12 Facts About the Five Heart Rate Zones
There are some special characteristics of the five heart
zones that make them what they are. The key fact is that a different thing
happens in each of the different heart zones. This means that you have to
train in different zones to get each of the different benefits.
Fact #1. Zones have size.
The
size of each zone is a 10% range of your true Max HR. The size of the zone in
number of beats depends on how high your true Max HR is. Given a 200 bpm Max HR
(which is very convenient for multiplying), each of the five zones would be 10%
of 200, or 20 beats wide. Most zones for most people range from 15 to 20 beats
in size; this is big enough to allow for some "wiggle room" when you are
working out, but small enough to be on target for your particular training
goal(s).
Fact # 2. Zones have
structure.
A zone may be viewed as being made up of two
different parts: its top and bottom halves. In other words, inside every zone
is an upper and and a lower zone. So, while the whole Aerobic zone may be from
70% to 80% of your Max HR, the lower half of the zone is 70%-75% (or 140-150
bpm in our 200 bpm Max HR
example), and the upper Aerobic zone is 75%-80%
(or 150-160 bpm in this case). It's just a way to subdivide a medium-sized
window into two smaller, even more focused parts.
Fact #3. Zones have dividing lines.
The upper
and lower limits of each zone coincide with the floor and ceiling of its
bordering zones. The floor or bottom of the 23 Aerobic zone, for example, is
70% of your Max HR. This floor, or lower limit is that heart rate where you
first break into this zone. Seventy percent of your Max HR also happens to be
where the Fat Burning zone ends. The Aerobic zone ceiling, 80% Max HR, is the
line at the very top or threshold of the zone. At this point you are passing
through the Aerobic zone ceiling into the floor of the next
higher and more
intense zone, the Anaerobic zone.
Fact
#4. Zone names correspond with their benefits.
Each zone has a
specific benefit that comes from the physiological activities that happen when
you exercise within that heart rate zone. For example, the 21 Healthy Heart
zone is exactly that, the range of heart rates where most individuals realize
the most cardiovascular benefits, leading to improved heart and lung
function.
Fact #5. Zones have
numbers.
There are certain specific and measurable events that
are so exact that they're represented by a single heartbeat value called a
heart rate numbers. You may already know a few of them: the maximum heart rate
number and resting heart rate number are specific heart rate numbers that are
located in relationship to (inside or on the dividing lines of) the
zones. For example, the diagram below is the location of your Max HR on
the ceiling of Zone 5.
THE DIAGRAM
OF ONE HEART ZONE: Redline Zone
200 Beats Per Minute = 100% of
your Max HR Ceiling
Redline Zone = 90% -100% of your Max
HR or 180 - 200 BPM
* Midpoint Heart Rate
Fact #6.
Zones are a subset of the wellness continuum.
The wellness
continuum consists of three areas of physical well-being--health, fitness, and
performance--and we need to keep in mind that we're not all going to have our
goals in the same areas. This is why your friend, who's a veteran marathoner,
might complain about what kind of "shape" he or she is in, while you would kill
to look the way they do and be so fit and healthy. The health area covers those
training zones that promote health but don't primarily improve physical fitness
and certainly not performance. To measure improvements in health, we seek
positive changes in blood pressure, body fat, cholesterol, etc. To measure
improvements in fitness, however, it's positive changes in oxygen utilization,
lactate concentrations and heart rate points we're looking for. And, to measure
improvements in performance, positive changes in completion times, accuracy of
movement skill, mental attitude, and other indices are used.
The Wellness Continuum and the Five Heart
Zones
Zone Name Percentage of Max HR Wellness Continuum
Perceived
Exertion Difficulty
Z1 Healthy Heart Zone 50%-60% Health Zone
2-5 ( perceived exertion
)
Z2 Temperate Zone 60%-70%
4-5 ( perceived exertion
)
Z3 Aerobic Zone 70%-80% Fitness Zone
5-7 ( perceived exertion
)
Z4 Threshold Zone 80%-90%
7-9 ( perceived exertion
)
Z5 Redline Zone 90%-100% Performance Zone
9-10 ( perceived exertion
)
Fact # 7. Zones use
time, not distance, as their measurement tool.
That is, the
amount of time you spend in the zone is the way you measure your workout, not
in miles run, or the number of strokes per minute cycled or rowed. This
measurement is called "time in zone" and is measured in the minutes that you
spend in each zone. For example, one day you decide to run for 30 minutes in
the Aerobic zone; the following day you might choose to walk for 50 minutes in
your Fat Burning zone. Varying your workouts, both in activity and zone, allows
you to get multiple benefits from your training.
Fact # 8. Zones have specific numerical values, they are
weighted.
When we talk about "exercise by the numbers," that
means doing workouts based on the specific numbers that make up your exact
zones. For example, if your true, tested Max HR is 200 beats per minute, and
you wanted a high fat-burning day as a percent of your fuels burned, you would
calibrate that workout to be in Zone1-Z3. If you really wanted to fine-tune
your training, you might choose to narrow the window to Zone 3. Use the
following chart to determine the specific numerical values for your five
zones.
Fact #9. Higher zones require less
time in zone than lower zones.
At the lower zones--or "cruise"
zones as they are sometimes called--you can train in zone for longer periods of
time. But, as you move up to higher intensity zones, you need to decrease the
amount of time that you spend in that zone, particularly in the top two, the
Anaerobic and Redline zones. This simply makes sense--you can walk farther than
you can sprint, and overdoing it is nearly a guarantee of injuries or
burnout.
Fact # 10. Zones are
relative.
Your five heart rate zones are specific to your
maximum heart rate, not anybody else's. With two runners, each maintaining a
heart rate of 160 bpm, one might well be in their Z4 Threshold Zone and the
other may be in their Z2 Temperate Zone. It's all relative.
Fact #11. Zones are metabolic, calorie burning
zones.
Each heart zone burns a different number of calories
per minute based on how fit you are.
Zone 5
20+ calories per minute
Zone 4 17-20 calories per minute
Zone
3 12-17 calories per minute
Zone 2 7-12 calories
per minute
Zone 1 3-7 calories per minute
Fact #12. Fat is burned differently in each of the
heart zones.
You'll burn a different ratio of fat to
carbohydrates in each of the heart zones. Remember, once you've crossed over
the exercise intensity threshold called "anaerobic threshold" you are burning
no additional fat, though you still burn fat. That's because oxygen has to be
present for fat to burn. If there's no additional oxygen present, there's no
additional fat burned.
One of the foundation principles of Heart Zone Training is that we need to train in different heart zones to get different benefits. Here are 12 facts that make that principle clear. There is no one "training zone". There is no one "target zone". Those are old training concepts that have been shown not to fit with the way the body really trains. In fact, there are multiple zones that provide multiple and varied benefits. Train in the zones that most fit your goals: health, fitness or performance.
