Your Fitness Measurements: Heart Rate
Your Fitness Measurements: Heart Rate – Your heart rate is a strong indicator of your overall health. Learn what your heart means and how to measure it in this video.
Expert: Elevate Fitness Circle
Transcript
One of the best measurements of physical fitness is your heart rate. It can indicate your cardiovascular health as well as your endurance level.
Your heart rate is the average amount of times your heart beats per minute, either when resting or doing physical activity. Your RESTING heart rate indicates your level of physical fitness. The HIGHER your resting heart rate is, the more likely it is you have hypertension and elevated blood lipids, like cholesterol and triglycerides, and are overweight. The lower it is, the greater your endurance and the better your heart health.
A normal resting heart rate for an adult is anywhere between 60 and 100 beats per minute. A highly conditioned athlete has a lower resting heart rate–somewhere between 40 and 60 beats per minute.
IRONICALLY, to lower your heart rate and increase your stamina, you can try endurance training – or exercise that RAISES the heart rate for 20 minutes or more. Aim for exercising at 70-80 percent of your maximum heart rate. You determine maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from two hundred and twenty.
Building both physical and cardiovascular endurance can make it much easier to be active, whether you’re training for a marathon or taking a stroll around the park. To learn more about achieving your fitness goals, watch the other videos in this series.
Last Modified: 2014-04-09
