Your level of performance and sense of well-being originate from your heart. Exercising improves the condition of your heart. Heart rate controlled training, where the effort you put in is adjusted according to your actual level of performance, is an effective way to condition your heart. In practice, the most efficient way to look after your heart is to exercise with heart rate control in your own home. While it's true that training outdoors and working out at the gym are efficient forms of exercise, think how often people skip a session because of bad weather, lack of time, or some other inconvenience.

Resting Heart Rate

The average resting heart rate is around 60 times each minute. Regular exercise helps the heart to grow larger and stronger, and the average resting heart rate decreases. A low resting heart rate and a gradual increase of the heart rate under strain indicates a healthy body.

Maximum Heart Rate

This is your highest heart rate reached under the maximum workload. A person's max heart rate does not necessarily reflect their condition and mostly depends on their genes.

Determining the Maximum Heart Rate

A person's maximum heart rate is usually estimated, this is because to find the maximum heart rate by exercising you must push yourself to complete exhaustion. The most popular method used to calculate your max heart rate is: Maximum Heart Rate = 220 - your age

The Effect of Exercising on Your Heart

By exercising regularly, your heart is strengthened which means it can pump more blood around the body. Therefore more oxygen reaches your muscles and you can work at a higher intensity for longer.

The Fat Burning Heart Rate

If you are aiming to lose weight you need to try and burn large amounts of calories whilst exercising. People who are trying to lose weight are generally in a poorer state of fitness than others. Therefore, it is best for them to exercise at a low intensity at first and concentrate on the duration of the workout and build it up. As fitness levels improve, the intensity should be increased so that you continue to burn large amounts of calories.
The optimum fat burning heart rate zone is usually considered to be between 60 and 80% of your maximum heart rate.

Heart Rate Controlled Training

Many of our fitness equipment products come with a heart rate control (HRC) feature built in. The equipment will take care of the correct workload in relation to the user's goals and abilities, which will be measured and assessed by the data entered by the exerciser at the beginning of the workout. Training with a heart rate control program is a safe way to workout. It can also be very effective as it keeps you in your optimum heart rate zone; depending on the goals you select on the machine, such as endurance or fat burn.

Training Heart Rates

The Beginner - working at 50 to 60% of your max heart rate

This level is recommended for beginners and people starting a weight who haven't exercised for a while. 3 workouts a week of a minimum of 30 minutes are recommended. As your fitness levels and endurance improves try and build up slowly so you are working for a full hour. Regular training will significantly improve performance and you should be able to see and feel the benefits.

The Regular Trainer - working at 60 to 70% of your max heart rate

This is the recommended heart rate zone for improving and maintaining your fitness levels and stamina. Regular training for 30 minutes or more, 3-4 times a week will allow you to see developments in weight loss and fitness, combined with a calorie controlled diet.

Age (years)	Max.pulse (beats/min)	The Beginner (beats/min)	The Regular Trainer (beats/min)
		50-60% max	60-70% max
20+	200	100-120	120-140
30+	190	95-115	115-135
40+	180	90-110	110-125
50+	170	85-100	100-120
60+	160	80-95	95-110
70+	150	75-90	90-105

The Fitness Fanatic - working at 70 to 80% of your max heart rate

Training at this level is recommended for those who have already achieved high levels of fitness and endurance. Working at 70 to 80% of your maximum heart rate is excellent for increasing your stamina and endurance as well as maintaining and building on your current fitness levels.