Heart Rate, Exercise Intensity, and Workout Quality
For many individuals, the primary method they use to judge the quality of their workout is their heart rate. Whether you’re wearing a heart rate monitor (and some of these will even spit out how many calories you’re burning during that workout – but be careful because these can be very off) or you’re just taking your heart rate by checking your pulse every once in a while, there’s a good chance that your heart rate is something you’re looking at.
But how great of an indicator is this of your actual progress and workout quality?
Individual Variations
The first thing to take into account here is individual variations that could be present. Some people simply have higher heart rates than others. It doesn’t really have anything to do with the health they are in per say, it’s just that they have a high heart rate and it’s always been like that.
This is a more rare occurrence but it does occur none-the-less. More often though it’s just that the individual is in poor shape and that is why their heart rate is so high. Obviously you should be able to judge this somewhat yourself.
If you’ve been active for many months and know you are in decent shape but yet your heart rate is higher even when performing lower intensity exercises, you know this is just how your body is.
If you’re just starting to exercise and are carrying more body fat, it’s probably more that this excess fat weight is just causing the body to work very hard, despite being in the lower intensity zone.
Nutritional Status
A second thing to think about with regards to heart rate and workout intensity is the nutritional status you’re currently in. If you haven’t been eating properly for the last few days, this too can have a fairly large impact on how you feel overall.
If you’re short in muscle glycogen (due to not enough carbohydrates being eaten), you may perceive the exercise as being much harder than normal, hence why you feel more fatigued at any given intensity.
So before you jump to too many conclusions, ask yourself how your diet has been. Has it been on par with where it should be? If not, that could be part of the reason you’re seeing an increase in workout intensity and possibly even heart rate.
Mode Of Exercise
Finally, the last thing to think about is the mode of exercise you’re using. If you’re doing a new type of workout that is lower intensity, you may still see a higher heart rate due to the fact that it’s a new action pattern that the body has to grow accustomed to.
Likewise, don’t be led to believe that you have to have a high heart rate in order to receive benefits from the workout. There are some exercises where you wouldn’t really ever have a high heart rate that still can prove to be very good for your overall fitness and well-being (yoga for example).
So keep these points in mind as you consider your heart rate reading with regrads to your fat loss program. Don’t get too wrapped up to believe that you must be at a certain heart rate to see benefits. Instead, focus more on your level of perceived exertion. This is a much better yardstick to use to assess how much progress you’re likely making on that workout session.
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