What Are the Heart Rate Zones and How Do I Find Mine?

Nikkiey: This will be where you may find yourself doing strength training exercises. This is where the majority of the time I will see myself, and the zone where you just start to push yourself a little bit harder.

Yo, yo, yo, what's up, you guys? Welcome back to The WarriorBabe Show with Nikkiey Stott, co-founder of WarriorBabe. On this podcast, we talk about mindset, methodologies and tactics that will help you lose body fat, build muscle, be strong and feel insanely confident. I am your host, Nikkiey Stott.

Welcome to episode number 36, where I'm going to talk all things related to heart rate zones. This is probably going to be a pretty short podcast today because it's one topic, heart rate zones. I don't know how much I can talk about heart rate zones, but I know that you guys probably have questions around them. How do I know what zone I need to be in for the type of activity that I'm doing? Is it even important to track? How do I track it? All that jazz.

I'm sure you've seen it floating around the space: "I'm in zone two," "be in zone two for cardio," "be in zone X while you're strength training." What does that even mean? So I am here to share that information with you today, which I'm excited about. But I'm not sure how long this podcast is going to be, because again, I'm just going to get straight to the point, and there are only five zones to talk through. So let's just dive right in.

Heart rate zones are a way to measure and monitor your exercise intensity during physical activity, all the way from warming up up to the highest intensity level. Like I said, there are five zones, and I'm going to talk through the five zones.

But before I dive into the five zones, there's the point of what your maximum heart rate is: the highest number of times that your heart can beat in one minute during physical activity. And like the entire fitness world and everything that you do, this too is very, very individual from person to person. But there is a tracking way. Just like there are online calculators for figuring out your macros, there is an online calculator to figure out your max heart rate, or your MHR. Is it completely accurate? Probably not. But it's at least giving you a ballpark of where your maximum heart rate is probably at. Then you use that number to break it down into a percentage for the zones that you're in during physical activity.

Okay. So the equation is estimated by subtracting your age from 220. For example, if you're 30 years old, your estimated max heart rate is 190 beats per minute. 220 minus 30 equals 190. You guys can do the math for whatever age you are: 40, 50, 60, X, Y and Z.

Then, taking that number, you break it down into percentages, giving yourself fluctuation there, because again, this is an estimate of your maximum heart rate. So you're fluctuating between, like, zone one is 50 to 60 percent, zone two is 60 to 70, X, Y and Z. I'm going to explain all the zones here in a second, but there are five specific heart rate zones while you are doing physical activity.

Starting with zone one. I'm just going to use 190 as an example, since I just spoke to it. You would take 190, and 50 to 60 percent of that max heart rate is zone one. Zone one is the easiest zone. This is where your heart rate is at a moderate pace. It's usually ideal for warming up, cooling down, or for when you're just beginning to start your exercise routine for the day.

Zone two is then 60 to 70 percent of your max heart rate. This zone is a bit more intense and can totally improve your cardiovascular fitness. You probably see a lot of people talking about being in zone two for cardio, staying in zone two. Zone two is where you're having a good conversation with someone. Zone two is where you should be focusing when you're walking on the treadmill. It's been out there, and it is out there in the fitness space; a lot of coaches and fitness influencers say that. So it's a bit more intense, and it's ideal for aerobic exercise, cardiovascular things like jogging, cycling, swimming, getting on the elliptical, X, Y and Z. So that's zone two.

Then zone three. You see we're moving on up here in the percentages of your max heart rate. We started at 50 to 60, then 60 to 70. Now zone three is 70 to 80 percent of your max heart rate. This threshold zone is where you start to push yourself a bit harder than in zone two and zone one. The more you go up, the more you're pushing yourself in each one of the zones. This one is ideal for building endurance and increasing your overall fitness level.

Hey, hey, I just want to drop a huge appreciation to you guys listening to the show. It means a lot. I hope you guys are enjoying it, and there's so much more to come. If you are enjoying it, hit the subscribe button. I'd appreciate that tons, and it would also help this podcast reach others who need to hear these messages too. Thanks so much, guys. Let's get back to the show.

This is where the majority of the time that I'm training, I am typically in. Sometimes I'll dip into zone four, but for a brief, short period of time. So this will be where you may find yourself doing strength training exercises, or you're doing supersets or straight sets, or you're going for max reps, powerlifting, X, Y and Z. Like I said, this is where the majority of the time I will see myself, and the zone where you just start to push yourself a little bit harder. You're pushing yourself, you're challenging yourself, you're overall increasing your entire fitness level when you're in this zone. For the majority of you guys, you'll probably see yourself inside this zone more often than not during your routine.

