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Knowing What To Do, And When You've Gone Too Far

One of the most essential questions to ask when doing your cardio is, "Am I training too intensely or not intensely enough?"

To help guide you in this regard, the Target Heart Rate Zone (THRZ) can play an important role.

The first step in determining your THRZ is to calculate your maximum heart rate (max HR). You can do this two ways. The simplest is to subtract your age from 220. For example if you are 30 years old, your predicted max HR would be 190 beats per minute. The other method, while much more accurate, is also much more complicated and involves having a medical or fitness professional administer what's called a max HR test for you. Unless you are an Olympic athlete and trying to shave 1/100th of a second off your 100meter sprint, use the first method.

Once you have determined your max HR, you need to decide what zone you want to train at. As you can see, from below, there are actually five different training zones separated by 10% increments. Each one has varying degrees of difficulty and benefits.

Healthy Heart Zone
The first zone is called the Healthy Heart Zone. In this zone you try to keep your heart at 50 to 60 percent of your max heart rate. This is the easiest and most comfortable zone within which to train and is the one that is best for people who are just starting an exercise program. Although this zone has been criticized in the past for not burning many total calories, and for a having too low an intensity level, it will decrease body fat, blood pressure and total cholesterol levels. In the Healthy Heart Zone, about 10% of carbohydrates are used as energy, 5% of protein is burned and the remaining 85% comes from fat.

Fitness Zone
The next zone up in intensity level is what's called the Fitness Zone. In this case you try to maintain your heart rate at 60 to 70 percent of your max HR. Once again, 10% of the calories come from carbohydrates, 5% from protein, and 85 percent from fat. The benefits of this zone are slightly better than the Healthy Heart Zone as you are now burning more calories and providing a little more cardiovascular stimulation.

Aerobic Zone
Your ultimate goal and probably the best all-around Target Heart Rate Zone for maximizing fat loss and cardiovascular stimulation is the Aerobic Zone. In this zone you will increase the number and size of blood vessels, increase respiratory rate, and increase stroke volume (amount of blood pumped per heart beat). Your resting heart rate will also decrease. So what does all this mean? It means that your cardiovascular and respiratory systems will improve and you will greatly increase the health (size and strength) of your heart. In this zone, 50% of calories burned are from carbohydrates, 50% from fat and less than 1% is from protein. Finally, because there is an increase in intensity, there is an increase in the overall number of calories burned.

Anaerobic Zone
Although most of your training should be in the Aerobic Zone, occasionally you might want to up the intensity to the Anaerobic zone. In this zone you are maintaining your heart rate at 80 to 90% of your max heart rate. The benefits include; improved VO2 maximum (the highest amount of oxygen consumed during exercise), improved cardiovascular stimulation, and higher lactate tolerance. Since the intensity is high, more calories will be burned than within the other three zones but the ratios will be much different with 85% of the calories coming from carbohydrates, 15% from fat, and less than 1% from protein.

Red-line Zone
The most intense Target Heart Rate zone is called the Redline Zone and for good reason; this zone is so intense that very few people can stay in it for more than a few minutes, not alone the minimum 20 minutes or so that is needed for cardio stimulation. In this zone you will be trying to keep your heart rate at 90 to 100 percent of your max heart rate. If you could stay in it, this zone would burn the most overall calories, but few can. It's not a very good fat burner though as over 90 percent of the calories burned here are from carbohydrates; the remaining 10-percent coming from fat and protein. Training in this zone is really only beneficial to those engaged in high-intensity athletics.

Sandra (6) Paque
		About the author:
		I am an avid aerobiciser, thigh masterer, kegel clentcher and core ball balancer. I am just like you: a curious and (mostly) motivated woman who thinks she can (and will!) lose a few before my next family wedding or beach party. I am your sister, your mother, your aunt and your daughter. I will scour the fitness and diet landscape (so you don't have to) and keep you up to date on the latest and greatest bum and thigh disappearing potions. I hope you find my articles insightful and more than anything, motivating! NOW DROP AND GIVE ME TEN!!
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