Beginners - 50-60%
Intermediate or average - 60-70%
Advanced - 75-85%
These are just guidelines, so you should feel free to work at an intensity level that feels right to you. You'll learn more about that in the next step.
One note: you may hear that working at the low end of your THR zone will burn more fat. While this is technically true, this isn't the best intensity to work at if you're trying to lose weight. Instead, you want to work at a higher intensity to burn more overall calories.
Now that you have your THR zone, you need to decide how you'll keep track of it. The easiest way is with a heart rate monitor. Most come with a chest strap and a watch that allows you to see a continuous reading of your heart rate. Learn more about what you should know before you buy a heart rate monitor.
If that isn't an option, you can always periodically take your pulse during your workout by counting the beats for 6 seconds and adding a zero to get your beats per minute.
Don't run off just yet...there's still a bit of work to do. In the first step I mentioned that these heart rate calculations aren't always accurate and one way to get around that is to use both your heart rate and your Perceived Exertion.
