Training with Heart Rate Monitor

[The Raider]

Using various formulae found on the internet for maximum heart rate mine comes out to be around 160 beats per minute. It is recommended that we train at between 65 and 85 percent of Max for at least twenty minutes or around 122/ 128 BPM in my case. I am going to buy a heart rate monitor and try to train accordingly.

I am sure I am going to have trouble just reaching 128 BPM. Even when cranking 105 rpm (low resistance) in the gym, I level off at about 112 BPM after which I must dial in more and more resistance until 122 BPM is reached. This takes about 15 minutes and if I back off for even one minute, for example to get a drink, the heart rate slows significantly and I have to go through the process again.

It is hard to imagine getting the BPM up to 128 and holding it for 20 minutes while pedaling. That would take 35 minutes of sustained effort. I wonder if this experience is shared by other Zombies? If you are training with a heart rate monitor, do you have any advice? Do you have any recommendations as to make and model? Jerry

[ken will]

I have been using a "Sigma Sport PC14 Heart Rate Monitor"

http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product_10053_10052_122315_-1_10000__11501

Right now they are on sale for $35

Using my big fat leg and butt muscles on the bike, jogging, or inline skates, it is easy to keep BPM at 130-140. but using my tiny little arm and ab muscles in the kayak it is hard to get up to 110 BPM.

[Greenhorn]

Using various formulae found on the internet for maximum heart rate mine comes out to be around 160 beats per minute. It is recommended that we train at between 65 and 85 percent of Max for at least twenty minutes or around 122/ 128 BPM in my case. I am going to buy a heart rate monitor and try to train accordingly.

I am sure I am going to have trouble just reaching 128 BPM. Even when cranking 105 rpm (low resistance) in the gym, I level off at about 112 BPM after which I must dial in more and more resistance until 122 BPM is reached. This takes about 15 minutes and if I back off for even one minute, for example to get a drink, the heart rate slows significantly and I have to go through the process again.

It is hard to imagine getting the BPM up to 128 and holding it for 20 minutes while pedaling. That would take 35 minutes of sustained effort. I wonder if this experience is shared by other Zombies? If you are training with a heart rate monitor, do you have any advice? Do you have any recommendations as to make and model? Jerry

My 2 cents. I don't use a heart rate monitor, but can usually tell when I am close to max effort. I found it far easier to build endurance by training in intervals. Do a minute sprint, 30 second recovery, minute 30 sprint, 30 second recovery, etc. I found that by doing intervals, I was able to sustain a sprint for a longer period of time than if I just tried to train by keeping my heartrate near max all the time. Another good technique is to find a challenging hill and do repeats on it. Sprint up, coast down, let your heart slow a bit and repeat.

[savarin]

I've read somewhere that for maximum benefit it should be 8 seconds at maximum power then 12 seconds relax/coast. Repeat till you can keep this up for 20 mins. I believe this came from the Australian institute for sport.
Its very difficult to do without some sort of timing device.
Question for Brad.
How about a simple timer using red and green led's
Adjustable so the colours can be set to the flip time required?
Easy project?

[Bodhi]

Sounds like Tabata Training.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1608/is_5_20/ai_n6011850/

Lots more, just google "Tabata Training" :rockon:

[25hz]

If one really wants to train, it is not an easy process. It can be as "simple" though, as ride hard, ride long and ride often, but there is a lot of misinformation and myth out there. Also, being "healthy" does not mean you are "fit". They aren't the same thing. If you ARE "fit" however, then you are healthy too.

For heartrate, the formulae out there are nothing more than a guideline and a method of legally playing it safe for advising people how to exercise. They often aren't a very accurate guideline either.

Maximum heartrates DON'T drop as you get older, as a rule, they CAN drop, but that is primarily about inactivity, not age. If you stay physically active, and/or fit, your heartrate doesn't have to drop at all, or if it does, it can be a very small amount. The only way to actually find it is by experimenting and finding it yourself. Or, if you have the cash, you can wire yourself up in a lab and get tested. Max heartrates are a personal thing. Max heart rates do not indicate fitness level or performance levels. Max heart rates do not increase as you get more fit.

There's lots of hype and marketting about fancy names, acronyms, programs, levels, modes, yadda yadda. For the majority of people, you only need to worry about two areas. The zone where you burn fat and the zone where you can improve your cardio (heart) and respiratory (lungs) systems. The fat burning zone is in the 60% to 75% range of your max HR, while the cardio/respiratory zone is in the 75% to 90% range of max HR. Again though, you need to find your max HR, or slowly ramp the effort up until you go into vapor lock.

If you're training using HR zones, you need to understand that everything else is irrelevent. The harder you are working, the higher your heart rate will be. If your target is a higher heart rate, then you need to work harder. It might, or won't be pleasant. It'll be uncomfortable. It might be downright painful if you start aiming your training at the anaerobic zone above 90% and start getting lactic burn. How fast you are going, or what the tension on your trainer is, is irrelevent - you are aiming for heartrate. If you are unfit, then you are not going to have to work very hard to get your heart rate up.

As you get more fit, your heart gets bigger (hypertrophy) and it gets stronger. That means that the heart can move more blood for each heart beat. That's why your resting heart beat drops as you get more fit. Also, because your heart is bigger and stronger, that means you can work harder, but still have a lower heartrate than before. As you get more fit, to keep the same target heartrate, you have to work harder. Your lungs also get bigger, and stronger, and get more efficient at picking up oxygen and dropping off waste gases. That's also why, as you get more fit, you don't have to breathe as hard when you are exerting yourself.

When it comes to training in the 90% range and higher, using things like intervals, that's a whole 'nother world of hurt. There are no guarantees or universal programs that work on everyone. People say "intervals" but don't really realize what kind of pain they are talking about. People say they do 20 minute "intevals" which isn't possible, for anyone, to work at absolute, maximum, 100% (or higher) heartrate and effort for 20 minutes. When you start pushing yourself to your redline, you are now looking at working on power, advanced endurance training, increasing redblood cell count and oxygen delivery, and stimulation of muscle and blood vessel growth. Way beyond what anyone needs to worry about unless they are interested in extreme efforts and racing. When I do intervals (I'm 46) my HR is anywhere from about 180 to 200 BPM. I'm redlined. I'm at max effort. My intervals don't last any longer than about 4 minutes (at slightly less effort) and I rest in between them in a ratio of 1 to 1 or 1 to 2, depending on the length of the effort. If you're doing intervals right, you don't do them a lot, or often, because you can't. Doing intervals shorter than a minute really doesn't accomplish much because it can take up to a minute or more for your heart rate to react to the effort in the first place.

So, pick a heart rate, and ride to it. If you get off the bike and it's hard to walk because your legs are fried, that's good. If you get off the bike and you're exhausted and you feel like your lungs are turned inside out, that's good. That will make your body adapt and get stronger and more efficient. It's not an easy road, and it's not a short road, but it's a very satisfying one, and it's a road that anyone can take.