Whether you're a professional jogger or a beginner, measuring your average heart rate while running allows you to adjust the intensity of physical exertion and either increase or decrease it accordingly. Although normal values vary from person to person - usually between 80 and 170 BPM (beats per minute) - you can find your average heart rate while running by calculating your target heart rate. This is particularly important for beginner runners who start out too intensively. This leads to too high a heart rate and poor physical and motivational outcomes. However, on the other hand, if you don't try hard enough, you won't get the results you want.
Determine your maximum heart rate (HR Max formula)
The maximum heart rate is the highest number of heart beats per minuteat maximum activity. It's important to know this value because your target heart rate when exercising is a percentage of this number.
To calculate your maximum heart rate, subtract your age from 220. For example, it would look like this:
20 years old: 200 BPM
25 years: 195 BPM
30 years old: 190 BPM
35 years old: 185 BPM
40 years old: 180 BPM
45 years old: 175 BPM
50 years old: 170 BPM
55 years old: 165 BPM
60 years old: 160 BPM
65 years old: 155 BPM
Calculate your heart rate zones
Depending on your goals, you can use the heart rate zones in different ways. If you want to exercise at moderate intensity, aim for a heart rate between 50 and 70 percent of your HRmax. If you decide to do an intense workout, your target heart rate zone should typically be between 70 and 85 percent of your HRmax.
Very fit people and athletes can exceed this limit and engage in high-intensity training to increase their anaerobic threshold and VO2 max (maximum oxygen uptake). However, it is not recommended that the average person exceed 85 percent of their HRmax. Physical activity levels of less than 50 percent may also be recommended for some populations.
Let's take as an example a 32-year-old man who wants to exercise at a high intensity:
220 – 32 = 188 (maximum heart rate / HRmax)
188 x 0.70 = 132 (70% of HRmax)
188 x 0.85 = 160 (85% of HRmax)
His target heart rate is between 132 and 160 BPM.
Remember that the “220 minus age” formula is just an estimate. To get an accurate measurement of your maximum heart rate and therefore your target heart rate, you can undergo an exercise test with a doctor.
Measure your pulse rate with a smart watch
From counting steps and measuring calorie consumption to tracking sleep quality, fitness trackers and smart watches are becoming increasingly popular these days. Most models have a built-in heart rate monitor that records your pulse. When pairing with the smartphone, you can specify your age, weight and gender. The app then uses the data to determine your heart rate zones and indicate which zone you should be in while exercising. TheGarmin watches on uhrcenter.deFor example, it offers other cool functions such as 24/7 stress level measurement, blood oxygen saturation monitoring, timer with breathing exercises, Body Battery™ (body energy level) and much more.
Whichheart ratewhile running is normal for you?
If you are able to comfortably hold a conversation while running, you are in the lower heart rate zone. According to experts, if you can hold a conversation but can't sing a song, you're exercising at moderate intensity. If your breathing is very heavy and rapid and you find it difficult to say more than a few words at a time, runwith great intensity.
Identifying your heart rate zones and then optimizing them to achieve various running goals takes time and practice. Since every person is different, the only way to find the right average for you is to run regularly and monitor your heart rate. But the most important thing is to enjoy jogging, keep improving and avoid injuries.
