Exercise Heartrate: The average persons heartrate is about 72 per minute. Add three dozen and you’ll be exercising at 108 per minute.
The ideal intensity to exercise for improving aerobic or fitness level is 60-80 percent of your maximum heartrate (Max HR). Max HR is typically based on 220 minus your age. A 40 year old would have a max HR of 180. Exercising at 60 percent would be 108 beats per minute! After at least one month, and preferably not until a person has increased to 20 minute exercise sessions, it may be time to aim for 70 percent of max HR, or 126. Those people who reach two hours per week of exercise could enjoy inserting 10-15 minutes twice a week at 80 percent of their max HR, a heartrate of 144. This more energetic walking or biking etc. should be done after a 5-10 minute warmup at low intensity: finish with five more minutes at 60 percent of max HR.
Don’t mess with your exercise enthusiasm by training at this higher level until you’ve been exercising several months. Younger and older readers can calculate their own numbers by subtracting their age from 220.
You can add intensity by walking hills instead of stairs. Don't take your heartrate above 80 percent of your maximum until you've been exercising for 3 months though. Then, find a 2-5 % incline and walk at your regular pace up the hill. Try shorter steps at first. If you use a treadmill, simply raise the incline gradually to about 6 %. Add another one percent every couple of weeks until your form vanishes, then go back one percent to your natural comfort zone. Do the middle third of your exercise session at this higher intensity. The majority of your time should still be spent at 70 % of maximum heartrate or less.
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