Your Target Heart Rate
Your target heart rate is 60 to 80 percent of the maximum your heart can beat without exploding.
To determine your heart rate using a clock, stopwatch or watch with a second hand:
1. March in place for five minutes to get your heart rate up.
2. Using your index and middle fingers (not your thumb, which has a pulse of its own), place them on your wrist, just above the base of the thumb, or on either side of your Adam’s apple (don’t press too hard or you may feel dizzy or lightheaded.)
3. Count the number of beats for 15 seconds.
4. Multiply this number by 4 to get your heart rate in beats per minute.
To figure your target heart rate:
1. Subtract your age from 220 (no cheating!)
2. Multiply the result by 0.5. This is the low end of your target.
3. Multiply the result by 0.7. This is the high end of your target.
For example: If you’re 40 years old: 220-40=180. 180 x .5 = 90. 180 x .7 = 126
So your target heart rate would be between 90-126 beats per minute, or 22-31 beats per 15 seconds.
You should exercise within your target heart rate zone three to five times per week for 20 to 60 minutes (excluding warming up) to maximize the health benefits of cardiovascular activity, including losing weight.
Benefits of Stretching
Current research suggests that stretching can decrease pain and soreness after exercise. However, no evidence supports the theory that stretching before exercise prevents overuse or acute injuries. Warming up alone has no effect on range of motion, but when warm-up is followed by stretching there is an increase in range of motion. Many people have misinterpreted this finding to mean that stretching before exercise prevents injuries, even though the clinical research suggests otherwise. A better interpretation is that warm-up prevents injury. If injury prevention is your primary objective the evidence suggests you should limit stretching before exercise and increase warm-up.