Cardio Activities and Heart Rates

Find the appropriate heart rate for your training goals. A couple of years ago I used to run with 160 to 180 heart beats per minutes, becasue I thought it was tough training. At that time I didn't burn fat, but my endurance didn´t become better either. The reason for this was that when my pulse was too high, I only stressd my body. In other words, if you go over 170 beats per minute, you are competing and not training. Training is not the same thing as competition. After a hard competition your body needs a few days recovery. Continuing with the next traning on the next day just leads to overtraining. Find the appropriate heart rate for your goal in the table below.

Table: Cardio Activities and Heart Rates

• 120 to 140 beats / minute
  Fat burning heart rate.
  Appropriate heart rate for weight loss.
  
  
  
• 140 to 160 beats / minute
  Endurance training only.
  Muscles might become thinner but will not lose much fat.
  
  
  
• 170 to 200 beats / minute
  Only during competitions.
  Not good for training - Harmful.
  
  This heart rate table is for persons in their twenties. The older you are, the lower your heart rate should be. For Example: If you are 45 years old, 100 to 120 beats / minute are sufficent for weight loss and 140 beats is the upper limit for endurance training.