It is important to know your fitness level before working out.
Starting a fitness regimen is a great way to get in shape and feel better both physically and emotionally. However, before you can begin working out on a daily basis, it is important to assess your fitness level to avoid the risk of "over-training," which could do serious damage to your muscles and even put your life at risk. To calculate your fitness level, you will need to keep track of your heart rate and perform some simple math.
Instructions
1. Take your pulse when you wake up in the morning. You will want to take your pulse while you are still lying in bed. Use two fingers on your wrist or neck and count the beats for 15 seconds, then multiply this number by four.
2. Repeat step one for five days and then add all five of the numbers together and divide them by five. This is your resting heart rate.
3. Subtract your age from 220. This is your estimated maximum heart rate.
4. Subtract your resting heart rate from your maximum heart rate.
5. Multiply this number by 60 percent to get your incomplete lower boundary. Also multiply the original number by 85 percent to get your incomplete upper boundary.
6. Add your resting heart rate to your incomplete lower boundary and your incomplete upper boundary. This will give you the lower boundary (incomplete lower boundary plus resting heart rate) and the upper boundary (incomplete upper boundary plus resting heart rate) of your fitness level.
Tags: heart rate, resting heart, resting heart rate, fitness level, lower boundary, upper boundary