How to Regulate Your Heart Rate During Exercise

The healthy heart manages itself with keen precision while at rest. During exercise, however, it's abuzz with activity as hormones, muscles, blood vessels and the respiratory system all clamor to make the heart beat faster and more intensely. Understanding how to manipulate these factors and track their effects is the key to regulating your heart rate during a workout.

Instructions

    • 1

      Wear a heart rate monitor during your workouts. Use it to observe the changes in your heart rate when you change your exertion and intensity levels. Personal heart rate monitors are especially useful when using aerobic machines in gyms, as the built-in sensors are often inaccurate and misleading.

    • 2

      Note the monitor's readings at specific speeds and levels of resistance. You'll be able to use this data to design a workout that maintains your heart rate at the level you choose.

    • 3

      Use your arms and legs to elevate or depress your heart rate. When you exaggerate the movement of your arms and legs, your heart rate will increase; when you minimize that movement, the heart rate will drop. Observe the effects of your arm and leg motility using the heart rate monitor.

    • 4

      Change the temperature of your workout venue. A higher ambient temperature requires the heart to beat faster, as the blood is charged with the tasks of both delivering oxygen and nutrients and protecting the muscles from overheating. A more neutral temperature does not require the heart's extra effort, so your heart rate will be more standard.

    • 5

      Hydrate constantly. When dehydrated, the heart must beat faster and may beat irregularly. To prevent this dangerous situation, drink continuously throughout your workout and strive to maintain your body's electrolyte balance through sports formulations (or fresh coconut water).