Zone four is then 80 to 90 percent of your max heart rate. This is a super high intensity zone where you're working at your maximum capacity. Like I said when I was explaining zone three, sometimes I will dip into zone four, maybe at a PR, or maybe when I'm going for a three-rep range or six-rep range. This is where I am pushing to my maximum capacity, and I'm typically in here just for a brief amount of time. I'll talk about some tracking devices here in a second, but I don't spend much time up here. This is ideal for interval training. Some of you guys maybe do HIIT workouts, or you do interval training on a treadmill, doing sprints with walking or sprints with jogging, or you're training distance running, X, Y and Z. This is where you can improve your anaerobic fitness.

Then we have zone five. That is 90 to 100 percent of your max heart rate. Maybe you guys have been here before. I don't know that I've ever been here, maybe during one set ever in my life that I've pushed myself to that extreme. This is a zone where you're working at your highest intensity. It's ideal for short bursts of activity. If you are sprinting, you might find yourself breaking into zone five and then going back into zone four. Or again, if you are doing some type of HIIT, maybe you'll break into zone five and then go back to zone four. It's kind of like what I explained: the majority of the time I'm in zone three, I'll break into zone four, but I'll go back to zone three. And during my cardiovascular exercise, I'm usually in zone two. So those are the five zones.

Now, you may have some type of tracking device, whether it be a Garmin or something else. I've actually heard recently that with Apple Watches, you can get a test done that will tell you exactly your own personal zones. I'm blanking right now on that exact test, but you can get this specifically dialed in for you and then update your Apple Watch to your own specific zones, individually for you. Then you'll be able to know, as you're working out in your routine, where you're at specifically for yourself, which is actually pretty cool. I'm definitely going to look further into that.

But know that this is an estimate, and know that tracking devices are estimates too, other than the thing I just talked about. With the Garmin that I use, I pay attention to my heart rate right after a set, during rest periods and all that. Over the course of an entire workout, my Garmin watch breaks it down into zones for me as well. But they're just estimates. Maybe you are there, maybe that is your ideal spot, but I just want to put that out there: these things are just estimates.

Just like I don't want you to ever have to rely on the calorie burn afterward. This is probably a different podcast for a different day, but the calorie burns are usually not accurate. They're not directly correlated to your metabolism, so how can they be right? So I take kind of the same view when it comes to these tracking devices and your heart rate zones. Is it cool to use as somewhat of a tracking measure? Absolutely. But it's not 100 percent accurate, and I just want you guys to know that.

People rely on these tracking devices and say, "Oh, I burned 300 calories during this exercise," or "I burned 500, why did I burn more than the other day?" And it's like, dude, there are so many different factors that go into that one number. So don't entirely rely on it.

But people do like to use heart rate zones as a measurement of a good workout, because they can provide a more objective measure of exercise intensity and effort. It's definitely better than paying attention to the calorie burn numbers on your tracking device. But again, I just want you guys to know it's a great objective measure, but it's not entirely 100 percent accurate.

It's cool to know these ballparks, though. Like I told you, an estimated equation is subtracting your age from 220, and that's your maximum heart rate. Then with the zones, there's about a 10 percent fluctuation: 50 to 60, 60 to 70, 70 to 80, 80 to 90, and 90 to 100. Those are the different zones, and it depends on whether your tracking device even does it. But that's how you can measure and monitor your exercise intensity during your physical activity.

I hope that was super helpful. Very short, but very clear and concise. Now you guys know these different zones that you may or may not be in. It's cool to know: warm-ups are usually zone one, cardio is usually zone two, strength training and supersets are zone three, maybe dipping into zone four, and zone four and zone five are a little bit more high intensity, maximum capacity, sprinting, HIIT. And you may move and fluctuate between some of them.

So I hope you guys found that super helpful. If you did, I would so appreciate you taking the time to rate and review this podcast if you haven't already. We don't run any ads for this, so it's solely word of mouth, by you guys sharing what you think about this podcast in the review section and rating it. That puts us up on the charts, and it gets out to other people who may need to hear the messages in these podcasts, and it could help them. So I'm helping you, and I just ask in return that you do something that promotes this podcast so it can help other people. I would so greatly appreciate that, you guys. All right, I'll see you in the next episode. See ya.

Real quick, the only ask I could ever have of you guys is to help spread the word so we can help more women lose body fat, build muscle, reach their goals and feel insanely confident. The only way we can do that is if you rate, review and share this podcast. So the single thing I ask you to do is leave a review. It will take you 10 seconds, and it will mean the absolute world to me and may change the world of someone else.