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minute. (Your heart rate is also called your pulse.) You can determine this

number either by counting the beats at your wrist or neck or by wearing a

gadget called a heart-rate monitor. This section discusses both and also lets

you know why you want to measure your heart rate and how you can deter-

mine your own target heart-rate zone.

Why monitor your heart rate?

Keeping track of your heart rate, by whatever method, sounds like an incredi-

bly advanced thing to do — something way beyond a beginner’s needs. But

even if you’re just starting out, heart-rate monitoring is abundantly effective.

When you’re just starting to work out, you may not have a good sense of how

hard to push yourself. And with all that “no pain, no gain” propaganda, you

may be working harder than you really need to. Actually, this happens to

advanced exercisers and athletes all the time. Left to their own devices, they

try to outdo themselves every day. The smart ones use a heart-rate monitor

to remind them to slow down. However, for most people, the problem is getting

into a higher gear.

Knowing how hard you’re working during a workout is far more helpful than

simply knowing how fast you’re going. For example, running nine-minute

miles on a hot, humid afternoon takes a lot more effort than running at the

same pace on a cool, overcast morning. If you rely only on your stopwatch,

you may push yourself to run nine-minute miles in the heat, when that pace

may put excess stress on your body. If you pace yourself according to your

heart rate instead, you know when you need to back off.

The same goes for when you’re tired. If you’ve had a particularly hard week

at work, your body may not be up to your usual workout. Without checking

your heart rate, you may force yourself to do Level 4 on the stair-climber,

when, in fact, your body isn’t up to the task. If you monitor your pulse, you

may find that, in order to keep up with Level 4, you have to exceed the high

end of your training zone — a signal to drop down a notch or two.

By keeping track of your heart rate over a long period of time, you discover

some interesting things about your progress. When you’re a beginner, your

heart has to work a lot harder to keep up with your body’s demands for

blood and oxygen. If you work out on a regular basis, your aerobic system

gradually becomes more efficient. Suppose when you started, Level 1 on the

exercise bike used to get your heart up to about 140 beats per minute; now,

two months later, your heart rate is 125 beats per minute. This drop means

that you need to step up the difficulty of your workout. You can see why

keeping good records of your workouts is a good idea.

To find out how much your fitness level is improving, watch how fast your

heart rate drops after a workout. Measure your heart rate immediately upon

finishing your exercise session and then one minute later. The better shape

110 Part III: Getting to the Heart of the Matter