Check Your Heart Rate During Exercise: How to measure it and why it’s important

Sarah Krebs, DPT, and Pamela Welsh, PTA, members of the Penn Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery team, explain how to monitor and optimize your heart rate during exercise.

Exercise is an important part of your weight-loss program. It is important to measure your heart rate before starting an exercise program to assess your initial fitness level and to continue monitoring as you progress through the program.

There are three simple steps to monitor heart rate:

1. Find your pulse by placing your pointer and middle finger on your neck or wrist.
2. Gently press to feel your pulse.
3. Count the number of pulses that you feel in ten seconds and multiply that figure by six. This number tells you how many times your heart beats per minute.
   

When exercising, monitor your heart rate throughout the workout to ensure that it remains within your target heart rate zone. Health care professionals have determined that a healthy, safe and effective target heart rate zone during physical exertion is 45 to 85 percent of your heart rate maximum. The heart rate maximum is the fastest your heart can safely beat during exertion.

Follow these steps to calculate your target heart rate zone:

1. Determine your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220. (Example: If you are 45 years old, your heart rate maximum is 220 minus 45, or 175 beats per minute.)
2. Multiply your heart rate maximum by 0.45 to determine the lower end of your target heart rate zone. (Example: 175 x 0.45 = 78.75 beats per minute)
3. Multiple your heart rate maximum by 0.85 to determine the higher end of your target heart rate zone. (Example: 175 x 0.85 = 148.75 beats per minute)
   

The range between the minimum and maximum constitutes your target heart rate zone. If you are beginning an exercise program, or just seeking light activity, aim for a heart rate on the lower end. If you are more physically fit or seeking strenuous activity, aim for the higher end.

Using the example above, the target heart rate zone for someone 45 years old is 78.75 to 148.75

Please talk to your health care team before beginning an exercise routine for help determining your target heart rate zone and designing an appropriate, effective and safe fitness program. It is often helpful to monitor your heart rate before and after everyday activities prior to meeting with your health care team to provide insight into your current fitness level. Keep in mind that as your fitness improves, your heart rate slows down as a result of your heart’s increased efficiency. Lowering your heart rate is an important step in the journey to better heart health.

- Sarah Krebs, DPT and Pamela Welsh, PTA