Exercise and Your Heart Rate

I thought I'd check in with my readers to say I'm still here. My garden is bursting with veggies to be harvested and I find it a challenge to keep up with blogging and exercise right now. I'd like to count gardening as exercise, and sometimes it is. However, picking veggies doesn't get the heart pumping. Hoeing can do it, but the weeds are well under control so that's not a factor. It's like those of us who want to count house work as exercise...if it doesn't get your heart rate up for at least 20 minutes, it doesn't really do what you need it to do.

Getting your heart rate up doesn't mean it has to feel like it's ready to pound through your chest. Exercise like walking. If you're wondering about what your target heart rate should be, the formula for your maximum heart rate is about 220 minus your age. Use these general guidelines:

• 20 years 100–170 beats per minute 200 beats per minute
• 25 years 98–166 beats per minute 195 beats per minute
• 30 years 95–162 beats per minute 190 beats per minute
• 35 years 93–157 beats per minute 185 beats per minute
• 40 years 90–153 beats per minute 180 beats per minute
• 45 years 88–149 beats per minute 175 beats per minute
• 50 years 85–145 beats per minute 170 beats per minute
• 55 years 83–140 beats per minute 165 beats per minute
• 60 years 80–136 beats per minute 160 beats per minute
• 65 years 78–132 beats per minute 155 beats per minute
• 70 years 75–128 beats per minute 150 beats per minute

With this in mind, I have to juggle my priorities to fit exercise into my day-to-day again. Isn't life interesting?