HIIT and Heart Rate Training Zones

The Insanity workout series I'm doing is a High Intensity Interval Training cardio program, which means it utilizes a technique that incorporates varying degrees of medium intensity training with high intensity bursts within a single workout session with active resting sessions in between. The idea is that after a warm up, one should stay within 70-80% of one's maximum heart rate, then during the intervals reach 80-95% of one's maximum heart rate, then allow oneself to return to below 80% before the next interval.

I just finished day three of Insanity. I'm out of shape, and my heart rate feels super erratic. I figure, in the interest of staying safe and not dying, it may be good to calculate my training zones and put my heart rate monitor to more productive work than calorie counting.

Training zones are calculated from your maximum heart rate, or HMRx. HMRx relative to age and your resting heart rate, which is reflective of your current fitness level. Your resting heart rate is most accurately calculated by taking your heart rate first thing upon waking before any activity for several days, then averaging that out. (This is called the Karvonen formula). Since I haven't done this, I'm just going to use the common age-based formula. Here's a link to a site that will do calculations for you. There are many others.

220 - my age(29) = 191

So 191 is my estimated maximum heart rate or HMRx. I use this number to calculate various training zones.

60% is what has been called the "fat burning zone", and my understanding, this is the minimum you should be at to be actually doing a little something. For me this means: 115bpm

191 x .6 = 114.5bpm

70-80% is your typical "fitness zone", which means here's where you should be to get a good cardiovascular workout. For me this looks like: 134-153bmp

191 x .7 = 133.7bmp
191 x .8 = 152.8bmp

80-95% is your "interval training zone". Here's where I should be when I'm sprinting aka busting my ass during though high intensity intervals. I should no higher than: 181bmp

191 x .95 = 181.45

So, looking back at the information in my heart rate monitor, my maximum heart rate during today's work out reached 177bmp. That would mean that I'm pretty much where I need to be without my heart splattering out of my chest and coating my Shaun T filled flat screen. Dope. I allowed myself to get to around 154bmp during my resting sessions by pausing the video between intervals. If you don't have to do this when you begin, you're some kind of fitness god and should probably be doing something more productive with your exercise time than Insanity. I think I could give myself more time. As I continue training, I will probably go through the trouble of recalculating these numbers with my resting heart rate using the other formula because I'm a nerd like that.

But for now, this will do.

cardiovascular training technique that uses short duration, high intensity cardio sessions that incorporate varying degrees of medium to high intensity 'bursts' in a single session. This ensures you work through a wide range of heart rate zones to burn more calories in the same time that you would doing steady-state cardio - See more at: http://www.fitnessmag.co.za/training/bc/your-heart-knows-how-to-get-fit-37/#sthash.4SzRvqfN.dpuf