If you are a person who works out regularly you will know that the rate of your heart will increase once you begin to exercise. In case you increase your effort while you are exercising, your heart rate will also increase until it reaches the maximum capacity. There is this quick responsiveness of your heart to exercise this is mainly because of the oxygen demand in your muscles. To produce continuous energy for contraction, your muscles will need oxygen. This oxygen will be carried on your red blood cells from the lungs and it will travel to your heart to pump to the working muscles.
Beating of the heart
High environmental temperature during your session of exercise can increase the rate of your heart above normal levels just because your heart needs to send blood to your skin to get you cooled while continuing to supply blood to your working muscles. These two demands will force your heart to beat at a faster rate. The more exercise you do in a hot environment, the more efficient you become at cooling your body while the energy demands of your muscles are being satisfied.
The cardiovascular drift
In case you work out for longer period of time, you might notice that the rate of your hart will increase gradually, even if maintain a set pace. This is the cardiovascular drift that will occur as you lose water through the process of sweating and as your heart will direct more blood to your skin so as to cool you down. The heart rate will be on an increase since the blood will be diverted from your working muscles and thus there is more pumping which is involved so that the muscles have enough supply of energy and oxygen. This cardiovascular drift will occur irrespective of if you are staying hydrated or not. But there have been researches that suggest, that the rate of your heart will increase even more if you are getting dehydrated.
Is having a high heart rate during an exercise good?
- The resting heart rate: the resting heart rate of a person can be recorded most appropriately first thing in the morning when he or she gets out of the bed. When you consider the rate of the normal resting heart rate it will generally be between 60 to 100 beats per minute but it can also slow down as low as 40 beats per minute for an athlete who is highly trained. Having this reading of your heart rate can assure you that you have a well maintained cardiovascular health. Also as you become all the more fit physically, your heart will beat lesser times per minute since it has become more efficient.
- The maximum heart rate: this is the rate at which you push your body beyond the fat burning zone and start making the use of glucose. It is when you start breathing very hard and feel incapable of making any type of conversation. The less fit you are, the more quickly your heart will get to this number
Target heart rate: this actually will vary depending on the goals that you have set for a particular workout. Your target heart rate is basically calculated as a percentage of your maximum. If you are just a new level workout person or you have a low level of fitness, you can preferably keep the heart rate between 45 to 55 percent. But in case you are more fit then you would want to train between 65 to 75 percent of your maximum heart rate.