Why you should monitor your heart rate while doing aerobic exercise
If you have recently started exercising, keep up the great work! Aerobic exercise can give a tremendous number of benefits. It has been said that if exercise was a prescription drug, it would be the most commonly prescribed drug in the world because of the wide range of benefits that it provides. To optimize the benefits of exercise, people should aim to gradually increase the intensity of exercise. One of the best ways to determine the intensity of aerobic exercise is to measure heart rate, also called your pulse. What this means is that if you are biking, swimming, walking, running, using the elliptical, stairmaster, etc., your heart rate tells you how intense the exercise is. Some people regularly participate in exercise but become frustrated with lack of positive change as a result of performing exercise. For some, this may be because the intensity of the exercise is not high enough to challenge your body into responding positively. The question becomes, how intense should exercise be then?
Exercise guidelines have traditionally recommended exercise intensity that is >60% of your maximum heart rate. For most adults, this means that when exercising your heart rate should be greater than 100 beats per minute. However, benefits have been shown to exist after performing exercise at even lower intensities than this. If you take your pulse during exercise and it is less than 100bpm, see if you can increase the intensity of your exercise slightly so that you can optimize the benefits of your exercise. If you are walking for exercise, this could mean that you walk faster, walk while holding onto hand weights, or walking uphill if you are on a treadmill. If you are on an exercise machine such as an elliptical machine or stationary bike, you can increase the resistance levels on the machine so that the exercise becomes challenging enough to raise your heart rate. If you are swimming, you can increase your stroke rate or consider using a different stroke.
If you are exercising on equipment that has sensors that can monitor your heart rate during exercise, it is very easy to do by holding onto the sensors while you exercise. If you are not exercising on equipment with heart rate monitoring sensors, you can also measure your heart rate immediately after exercise by feeling for your pulse on your forearm or your neck and counting how many times your feel your pulse during a duration of 15 seconds, and then multiplying that number by 4. A physical therapist can teach you this by taking what is called your radial or carotid pulse.
If you are taking a type of medication called beta-blockers, your heart rate will not be a reliable measure of aerobic exercise intensity. This is because these types of medications intentionally slow your heart rate down and limit how much faster your heart can beat. In turn, this has the prescribed effect of lowering blood pressure. Commonly prescribed beta blockers are named metoprolol, atenolol, bisoprolol, carvedilol, nebivolol, and propranolol. If you are taking these medications, you should not use your heart rate as a measure of exercise intensity but instead receive instruction from specialized cardiovascular exercise specialists. Typically, they will teach you how to gage exercise intensity based on how much exertion your body feels during exercise. You can also follow videos on the JP PT & Fitness Youtube Channel that detail how to take your radial and carotid pulses in order to measure aerobic exercise intensity.
If you are already exercising and your heart rate is above 100 beats per minute, then it may be worth increasing your heart rate beyond 80% of your maximum heart rate. If you have been cleared by a physician to engage in vigorous exercise, you can determine what your target heart rate should be by using the following formula:
0.80 * (207 - 0.7 X your age in years) = 80% maximum heart rate minimum range
Keeping an eye on your heart rate will ensure you are getting the most bang for your buck!
