Cat Kom and our reputable cameraman, Eric, talk about how to track heart rate zones during exercise if you have heart rate abnormalities like Tachycardia, Bradycardia, or if you take Beta Blockers. We Love to watch heart rate zones during exercise, but if you have one of these conditions, the unfortunate truth is that the typical means for tracking your heart rate zones, calorie burn, etc just are not effective. That said, you can still estimate based on something called the Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE). We’ll talk more about that at the end of this write up.

It’s important to note that while a spiked heart rates during rest may have a myriad of causes, a quickened heart rate during a workout may solely be the result of exercising at an extreme level of intensity, it might also be because of a heart rate condition and it’s important to understand what’s going on with your body. Let’s talk about some of the more common abnormalities.

Tachycardia is a condition where the heart beats faster than normal due to an abnormality in the heart producing rapid and unpredictable electrical signals. Many that have this condition control it by taking beta blockers, which relieve stress on your heart by slowing the heartbeat.

Conversely, Bradycardia, is when the heart rate is slower than normal. A slow heart rate denies the body enough oxygen-rich blood to organs and muscles during exercise, making it difficult to breathe and prompting dizziness and chest pain. Like with Tachycardia, work with your doctor and find a target zone that’s centered to your heart zone.

Both of these abnormalities are rarely a cause for concern but if you’re feeling uncertain, contacting a physician to determine your ideal exercise heart rate is encouraged.

An additional way to monitor your intensity is simply by making sure you’re not too exhausted and determining your Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is “I can do this all day long” and 10 is “I literally cannot continue at this pace for longer than say 10 seconds”. No one can dictate how you feel during an exercise like yourself so stay aware by regularly checking in with yourself. If you want to know your calorie burn associated with RPE there are tons of charts and calculators out there for that. Just do an online search for “RPE and Calorie Burn”. Then you just take the number of minutes you felt like you were at each number and multiply it times the associated calories. Where there’s a will to figure something out, there is a way!