Last week I wrote a blog on heart-rate training. It is one of the best ways to help you get fit and lose weight that I know. The bottom line with heart-rate training is that it provides immediate feedback about your exercise activity. Exercise is always better than no exercise, but there can be a big difference between being efficient as contrasted to being inefficient while exercising. A good heart-rate monitor will help you be more efficient.
There are a lot of heart-rate monitor brands on the market today. I own nearly 2 dozen monitors that I 
use and loan to participants in my cycling classes. I personally use Polar and Timex monitors. One of the things you need to pay attention to while buying a monitor is that style of the monitor.
Most good monitors use a strap that goes around your chest, and then there is a receiver that looks a lot like a wristwatch. That's the better type today. There are strapless monitors available, but at this time I can't recommend one because they are an not sophisticated enough to give consistent valid data.
Once you have a monitor, you need to know your numbers. What is your maximum heart rate number? Remember, before beginning any exercise regime, consult your doctor to make sure you are ready for a good exercise program. Your maximum heart-rate is easy to find through a sub-max test. Once you know it, it will become the number you base all other exercise.
There is a simple step test that anyone can do to help determine maximum heart-rate. Sally Edwards has created a number of different tests to help find your sub-max test numbers. They are safe and simple.
You'll want to find an 8" step. A staircase works well for this. Walk around for a few minutes to warm up. After you are warmed up, you will step up two steps, and step back two steps. Two steps up and two steps back is one set, and you will want to do 20 sets per minute. Maintain the same pace throughout the entire test. The test lasts 2 minutes. Make sure you monitor your heart-rate during the last minute. Once you have finished the test, you will need to take the average number from your last minute and add one of three numbers to it to get your sub-max number.
If you are in poor shape, add 55. If you are in average shape, add 65. If you are in excellent shape, add 75. It will look something like this, average step test number - 145. You decide you're in average shape, so you add 65. Your maximum sub-max heart-rate is 210 beats per minute. Don't worry, you will not be working at 210 bpm. That's just the top number of a list of numbers you will work with.
When you are trying to determine what number you should be working at it's a matter of percentages. If you want to work to lose weight, you will do well to work in the 60-70% range. So, 60% of your max of 210 will be: 210 X .60 = 126. You will work at 126 beats per minute. If it were 70%, you would be at 147 (210 X.70 =147). These numbers are important because at each different heart-rate, your body is burning different types of fuel to keep you going.
In the 60-70% range, your energy fuel is 75-85% from fat. It's a good range to exercise because it contributes to fitness and weight-loss. You are burning 5-10 calories per minute. Consider, that at 10 calories per minute, you could burn 8 - 8.5 of those calories from fat. The remaining calories are from carbohydrates and protein. If you work at lower ranges, you will still burn calories in the fat range, but you will not improve your fitness level as much. It's still important to do what you can. So, if the lower levels are where you're comfortable, please do it. All exercise is better than no exercise.
Working above 70% is reserved mostly for fitness and performance improvement. You should spend some of your time in that range in order to improve your overall health and fitness. The number of calories burned as you go up the scale and the type of fuel you burn, changes. You will burn less fat as you work at higher percentages because it takes more oxygen to burn fat, and as your numbers climb your fat calories decline. We'll talk more about this in the next blog.
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