All heart health training will benefit your heart health. If you go for a brisk walk every day you will experience real heart benefits from that activity. You don’t need to follow any specific plan…just make cardio exercise regular. But, some of you (and me) want to have a more developed plan and want more measurable goals specific to our heart health.  

Many of our members use wearable technology on your wrist; a smart watch to help track these goals. These units have come a long way since the original step counters and now can track many data points. Smart watches provide interesting data with most people watching their resting and exercise heart rates, tracking steps and possibly setting daily exercise goals.  

My watch tracks a serious number of data points (not sure if all of them are accurate). My watch tracks these data points and more: 

• Resting HR, Exercise HR, Recovery HR 
• Daily steps 
• Time spent exercising and estimates on caloric expenditure. 
• Specific training zones achieved while I exercise 
• Max VO2 
• Heart Rate Variability or HRV (a good indicator of heart health) 
• Walking speed, Stair climbing speed 
• Blood Oxygen 
• And…Trends.  

I find the tracking of trends to be very useful. The trend really reduces the importance of how accurate the actual measurement is. Is my HRV truly what the watch tells me? I am not so sure…but the changes to my HRV that may occur from following a specific plan do help me track progress. I find this helpful. 

Specific to the heart, some smart watches can place your workout experience into exercise zones.  

Training Zone basics (possibly for those who don’t wear a smart watch):  

You know you are close to these zones when… 

Zone 1: You can easily hold a conversation.  

Zone 2: It’s easiest to speak in phrases. 

Zone 3: Single word sentences are most comfortable. 

Zone 4: It’s challenging to speak. 

Zone 5: It’s a struggle and you may not be talking at all.   

(source: Heart, An Owners Guide, Dr. Paddy Barrett) 

Training Zones with more detail for those who may wear a smart watch and tracking data on your workouts: 

• Zone 1: Low Intensity (50-60% of your max heart rate)  
  • Aerobic (uses oxygen), Warm-up, recovery, easy work. 
  • Fuel source can be both carbs and fat depending on length of exercise period.  
• Zone 2: Moderate (60-70% of your max heart rate) 
  • Aerobic, Endurance 
  • Fuel can be both carbs and fat depending on length of exercise period.  
• Zone 3: Moderate to High (70-80% of max heart rate) 
  • Aerobic but approaching anaerobic, Tempo work approaching threshold 
  • Fuel will be fat, carbs and protein depending on the length of the exercise. 
• Zone 4: High (80-90% of max heart rate) 
  • Increasingly anaerobic, Lactate threshold work 
  • Carbs and protein will be the fuels 
• Zone 5: Very High (90-100% of max heart rate) 
  • Anaerobic, VO2 max 
  • Carbs and protein will be main fuel sources.  

The Magic formula for HIIT workouts appears to be a One-to-One ratio work-to-rest ratio: 

Norwegian kinesiologist have come up with a simple training protocol, appropriately named the Norwegian Protocol that successfully drives improvement in heart function from HIIT training; improving your Max VO2. The Norwegian Protocol is four minutes of very intense cardio work followed by three minutes of lite work…with this pattern repeated three more times.  

As I said at the beginning of this article all cardio exercise helps. Weight training can help. But, never before has the regular gym member had access to more information and more training supports. If this sounds interesting to you reach out to myself or Paul Voisard and we would be happy to have a chat with how you can specifically train for heart health benefits.