Some fitness programs encourage you to monitor your heart rate while working out and stay within a certain zone. Find out why these measurements can be misleading.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
THE CLAIM: You should monitor your heart rate during exercise.
Heart rate monitoring is a key part of some exercise programs, which instruct you to stay within a certain intensity zone. The same goes for cardio machines at the gym, which show you what your target heart rate should be. Too often, though, these ideal ranges are based on faulty figures.
Exercise done at 50 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate is considered moderately intense.
Activities that put you at 70 to 85 percent of the maximum are considered vigorous.
The problem is that it’s difficult to measure maximum heart rate accurately. The most common way is to subtract your age from 220.
But studies show the formula is too simplistic and often yields flawed results, especially in older people.
Other formulas are sometimes used, but these too can be inaccurate. However it’s calculated, if your maximum heart rate estimate is off, your target zone will be too low or too high, leading you to under-exert yourself or overdo it.
While people with certain medical conditions may require heart rate monitoring during exercise, a better option for most of us may be the so-called rating of perceived exertion or RPE scale. This measures from 1 to 10 how hard you feel your body is working.
A 5 or 6 indicates moderate intensity and a 7 or higher means vigorous activity.
An even simpler method is the talk test. If you can talk and sing during your activity without becoming breathless, the intensity level is low.
If you can talk but not sing, the intensity is moderate.
And if you can get out only a few words, you’re doing vigorous exercise.
Talk about easy and no math required.
For the truth about more fitness-related claims, check out my book, Fitter Faster. You’ll also learn how to slash your workout time and get even better results.
Helping you be a healthy skeptic, I’m Robert Davis.