Is Your Exercise Genuinely Doing You Good?

To get fit you have to exercise. Everyone knows that. If you are fit most things in life are better: your health, your outlook, your sense of humour, your love-life; food tastes better and you can make the most of every day. Doctors all agree: exercise is not only good for you, it is essential if you want to lead a healthy life.

Many people are very disciplined about their exercise and they might spend a hour every day exercising in the gym or jogging along the road. While this is better than no exercise at all, much of this time and effort is wasted if they do not benefit from it the way they should.

To really benefit from the exercise you indulge in there are two major factors to bear in mind. The first is time – how long you exercise – and the second is what is known
as your Target Heart Rate Zone. (THRZ) These two variables are important no matter what you do to keep yourself fit.

You can swim, do a gym circuit routine, ride a static bicycle in your own home or simply go for brisk walks, the time factor and THRZ will make all the difference between really benefitting from your exercise or simply going through the motions. It seems such a waste to go through all the time and trouble of exercising and you are not getting any fitter.

The formula for achieving fitness is very simple. You need to exercise for between 30 and 60 minutes within your THRZ.

Heart rate is, of course, calculated in beats per minute.

Subtract your age from 220. Calculate 75% of this figure to give you your personal THRZ.
e.g. Let’s say you are 35 years old. 220 minus 35 is 185. 75% of 185 is just over 138. So your personal THRZ is 138. When you exercise, to get the maximum benefit from what you are doing, you should get your heart rate up to 138 and try to keep it there for at least 30 minutes.

Another example: say you are 40 years old. 220 minus 40 = 180 x 75% = 135
The 135 represents your Target Heart Rate Zone – your target heart-beats per minute.

If you are 60: 220 minus 60 = 160 . 75% of 160 is 120 b.p.m.

If you are already exercising regularly, you should work out your THRZ and aim to maintain it for 30 minutes or more. If you do not exercise regularly, start slowly and build up over 4 or 5 sessions – don’t try to reach your THRZ the first time round!

If you do not have a handy heart-beat counter the easiest way to measure your heart-beats per minute is to establish a convenient pulse point (for example to the side of your throat or at the inside of your wrist) and count the beats against 15 seconds on your watch. Then, obviously, multiply by 4. A more accurate method is to count for 30 seconds and multiply by two. If you go to a gym most gym equipment is fitted with heartbeat counters.

By using the THRZ method you will find that you are getting fitter and fitter every time you exercise; you will find that keeping up this pulse-rate gets easier and easier. You can increase the rate if you so wish, but there is no real need to do so. Your maximum benefit clicks in once you achieve your required beats per minute and all you need to do is maintain this for 30 minutes or more.

Give your Target Heart Rate Zone a try. You will be amazed at the difference in your fitness level.