By: Center Director Jeff Hill
When it comes to aerobic activity, understanding your target heart rate zone is key to achieving the best results. Whether you’re aiming to improve endurance, burn fat, or boost cardiovascular health, working within your specific heart rate zone can help you maximize your workout.
Zone One: The Warm-Up Zone
50-60% of Max. Heart Rate
This is a low-intensity zone that helps you prepare your body for more strenuous exercise, ideal for beginners or those warming up.
Zone Two: The Fat-Burning Zone
60-70% of Max. Heart Rate
In this moderate-intensity zone, your body burns fat for fuel. It helps your body tap into fat stored for energy, making it ideal for steady-paced cardio like jogging, cycling, or brisk walking.
Zone Three: The Aerobic Zone
70-80% of Max. Heart Rate
For improved cardiovascular fitness, the aerobic zone helps you build endurance and strength. This is the “sweet spot” for most cardio workouts, including running, cycling, or swimming at a moderate pace.
Zone Four: The Anaerobic Zone
80-90% of Max. Heart Rate
This high-intensity zone is perfect for activities like sprints or HIIT where you work at maximum effort for short bursts. Training in this zone helps improve speed, power, and overall athletic performance by challenging your body to work harder than in lower-intensity zones.
Zone Five: Maximum Effort
90-100% of Max. Heart Rate
This zone is all about intense, very short bursts of activity like all-out sprints, HIIT, or explosive strength training. It challenges your body at its peak for a short amount of time.
To find your maximum heart rate, simply subtract your age from 220. Use this number to calculate your target zones!
Next time you visit CDPHP® Fitness ConnectSM at the Ciccotti Center, aim for the right zone to optimize your results. If you need help figuring out your heart rate zones, our personal trainers are here to guide you.
For more information, please call (518) 867-8920 or visit the Member Service desk.
Sign up to receive our newsletter and emails