HEART RATE TRAINING
The most important muscle in our body is your heart. Your heart acts as a gauge for the remainder of your body, indicating what kind of load (stress or resistance) you are putting on your body. Like any muscle, your heart needs to be exercised. To exercise at the right level of intensity is important in order to ensure a healthy and efficient heart. Your heart is an important part of the transportation system that circulates blood, rich in oxygen from breathing, from your lungs to your trunk and lower extremities. Several factors influence what the condition of your heart:
Intensity of physical activity, e.g. exercise
Emotions, stress
Onset of a disease
Ambient conditions such as: heat, altitude, etc.
Consumption of stimulants, e.g. coffee or alcohol. When you have a strong heart, you feel active, healthy and energetic. At the same time this will reduce the risk of coronary heart diseases and problems connected with aging. The stress level during daily tasks will decrease and you will be able to work more effectively. Work out regularly and at the right intensity and you will certainly achieve the benefits of regular aerobic exercise.
Because the body adjusts to the demands placed upon it, it is necessary to monitor exercise heart rate regularly. An amount of exercise that elevated your heart rate to the target level last month may no longer provide a sufficient overload. Reduced heart rate during a given level of exercise is often used an indicator of improved aerobic fitness. With endurance training, your heart becomes a stronger pump. More blood is pumped per beat, so your heart beats less often to circulate the same amount of blood.
HEART RATE MONITORS
Heart Rate Monitors measure your cardiovascular and physiological stress during training sessions. Monitors provide you with an accurate gauge of the intensity of an exercise relative to your heart rate. The harder you exercise, the higher the heart rate. Because hard work alone does not guarantee better results, it is important to exercise within your personal target heart rate zones.
TARGET HEART RATE ZONES
Whatever your goals - improving your overall health, weight management or winning athletic competitions - you can eliminate guesswork by exercising within a specific target heart rate zone. The target zone chart below shows age-related average heart rates (based on estimated maximum heart rates) which enable you to achieve your personal goals. You can exercise effectively within a target zones only if you know how fast your heart is beating throughout your workout.
By monitoring heart rate, the simple observation that the harder we exercise, the faster our heart beats is put to good use. Heart rate monitors are used for the following reasons:
1. Direct measurement of heart rate during exercise is the most accurate way to gauge performance.
2. It maximizes the benefits of exercise in a limited amount of time.
3. It is a tool for regulating frequency and intensity of workouts.
4. A heart rate monitor is like a rev counter, giving a precise measurement of exercise intensity.
5. Training at your own ideal pace is made possible with a heart rate monitor.
6. Progress can be monitored and measured, increasing motivation.
7. It introduces objective observation. Are you on the right track? Are you improving?
8. Because of the immediate feedback it provides, heart rate monitoring is an ideal training partner.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
When you start training, your heart rate increases rapidly in proportion to the intensity of the training. Heart Rate Monitors, the transmitter belt detects the electrocardiogram (ECG - the electric signal originating from your heart) and sends an electromagnetic signal to the wrist receiver where heart rate information appears.
The heart moves blood from the lungs (where the blood picks up oxygen) to the muscles (which burn the oxygen as fuel) and back to the lungs again. The harder the training, the more fuel the muscles need and the harder the heart has to work to pump oxygen-rich blood to the muscles.
As you get fitter, your heart is able to pump more blood with every beat. As a result, your heart doesn't have to beat as often to get the needed oxygen to your muscles, decreasing resting heart rate and exercise heart rate on all exertion levels.
