It's very common for Central Texans to exercise based on how they feel at the moment. Their effort, unless specified by an exercise schedule or by a coach, is largely determined by the weather and by feelings. Someone feeling down will tend to put less effort into the workout - if the individual works out at all. Likewise an upbeat feeling generates a tendency to increase the pace on the trail or the amount of time exercising. There's nothing like a beautiful day combined with an abundance of energy to make for a perfect run.

While feeling good during exercise is what we all wish for, most likely we all will over- or under-estimate the amount of work we do. And while today's indoor exercise equipment provides feedback in regards to watts, calorie expenditure and pace, many times only the heart rate monitor provides feedback outdoors during a run or walk.

A good heart rate monitor can help guide you to go faster or to slow down the pace no matter how you feel. This way you can achieve the greatest aerobic benefit from the time invested.

GoodHealth.com's online health encyclopedia has an interactive tool which will ask you your Age, resting heart rate and activity level to determine your target heart rate. This is the heart rate you should strive for during exercise. The tool also uses the maximum heart rate in it's calculations.

Without a Heart Rate Monitor?

If you are curious about your resting heart rate and don't have a monitor, you can figure it out using a couple of different ways. The normal resting pulse for an adult is between 60 and 100 beats per minute.

• Before you get out of bed after you awake, place your index and middle finger on the inside of your wrist just above the middle part, towards the side where the wrist joins the thumb. You may be able to see a vein protruding from this area. The thumb has its own pulse so you need to use other fingers. Count the beats for 15 seconds and multiply by four or, more accurately, count the beats for 30 seconds and multiply by two.
  
  
• Sit quietly for 10 minutes and repeat the method above. Many drug stores now provide blood pressure tools that can also take your pulse in addition to measuring your pressure.

Plug your resting heart rate into the interactive tool to estimate your target heart rate range. Several things can impact your heart rate, including the amount of rest you had the night before, stress, medication and activity level.

Activity Level

The interactive tool also will ask you to estimate your usual activity level. Depending on how active you are normally, the amount of effort required to reach your target heart rate will differ.

• Not active. You do less than 30 minutes of light activity no more than two times a week. Cleaning house, gardening, slow walking, and playing golf are examples of light activity.
  
  
• Moderately active. You do up to 30 minutes of light to moderate activity three to five times a week. Brisk walking, jogging, riding a bike, swimming, and playing tennis are examples of moderate activity.
  
  
• Very active. You do more than 30 minutes of moderate activity at least five times a week.

Improving Your Fitness

Once you determine your workout zone using the interactive tool, you can make sure to maintain the workout within the proper target heart rate range. If you have been doing no exercise for some length of time or are just starting out, you'll want to use the numbers in the lower part of the range. Working out in the upper part of your range will help you improve your aerobic fitness over time.

Remember that each individual is different, so don't compare yourself to your workout buddies. Variables such as rest, diet, medications, genes and physiology all affect how hard your heart has to work at the exercise task given. Medicine that affects your heart rate include beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers and digoxin. If you feel like you should be at a higher or lower heart rate or that your breathing is more difficult than you think it should be, make an appointment to see your doctor. This is especially true if you're starting an exercise program.

Once you determine where your heart rate should be on any given workout and can correlate your effort within the target heart rate, you will be able to extract much more enjoyment from your outdoor exercise.

For more information on heart rate monitors read a past GoodHealth.com article titled Heart Rate Monitors For Beginners.