2735: Your Heart Rate Can Say A Lot About Your Fitness by Marc Bilodeau of FitTrend on Cardiovascular Health

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[00:00:26] Erkältung, optimale Erkältung, Entfernung und Aufmerksamkeit, Optimal Health Daily – Your Heart Rate Can Say A Lot About Your Fitness,

[00:00:30] by Marc Bilodeau of FitTrend.com.

[00:00:33] And I'm Dr. Neal, your host and narrator.

[00:00:36] Hey there, happy Sunday and welcome back to Optimal Health Daily or OHD,

[00:00:40] where I read to you from some of the most popular health and fitness blogs online.

[00:00:45] And with that, let's get right to today's article as we optimize your life.

[00:00:53] Your Heart Rate Can Say A Lot About Your Fitness

[00:00:56] by Mark Bilodeau of fittrend.com

[00:01:01] Coupled with a fitness tracker and an app that can track your progress,

[00:01:05] you can gain valuable insight into your cardiovascular fitness

[00:01:08] and adjust your workouts to optimize them by observing your heart rate.

[00:01:13] So how can you use your heart rate to achieve your fitness goals?

[00:01:17] First, you should understand what your heart rate can tell you about your current level of fitness.

[00:01:22] Your Resting Heart Rate

[00:01:24] A resting heart rate is your heart rate when you are relaxing,

[00:01:28] such as lying down awake and not after recently exerting yourself.

[00:01:32] A typical resting heart rate for an adult is between 60 and 80 beats per minute.

[00:01:37] A higher resting heart rate may suggest your heart is working harder than it should,

[00:01:42] which could be due to poor fitness, stress, dehydration, or other health issues.

[00:01:47] On the other hand, it's not unusual for people who regularly exercise

[00:01:51] to have a resting heart rate below 50 beats per minute.

[00:01:55] Regardless, everyone's heart rate is different and no ideal resting heart rate exists.

[00:02:01] Generally speaking, a lower resting heart rate usually means you're more fit.

[00:02:06] However, you should see a doctor if you have a low resting heart rate

[00:02:10] and experience symptoms such as fatigue, dizziness, or weakness.

[00:02:14] Your Maximum Heart Rate

[00:02:16] In order to utilize your heart rate to improve your fitness,

[00:02:20] you have to know your maximum heart rate,

[00:02:22] which is roughly the number of beats the heart makes in a minute under its maximum workload.

[00:02:27] There are several formulas you can use to calculate your maximum heart rate,

[00:02:31] although the most common formulas do not account for gender.

[00:02:34] In fact, a study at Northwestern University found that the standard formulas

[00:02:38] to determine the maximum heart rate for those identified at birth as female are too high.

[00:02:44] Regardless, these formulas are good enough to give a general idea of your maximum heart rate.

[00:02:48] 2.20 minus your age.

[00:02:51] This is the most common maximum heart rate formula.

[00:02:54] Then there's 2.07 minus 0.7 times your age.

[00:03:00] This is a more precise formula for those over 40.

[00:03:03] Then there's 2.11 minus 0.64 times your age,

[00:03:09] which is a slightly more precise formula for active people.

[00:03:12] And then finally, 2.06 minus 0.88 times your age.

[00:03:19] This is Northwestern University's formula for those that were identified as female at birth.

[00:03:24] Heart Rate Variability

[00:03:25] Heart rate variability can provide insight into whether you're recovering from an illness,

[00:03:31] injury, or exercise.

[00:03:32] It can also track your levels of physical and emotional stress.

[00:03:36] It may even be a predictor of cardiac failure.

[00:03:39] You may have a heart rate of 60 beats per minute.

[00:03:42] However, that doesn't mean it beats exactly one beat every second.

[00:03:47] Instead, your heart beats in a slightly irregular, perfectly normal pattern.

[00:03:52] Heart rate variability measures the time between your heartbeats.

[00:03:56] Generally speaking, a higher heart rate variability is associated with better fitness,

[00:04:01] cardiovascular health, and lower stress levels.

[00:04:04] Many fitness trackers can estimate your normal heart rate variability.

[00:04:08] This can be useful, since a normal or higher-than-normal number

[00:04:12] may indicate you've recovered from previous workouts or illness and are ready for more.

[00:04:18] On the other hand, a lower-than-average reading could suggest that you still need more time to recover.

[00:04:24] Heart rate variability is easy to measure using a chest strap or fitness tracker.

[00:04:28] In fact, it's a standard feature on most newer fitness trackers,

[00:04:32] making it easier to reference when monitoring your progress.

[00:04:35] Your heart rate during exercise.

[00:04:38] Depending on your fitness goals, you can adjust your heart rate by increasing or decreasing your effort while exercising.

[00:04:45] Training within a specific target heart rate can optimize different workouts.

[00:04:49] The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC,

[00:04:53] recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity weekly.

[00:05:00] On two or more of those days, you should also engage in muscle-strengthening activities with major muscle groups.

[00:05:07] But what are the differences between moderate and vigorous activity?

[00:05:10] Moderate activity makes you breathe harder than usual,

[00:05:13] but you can still carry on a conversation.

