Have you ever wondered how fast/hard you should workout? This is especially common for sports such which involve cardiovascular strength and endurance. Such activities include running, swimming, skipping and during sandbag hitting/padwork.
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends activities to be performed:
– 3 to 5 times per week
– 20 to 60 minutes per session and
– At a heart rate of at least 55% to 65% of your maximum heart rate.
2 most common tools to estimate heart rate and workout intensity are (a) Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) method and (b) Karvonen’s formula method.
a) Maximum Heart Rate
Maximum Heart Rate (per minute) = 220 – Age
This is simply an approximation of the MHR and the original application was to formulate a safe exercise zone for patients in cardiac rehabilitation and was based on a relatively narrow sample size.
Thus, its inherent limitation lies in its foundation assumption that the maximum heart can be predicted on the basis of age alone. Hence, factors such as fitness level, height, weight are not considered.
b) Karvonen’s formula method
Target Heart Rate (per minute) = (220 – Age – RHR ) * X + RHR
(Where X represents the target heart rate in percentage.)
This is an improvement over the MHR method as it factors the individual’s resting heart rate (RHR). Staying within this range will then allow individuals to work effectively during the workouts.
Are you confused by the details above?
Check out our tool to help you arrive at the relevant THR easily.
Note: To obtain per minute hear rate estimation, you can consider taking your pulse for 15seconds and multiply by 4. (15secs x 4 = 60secs)