Although spinning shoes are usually what get people past that final dedication hurdle, you really need to understand the importance of heart rate zones. The benefits of spinning exercise are really rooted in maintaining heart rate zones. You will increase your success with spinning if you understand heart rate zones and their importance with spinning classes. Advance spinners and even beginning spinners hear constantly from their instructor about the importance of hitting that specific zone. If you are like me, when you started to hear all this talk about heart rate zones, you were wondering what the difference is in each zone and why it is so important. I’ll outline the zones for you and you’ll have a much better sense of how important heart rate zones are and the benefit provided in each zone.
Zone 5: 91-100% of the heart rate considered the maximum for your age and fitness level. You won’t achieve this zone very often. Normally, you would only hit this zone with very high level sprinting and interval training. Spending a very short time in this zone is optimal due to the stress required to maintain this level. Even top athletes only spend short periods of time in zone 5. You certainly won’t spend much time in this zone in your spinning class.
Zone 4: 81-90% of the heart rate considered the maximum for your age and fitness level. It is also commonly known as the anaerobic zone or anaerobic threshold. You may ask your body to stay in this zone but you’ll find your respiration can’t keep up with the demands. This is also the zone where your muscles will notice the stress. No pain no gain. Yep, your muscles will start to burn and eventually they will fail due to not being able to get enough oxygen with your respiration. This zone is key for conditioning during your spinning workout. You can make significant improvements training in this zone. Most spinning instructors use this zone as a staple of their spinning workouts. Plan to spend quite a bit of time training in this zone during spinning workouts.
Zone 3: 71-80% of the heart rate considered the maximum for your age and fitness level. It is commonly referred to as the aerobic zone. Bottom line, if you want to be in better shape, you’ll spend a significant amount of time in this zone. Working out in this zone will significantly increase your respiratory rate and as a result, your lung capacity increases. Your heart becomes stronger. Calories burned from fat and carbohydrates will be burned at about a 50/50 ratio. The bulk of spinning class is spent in this zone.
Zone 2: 61-70% of the heart rate considered the maximum for your age and fitness level. It is referred to frequently as the temperate zone. This is the optimal zone for fat burning. The ratio of fat calories burned as opposed to carbohydrates rises significantly. People with significant weight to lose should be spending a lot of time in this zone rather than pushing to zones that are more challenging. You’ll be happy with your results. If you are beginning spinner and want to lose more than 20% of your body weight, you might consider spending time in this zone when the instructor is calling for zone 3.
Zone 1: 50-60% of the heart rate considered the maximum for your age and fitness level. It is referred to by many experts as the heart healthy zone. Walking at a brisk or even moderate rate of speed will get your heart in to zone 1. Although you might think there is not much benefit, think again. You will eventually experience a drop in blood pressure and cholesterol from working out in this zone. When you hear that “even just walking” is good for your heart, believe it. You won’t get in better shape in this zone but you’ll experience the other benefits. People with heart problems or in heart rehab shoot for zone 1 frequently. Those of you that are in shape will probably use this zone for warm-up or warm-down.
Your instructor is likely trained to put you in to zones that will best benefit you. Don’t exceed their instructions because you think you can handle it. Many people over-train and don’t get the maximum benefits from their spinning workouts.
Hopefully you are energized to get out and find your heart rate zones and sick with them. I promise you’ll see increased benefit. Strap on those spinning shoes and go kill it!