a heart rate of 170 at a pace of 8 minutes. At that time, I was panicking because I was afraid of hurting my heart. But after I persisted for three months, my heart rate dropped directly to 130 at the same pace. My cardiopulmonary function improved, and the numbers naturally looked better.

If I really want to give you some practical advice, novices can first keep an eye on the range of the heart rate monitor. After two or three months of cardio training, they can get better at it, and then just follow the physical sensation. On days when they feel better, they can run two steps faster, and it doesn’t matter if their heart rate is a little higher. As long as they don’t feel tired after the exercise, but feel comfortable all over, there will be no problem.

After all, we do aerobics for comfort and health, not to compete with the numbers on the watch, right?