Exercise is amazing for a person for many different reasons. It keeps the body healthy, it improves stamina, strength, endurance and lung capacity. It relieves stress and it releases endorphins. It keeps you young and it regulates your mood and your hormone levels. There are really no limits to what the body can do and what exercise does for the body.

So many people give up when fighting the fight to become healthier in their bodies through exercise because it’s hard. The pain can be challenging to push through. But that’s just another benefit of exercise. It increases your tolerance to pain.

Another thing that keeps people from pushing themselves when exercising besides pain is high heart rate. This is normal for anybody just getting into the groove. If it’s hindering you from doing all that you want to do when you work out, here are tips for managing your heart rate when exercising:

Start Slow

If you haven’t worked out in a long time, your heart won’t be as strong as it’s probably been in the past. It has to work harder to pump blood through your body. When you start doing cardio, it can be a shock to your body because it’s out of shape. You might feel like your heart is pumping out of your chest.

The best thing you can do for your heart is start slow and ease yourself into the workout. Your heart will get stronger fast if you do things right. Start on the elliptical or by doing exercises that have less of an impact on the body and heart. Once you gain a bit of strength and stamina, you can up the intensity.

Wear A Monitor

If high heart rate is normal for you no matter how in shape you are, you should definitely go someplace where tools can be used to determine whether or not the problems you’re having are due to a variation of heart issues. You can make your heart stronger through exercise, but if you’re continuing to have issues of high heart rate or you need to get things checked out.

You can determine just how high your heart rate is getting by wearing a heartrate monitor. Most machines have monitors to tell you where your heart is at, and there are lots of gadgets that promise the same thing. If you have a need to know exactly where your heart rate is during exercise as to not overstrain yourself, look into getting something higher end that can give you a more accurate reading.

It’s important to push yourself when you exercise so that you can become stronger, but it’s also important to listen to your body. If your heart rate is above where it should be you need to take a break from the exercise and let your heart calm down. This will be healthier for you in the long run. It’s not about the sprint. It’s about going the distance.