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Karvonen formula helps determine your heart rate target zones.What is the Karvonen formula and how do you use it? This formula is a good measure of your "heart rate reserve". It takes into account your age and fitness level to determine your target heart rate training zones. Your age is used to determine your maximum heart rate. This is a crude measurement of your maximum heart rate, but is compensated by your resting heart rate. Your resting heart rate is used as a measure of your fitness level. The best time of day to determine your resting heart rate is in the morning, before you even get out of bed. Take your pulse and determine your beats per minute each day for at least three days. Get an average (add all the measurements taken and divide by the number of readings you took). That is your resting heart rate. Typically, a very fit person has a low resting heart rate. I recommend that you determine your resting heart rate every so often, once a month. It's a great monitor for your overall fitness - if you are sick, or under stress, or overworked, your resting pulse will typically be higher than normal for you. I'm not going to tell you at what zone you should be training at. Instead, I'll give you the Karvonen formula and let you apply it to your training. Here's the formula: Resting heart rate = average of your morning heart rate Maximum heart rate = 220 minus your age Heart rate range = maximum heart rate - resting heart range Target zones = % limit number mulitplied by your heart rate range added to your resting heart range For example, if you are a 35 year old with a resting heart rate of 45 BPM, then your maximum heart rate is 185, your heart rate range is 140. In this case your 60% target zone is 129 beats per minute. Here's a handy tool that does the calculations for you.
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