The Hemp Connection:
exercise intensity

For more information on calculating your target heart rate as I mention in the video, click here.

Thanks to all of you who wrote in response to the blog post on heart rate changes for women. When we get questions we know we're being read!

The most frequent question we got was whether or not the target heart rates would change depending on whether or not you are physically conditioned. The answer is no, and here is why.

Your heart is a muscle. Its job is to pump blood through your body. One of the reasons you should exercise is to make that muscle stronger. When your heart is strong, it can pump the same amount of blood with fewer beats. That is why, when you are in good physical shape, your resting heart rate usually drops…because your heart has become more efficient at doing its job.

Simply reducing your heart rate by one beat per minute saves you 525,600 heart beats per year!

Another really good sign that you're in good condition is that after you finish that exercise, your heart rate drops back to resting fairly quickly. In research times, you've improved your recovery rate. When you're out of shape and you start to exercise, you may find that you have an elevated heart rate long after your workout.

So if your heart is able to pump the same amount of blood with fewer beats when it is in good condition, it is going to be more difficult to get it to speed up its pace when you are exercising. The heart rate recommendations stay the same because your physical conditioning make it harder for you to stress your heart muscle.

One way you can challenge your heart is to switch out the kind of exercise you do, to use different muscle groups. Like your heart, other muscles can become accustomed to the workload and not have to work as hard to carry the same load.

The heart rate guidelines are a percentage of the maximum rate your heart rate should ever reach. So if you're having to work harder to max out your heart's capacity…you're in good shape.

The guidelines do NOT tell you what your maximum exercise rate should be. What they do indicate, is that if you are exceeding those guidelines, you're likely not burning fat and finding it harder to lose weight. You're also likely to be gaining weight in the form of muscle, glycogen, and water, to support that intensity of exercise.

You need to decide what your goal is. If you want to build muscle (and that's not a bad thing at all), then work out harder. If you want to burn fat, remember, more is not always better.

And keep that heart muscle pumping!

inCYSTer Christine Marquette tweeted this interesting press release from Northwestern University, describing a study in which the formula for calculating exercise heart rate for women has been adjusted. It's an important study, because the target rate using this formula is lower than the traditional formula lumping men and women together. If you've been aiming for that higher number, you've likely been overshooting your exercise intensity…and that keeps you from burning fat. It may also exacerbate carbohydrate cravings, since exercise above your target zone burns primarily carbohydrates. If you have PCOS, excessively intense exercising can provoke bulking up, which is more likely when you're going at it harder than you need to.

I went ahead and calculated the old versus new numbers at 80% of your age-based maximum heart rate, for all ages between 18 and 70, they're below for your reference.

Age Old Formula New Formula
18 162 134
19 161 133
20 160 132
21 159 132
22 158 131
23 157 130
24 157 130
25 156 129
26 155 128
27 154 127
28 154 127
29 153 126
30 152 125
31 151 125
32 150 124
33 150 123
34 149 122
35 148 122
36 147 121
37 146 120
38 146 120
39 145 119
40 144 118
41 143 118
42 142 117
43 142 116
44 141 115
45 140 115
46 139 114
47 138 113
48 138 113
49 137 112
50 136 111
51 135 111
52 134 110
53 134 109
54 133 108
55 132 108
56 131 107
57 130 106
58 129 106
59 129 105
60 128 104
61 127 103
62 126 103
63 126 102
64 125 101
65 124 101
66 123 100
67 122 99
68 122 99
69 121 98
70 120 97