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Exercise and Your Heart Rate
By Gregory Florez, First Fitness

During aerobic exercise, you can use your heart rate to measure how effectively you are improving your cardiovascular fitness. Experts recommend that, as you work out, your heart rate should be about 50 to 80% of your maximal rate.

Your maximal heart rate:

220 minus your age. (For a 40 year old: 220-40=180)

Target heart rate for aerobic exercise:

Maximal rate x .5 to .8. (For a 40 year old: 180 x .5=90; 180 x .8= 144. Range is 90 to 144.)

To check your heart rate while exercising feel your pulse at your wrist or on your neck. Count the beats for 10 seconds and then multiply by 6. To make things easier, purchase a heart rate monitor from Bodytrends.com!

These numbers are approximations. Beginners should keep their heart rate near half of their maximal rate. And anytime you feel like you are exercising too hard and exhausting yourself, slow down no matter what heart rate you are at. How you feel is more important than sticking to a pre- determined heart rate

Bio
GREGORY J. FLOREZ President and CEO Gregory Florez is the president and CEO of First Fitness Inc. Florez started First Fitness in 1988 as a personal training company. Since that time, the company has grown into a full service training and education company, providing services to both the fitness industry and consumers worldwide. Florez began his fitness career as a personal trainer and fitness consultant in the 1980s. He reached a major turning point when he and his team designed several high-profile fitness facilities and programs, for people and companies, such as Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Studios and Arthur Anderson. It was at this time that Florez realized that fitness retailers were not equipped to understand what customers wanted and needed. This realization was the impetus for the evolution and growth of First Fitness over the past 13 years. Florez is an acknowledged expert on home and commercial fitness equipment design and use, sport-specific and performance training, and personal fitness. He is frequently interviewed and has been featured in publications such as Men's Health, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Ladies Home Journal, as well as on MSNBC. Florez is a former member of the board of advisors for IDEA, the International Association for Fitness Professionals, and is an advisory board member for Star Trac Inc., a fitness equipment manufacturer. He is a spokesperson for the American Council on Exercise (ACE), as well as an advisor for advanced certificate training through ACE. A frequent writer and speaker for the fitness industry, Florez has lectured at the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).

Florez is the author of The Business of Personal Training, the ACE Business Manual, and is co-author of the ACE Personal Trainer Manual. He also is an IDEA 5 Star Presenter and NIKE Contract athlete. Prior to joining the fitness industry, Florez was a manager with United Airlines in Chicago. Florez attended the University of Utah, where he was a track athlete, coach and tri-athlete. As a leading expert on fitness and the sports and fitness industry, First Fitness provides information, education, coaching, and tools to consumers, sports and fitness professionals, and equipment manufacturers and retailers. www.fitadvisor.com is dedicated to supporting people in achieving a high level of physical, mental and emotional fitness through regular exercise and physical activity. For more information, please call (801) 538-0282, or send an email to alisa@firstfitnessinc.com