Expert: Bonnie Hardie - 5/21/2008

Question
Hello,

can you please tell me what my target heart rate should be when doing cardio for fat loss.  I am a 32 year old male 6 ft about 195lbs.  I do cardio about 3 times a week for 60 mins. I think it should be 141 to 153 at a level of 60 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate.  I don't understand what this means?   Are they saying to have my heart rate around 147 bpm for 65% of the work out.  So in a 60 min workout it should be at this number for at least 45 min of the workout?

Answer
Hi John,
Thank you for your question.
Your maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age-then your target heart rate is 60%-70% of that for a minimum of 20 consectutive minutes.
So if you are 32 years old-your max heart rate is 188bpm-then 60%-70% of that is where you want your heart rate to be for at least 20 minutes.
Try to keep your heart rate between 120-150bpm for your workout.
Thank You,
Bonnie