heart facts

When I made the dedication to take charge of my own body a few years ago, I consulted my bf (who, back then was actually sexy and fit) about some exercise tips. (Mind you, I used to be a size 1-2 when I was back in highschool so working out for me was new when I gained weight. ) He indicated that the most important thing I could do is to monitor my heart rate. Increasing your heart rate will determine the intensity of your work out, to determine if what you're actually doing will affect your body in a healthy way.
Of course, I took this piece of information very.. heartedly (LOL) and used it as a guideline for my workouts. As you may know, there are different zones of heart rate:

Above is a chart of where your heart rate is supposed to be. Personally, I try to aim for the cardiovascular performance because I'm burning as many calories as I can as well as increasing the strength of my lungs and heart.

I have to admit though, I am a smoker and if you're a smoker, don't be discouraged from achieving these heart rates. Even though I am a smoker, I find that I can still breathe as well as other non-smokers but I am working more than them as well. And because I am a smoker, my endurance is short lived than those of non smokers - another reason why I try to stay in this zone. Anything higher or anything lower will not benefit my body.

Something quite interesting happened yesterday when I was on the elyptical : I usually put my iphone on house, reggae or soca while doing my cardio. Yesterday I put it on shuffle. I've noticed that my heart rate significantly dropped when I was listening to slower songs even though I'm going the same pace and intensity. I shared this experience with J, he mentioned that that's why I should always focus on what I'm doing. He has always stressed the fact that some people merely focus on their exercise and are just moving their legs, thus not getting anything from their workout. He said that even though you're at the same intensity with a slower song than a faster song, your mind and body works the together.
I thought this was quite interesting and looked up how music can affect one's heart rate. This morning, I googled "heart rate music affects." I've found that many sources have mentioned that universities concluded the tempo of your music greatly affects your heart rate. The most interesting part is that the perference or type of music chosen doesn't affect it at all; it's the tempo and beat that does.

Just thought I'd share this with you because... well, I find it quite interesting. You can control your heart rate by the type of music you choose while working out :)