[00:05:16] When measured, it's roughly between 50% and 70% of your maximum heart rate.

[00:05:22] Exercising at this target heart rate will improve your overall fitness and endurance.

[00:05:28] Vigorous activity is more taxing,

[00:05:30] and you'll likely can't say more than a couple of words at a time.

[00:05:33] Your heart rate is between 70% and 85% of your maximum heart rate.

[00:05:38] The difference is brisk walking compared to, say, running.

[00:05:43] Exercising at this target heart rate will enhance your aerobic capabilities and overall cardiovascular fitness.

[00:05:49] As your fitness improves, you may notice your workouts are easier

[00:05:53] and that your heart rate is lower while exercising.

[00:05:55] That means you're making progress.

[00:05:58] It also means you'll need to increase your workload to raise your heart rate.

[00:06:02] Tracking your progress

[00:06:05] Tracking your progress can give you a bird's eye view of all your efforts.

[00:06:08] Not only will you see your progress,

[00:06:10] but you may also see early indicators of trouble.

[00:06:13] This can be helpful because you can adjust your workouts sooner rather than later.

[00:06:17] In fact, it can help you reach your goals faster.

[00:06:20] One of the easiest ways to track your progress is with an app.

[00:06:24] You may think an app is just something else you must manage.

[00:06:27] Changing your habits and shifting into a fitness mindset is already hard enough.

[00:06:31] However, a fitness tracker and other smart devices can update some apps automatically,

[00:06:37] making tracking your workouts, sleep, heart rate variability, stress levels, and weight trivial.

[00:06:43] As a result, you can monitor your progress and look for signs of overtraining, burnout, or fatigue.

[00:06:49] And as a result of that, you keep moving in the right direction.

[00:06:53] The Takeaway

[00:06:54] Your heart rate can be a good indicator of your fitness level.

[00:06:58] Generally, a lower resting heart rate and higher heart rate variability

[00:07:02] indicate better cardiovascular health for adults.

[00:07:05] By managing your heart rate while you exercise,

[00:07:07] you can raise it to get enough moderate and vigorous activity

[00:07:11] to improve your overall fitness level.

[00:07:13] Tracking your heart rate and exercise routine

[00:07:16] can show improvements over time

[00:07:18] and allow you to adjust your workouts

[00:07:20] to keep you moving towards your goals.

[00:07:26] You just listened to the post titled

[00:07:28] Your Heart Rate Can Say A Lot About Your Fitness

[00:07:30] by Mark Bilodeau of fittrend.com

[00:07:33] And I'll be right back with my commentary.

[00:07:36] Dr. Neil here for my commentary.

[00:07:38] When I would teach these concepts to my students

[00:07:41] and start talking about maximum heart rate,

[00:07:44] students would often ask me,

[00:07:46] so what happens if when you're exercising,

[00:07:49] you hit your maximum heart rate?

[00:07:51] Or what happens if you go over your maximum heart rate?

[00:07:54] Will you have a heart attack?

[00:07:56] Now, I know this question sounds silly,

[00:07:58] but it's completely reasonable.

[00:08:00] The answer, luckily, is no.

[00:08:01] If we hit our maximum heart rate when we're working out,

[00:08:04] the heart won't stop working or explode or anything like that.

[00:08:08] As today's author Mark said,

[00:08:10] maximum heart rate is just an estimate.

[00:08:13] So remember those equations Mark gave us,

[00:08:16] like 220 minus your age?

[00:08:18] These are just predictions about how many times your heart will beat in a minute

[00:08:23] when exercising at your most intense level.

[00:08:27] But it's basically a guess.

[00:08:29] Now the question is,

[00:08:31] why would anyone want to know their maximum heart rate?

[00:08:34] Is it useful?

[00:08:35] It can be useful if you want to know whether you're working at a high intensity.

[00:08:39] Usually, when we start to approach our predicted maximum heart rate,

[00:08:43] it means we're going to need to stop and rest really soon.

[00:08:45] Or as athletes like to say,

[00:08:48] when we're reaching our predicted maximum heart rate,

[00:08:50] we're about to hit the wall or redline it or run out of steam.

[00:08:56] So if while we're working out,

[00:08:58] we're monitoring our heart rate

[00:09:00] and we see it getting close to that predicted maximum,

[00:09:03] like 220 minus our age,

[00:09:05] and we'd like to continue working out and not stop,

[00:09:08] we may want to slow our pace down

[00:09:10] to bring our heart rate back down.

[00:09:12] So yes, knowing your predicted maximum heart rate can be useful.

[00:09:17] Oh, and if you want to work out to the point

[00:09:19] where you start to approach your predicted maximum heart rate

[00:09:22] or basically work out at a high intensity,

[00:09:25] please check with your doctor first.

[00:09:27] All right, that'll do it for today's episode.

[00:09:29] Thank you so much for being here.

[00:09:31] Thank you for sharing this show with someone

[00:09:33] and listening every day.

[00:09:34] I hope you have a great rest of your weekend

[00:09:36] and I'll see you back here tomorrow

[00:09:37] where your optimal life awaits.

[00:09:39] about making a difference.

[00:09:39] Let's see.

[00:09:40] Let's see.

[00:09:40] Thank you.