Thread: certain heart rate for cardio

I was on the treadmill the other day and noticed my heart rate was around 126-131 the whole time. Is there a specific heart rate I should try to reach for optimal cardio experience? I am 25yrs old and weigh 190lbs at 5'11".

HIIT cardio is good for certain things. It does burn out the legs, much like a leg workout would, so in some instances it might not be the "best" (whatever that means).

Both interval cardio and SS aerobic cardio have their places in a training program. It is figuring out when and how to use each one effectively.

As far as 220-age for heart rate, there is to much variability in that equation and it does not take into account the individuals 'true' maximum heart rate.

As vanessa said, you can work at 70-80% of your max heart rate for steady state aerobics and ofcourse, as you get better, your exercise economy improves, you may be able to work even higher. It just depends on your aerobic effeciency (VO2max).

That said, the best way to figure out what your max heart rate is, is to go and test it. Warm up, do some sprints and bust your ass and really push it and chart your heart rate. take the highest number that you get and base your program off of that. Or, you can go out for a distance run and in the last 200 meters or so, sprint your ass off, as hard as you can, and measure your heart rate at the end and then base your percentages off of that.