Dotti's
Heart Rate Calculator
Calculate your Max Heart Rate
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An aerobic workout is one that builds up your body's ability to process oxygen healthily and vigorously. When you are working aerobically, you are working your muscles hard enough to push them, but not so hard that they use more oxygen than you can take in through your lungs and send out through your heart to those muscles. You are in a balance, of hard work, but at a level you can handle.
If you push harder still, your muscles can reach the point of using more oxygen than you can take in and process. This is called anaerobic exercise and you are running at a deficit. Your muscles will create lactic acid and you will feel burning in them. You can only keep this up for seconds, or at most 2 minutes, before you have to return to an aerobic level. This can be good, in that it builds muscles, and helps develop your body's ability to perform short high intensity activities like a sprint, or heavy lifting. But it must be done with intelligence and care. You can hurt yourself pushing too hard.
This calculator will help you determine the heart rate you should maintain to get a good aerobic workout, building your endurance for longer exercise efforts, as well as a healthy cardiovascular system.
It will give you the minimum heart rate you need to achieve, as well as the top of the heart rate window you need to stay inside. It will also give you what your maximum heart rate is for your age, and the target heart rate you should strive for, which which is 80% of your maximum, at the middle of your desired exercise range.
And please remember: before you start a vigorous training program, verify with your doctor that your heart is up to it. Then, with your clean bill of health, start slowly, and work your way up to the level you ultimately wish to be at. There is no reason to rush, and very good reasons to proceed with caution!
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