Finnish scientist Martti Karvonen is a pioneer in research studying the effect of heart rate during sports on health parameters of the body. It was he who, in the 1950s, came up with a formula that allows you to calculate the optimal heart rate limits.
Although from a modern point of view, the Karvonen formula does not always give a 100% accurate result - its derivatives are still used in both professional sports and amateur fitness. In particular, it is used to calculate the optimal heart rate for burning fat.
The relationship between exercise intensity and heart rate
A physiological indicator like the pulse serves as an indicator of the load created by training, while the pulse is directly proportional to the load - the heavier it is, the higher the heart rate (HR).
How can you control your heart rate? The following factors influence heart rate:
- Number of repetitions of exercises. The number of repetitions directly affects the heart rate - as the number increases, the heart rate increases.
- Dependence on amplitudes of movements. The load on the body increases along with an increase in the amplitude of movements.
- Difficulty of the exercise and the muscle groups involved. With an increase in the number of active muscles during exercise, the load on the body increases significantly, as evidenced by an increase in heart rate. Also, special attention on the part of the trainee is given to complex exercises, in which, in addition to the involvement of a large group of muscles, their correct coordination is also required.
- The pace of exercise used. In sports exercises, the chosen pace of exercise often plays a huge role - fast, medium or slow. A slow pace of training is suitable for strength training, but a fast pace for cyclic training.
- Muscle tension. When performing workouts at the maximum capabilities of your body, the body's fatigue increases faster in the muscles due to a lack of oxygen and nutrients - the cardiac system works to the limit, which is bad not only for it.
- A period of “rest” between repetitions and workouts. As strange as it may sound, long rest (especially between workouts) contributes to a more beneficial effect and better recovery of the body. In the world of sports, there are two periods of rest - passive and active.
for running training
“What is heart rate?”, “What are target heart rate zones?”, “How do training results depend on them?”
and finally, “Why is it so important to know your heart rate and stay within your maximum?” are questions every runner should ask themselves. To help make sense of it all, we've provided a quick guide to what your target heart rate is and a calculator to help you figure out your personal target zones.
Enter your age and resting heart rate and find out your individual exercise zones:
Your personal values will be calculated here
Ooo! Yes, you are a superman! Unfortunately, our formulas only work with earthly numbers
