Monitoring the Heart Rate During Training - Part 2.

In part 1 of this article we looked at how to calculate your Maximum Heart Rate (MHR). Today we're looking at how to use the MHR and a personal heart monitor to establish a reasonable training range.

Having already established our maximum heart rate(MHR) we need to calculate our resting heart rate (RHR). Again dead easy, take your heart rate while perfectly relaxed and sedentary, and that's it.

We can then proceed to calculate the working heart rate (WHR) as MHR minus RHR. So for example, if the maximum was 180 and the resting was 60 the working heart rate(WHR) would be 180 - 60 = 120.

From the working heart rate we can establish the various training zones and what they achieve. This is simply WHR times the desired percentage plus the RHR So for our example above 70% would be (120 x 0.7) + 60 = 144bpm. Not an easy calculation, so it's best to work out the 60,70,80 and 90 percent rates and write them down for future reference.

Training zones as percentage of working heart rate
Fat Burning Zone 60-70%	This is the so-called "fat burning zone".Some experts argue it's a myth, but exercising at this rate is nice and gentle, ideal for the mildly overweight, those just starting to exercise or those no longer in their prime, and it will genuinely burn fat.
Aerobic Zone 70-80%	Training in this zone will burn more calories than the fat burning zone and also develop your cardiovascular system. Proportionately less of the calories burnt will come from fat, but more calories will be burnt overall.
Anaerobic Zone 60-90%	This zone is for serious exercise as more of the calories burnt will come from the body's glycogen stores and less from fat.
Red Line Zone 90%	For the very fit only, and for very short intervals.

It's worth a brief note about the fat burning zone. In this zone most of the calories burnt will come from fat. If you step up a zone then less of the calories will come from fat, but as you're working harder you'll burn more calories overall including more from fat. So taking it gently is extremely effective and gives you almost as much fat burning benefit as in the aerobic zone. So all those lycra clad lovelies gently perspiring while working gently on a bike may just have got it right after all.

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