Maximum Heart Rate

Continued...

Exercise also increases blood flow and develops the arterial supply to the heart. Because heart attacks are caused by inadequate blood flow to the heart muscle, regular exercise of a healthy heart is almost a sure preventive of a heart attack.

To effectively improve your cardiovascular fitness you must exercise a minimum of three times a week, 30 minutes a day at 60 to 90 percent of your maximum heart rate.

This is the basic fundamental of aerobic conditioning. The maximum heart rate you are checking for in your class is the maximum training heart rate, recommended by most experts to be no higher than 90 percent of your maximum heart rate.

People beginning exercise have higher heart rates until they get trained. They also feel more breathless and should exercise at a lower percentage of their target heart rate until they are comfortable.

Exercising above 90 percent of your MHR moves your body from aerobic exercise (with oxygen) into anaerobic exercise (without oxygen).

Anaerobic exercise mainly depends on glycogen stored in the muscle for fuel instead of burning more efficient oxygen supplied by the bloodstream. Waste products build up quickly and the blood flow is inadequate to remove them. Hence the fatigue that quickly develops when you sprint or do your aerobics at a anaerobic level.

A few minutes rest allows the blood flow to remove the built-up wastes and you can continue your exercise. Anaerobic exercise, or "speed-work," can be an important part of any healthy woman's workout without fear of suffering a heart attack.

Taking your own pulse while exercising is a lot trickier than it sounds, and getting an accurate pulse rate under these circumstances is very difficult.

Why is it so difficult to take your heart rate?

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Foreword: Billie Jean King

Comments by Barb Harris
Editor in Chief,
Shape Magazine

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