how to achieve max hear rate

Felix-da-house-mouse
Felix-da-house-mouse Posts: 801
edited November 2008 in Road beginners
hi, i am looking to find out what my maximun hr is but i'm wondering the best way to do it, do i just get on the bike and go flat out or what?
felix's bike

pedal like you stole something!!!

Comments

  • sicknote
    sicknote Posts: 901
    I would like to know too
  • shockedsoshocked
    shockedsoshocked Posts: 4,021
    Hammering up a steep hill was the usual method for people i've cycled with.
    "A cyclist has nothing to lose but his chain"

    PTP Runner Up 2015
  • doyler78
    doyler78 Posts: 1,951
    Like everything else in the world of training there is much debate around the subject. Some people never achieve maxHR in lab tests, others only every achieve maxHr in lab tests. This is very stressful and you will be close to, if not actually be sick, at the end therefore you are placing a huge amount of stress on your cardio system and therefore if you have a history of heart problems or there are strong genetic heart problems in your family then you should really consult your doctor first and have it tested in a lab where it should be supervised by a qualified cardiologist. Local Universities are usually a good place to start with in your area. If you are older (above 35 I think is the advice in the UK) then again you should consider doing a professionally conducted test.

    Having said all that and you want to do your own test then the way I do it is warmup for 10 or 15 mins gradually increasing your resistance. Find a nice steady climb that last about 2 mins. Go as hard as you can up it then gently roll back. Do this continously until you feel you can't climb anymore then abosuletly go for it - really hammer it and you will find your max heart rate around this (basically the highest heart rate you recorded) by far the handiest way to do this on your own is to have a heart rate monitor that will display maxHR at the end of the session that way you can concentrate purely on the efforts and not at watching your heart rate monitor.

    Good Luck. Once done you really don't need to ever test it again. Apparently we an lose one beat a year off our maxHR however some dispute that.
  • sicknote
    sicknote Posts: 901
    Thanks
    As that is now clear for me and have a HR monitor on my computer and will give it a good :shock: :wink:
  • JGS
    JGS Posts: 180
    Go to a lab and get it done properly if you want to find out your MHR. Trying to do it while out on the bike will probably make you crash / vomit / faint (delete as appropriate). I did mine in a lab, threw up and nearly passed out from exhaustion.
  • e999sam
    e999sam Posts: 426
    Does anyone know of a lab in the east midlands where you can get your MHR and V02 max tested?
  • dennisn
    dennisn Posts: 10,601
    On a day that you feel really good and "froggy"(as they say here in the states)
    warm up for a half hour or so. Then start by giving it all you've got for two minutes,
    soft pedal for two minutes, give it all again, soft pedal, repeat and so forth and so on.
    After about a half hour of this you should be getting a really good indication of just what
    your max. is. For me at 60 years it's around 160 to 165. That seems to be about it for me
    as I have not seen it go higher. Your results may vary. :wink::wink:
    Not sure what It means for me as racing is a thing of the past.

    Dennis Noward

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