Check Your Heart Rate
Heart rate is widely accepted as a good method for measuring intensity during running, swimming, cycling and other aerobic activities.

It allows you to monitor your cardio-respiratory response and the intensity required for you to achieve a fitness response, e.g. fat burning, endurance, anaerobic threshold. It is also a very good indicator of when you have been overtraining and so can be used to limit your workouts accordingly.

There are various methods of calculating your max heart rate the simplest of which is to subtract your age from 220. Although the easiest method it isn’t the most accurate and an individuals heart rate can fluctuate + or – this figure. However, for general training it’s a good starting point. Once you have calculated your theoretical max heart rate (MHR) you can use this figure to calculate your target heart rate based on a percentage of your MHR. This can be anything from 60% to 85% of your MHR depending on your current fitness level and fitness goals.Ask your Personal Trainer for advice!

Here’s an example for a 40yr old women working at her target heart rate of 80%. Her resting heart rate is 70 bpm.

220-40=180 MHR
180x.80= 144 Target Heart Rate

For those wanting a little more accuracy try the Karvonen formula which uses your heart rate reserve i.e. the difference between your resting heart rate and your max heart rate.Obtain your resting HR by checking your pulse before rising in the morning.Take it over three days and use the average. Using the example above the calculation will be

Target heart rate =%exercise intensity x heart rate reserve + resting heart rate

Target heart rate = .80 x (180-70) + 70 =158

Investing in a heart rate monitor is a great idea if you are serious about improving your fitness.