Maximum heart rate

Dippydog2

WARNING. All of those people who disagree with heart rare training should skip to another thread now.

Of course there are several formulas, but they are just guesses. What matters to me is what I can see on my heart rate monitor

On some rides or static turbo fitness tests I give it my all to the point where I back off or fall off.

Up to early this year I once saw 175.
Then I went for a ride on that day we had horrible air pollution in April I think and I hit 177.
Today on a group ride we tried to bust a Strava KOM and I hit 179.

So, in simple terms I think I should adjust all my heart rate training zones around the 179 max.

Or should I ignore the new maximum.

njee20

Unless it was a sudden spike then yes, I'd use 179.

diy

Is your resting HR the same or lower? I prefer Vo2 Max as a guide to my cardio fitness gains. If your upper and lower limits are increasing it may not be a sign of improvements.

simple vo2max calc:

VO2 max = 15.3 x (MHR/RHR)

MHR = Maximum heart rate (beats/minute) if uknown use = 208 - (0.7 x age)

RHR = Resting heart rate (beats/minute)

Mine is around 70-72

njee20

That's just weird. Your VO2 max doesn't really change that much, good dose of physiology in there, quite why you'd take a measured metric (in HR) and apply that as a proxy for something largely meaningless I really don't know.

What the hell is your HR range as well to get 72? Mine's pretty wide - RHR of 46, MHR of 202, which 'gives' a VO2 max of 64.

diy

Oh it does, it can change massively as your fitness improves. Mostly its at the lower end you will see improvements which is the whole reason I use Vo2 max. If you go on MHR alone then you might as well eat a load of sugar before training and see a "massive" improvement.

RHR : 36-40 BPM ( I'm showing 37bpm now )
MHR : 177-180 (baseline and calculations etc)

I can get my RHR down to 34-35 if I hold off the coffee. I do about 6 hrs of cardio a week.

btw I calculate yours at 67.2 ?? (202/46)*15.3

Its also relatively age proof.

njee20

But what does that tell you? The OP wanted to know his MHR for calculating HR zones, VO2max doesn't help you in any such way? You can't necessarily equate an increase in VO2max to a corresponding increase in performance, so what's it really tell you?

I had mine tested when I was doing such things more regularly, but it was never a priority. Blood lactates and things actually help if you want scientific training metrics.

Do you win races, out of interest? That's a bloody low RHR.

diy

I'm too old to race.

I can normally get in the top 10 or 20% of times on events, none of which are aimed at beginners.

In terms of the OP it was the first 3 sentences I was addressing. i.e. the benefits of looking at HR for training. Hence I was pointing out that we should consider both ends, not just the max.

njee20

Really? There's an over 60s category at XC races.

This was the pertinent bit:

I think I should adjust all my heart rate training zones around the 179 max.

VO2max doesn't help there! I still maintain it's not a very useful metric to track, even less so when you're guessing it, but as long as you're happy.

diy

I'm not that old :roll:

My point is that if you are going to track one end then you should track the other to. Anyway there is lots and lots of research from people who are supposed to be experts on VO2 Max as a metric of athletic fitness. The whole reason HIIT came about was to find ways to gain improvements in VO2 max with lower volume exercise. Gibala, Tabata etc. there papers are full of references to fitness as measured in gains in VO2 max.

If you track the upper end only, then you would be left with the illusion that as your fitness improves, you are actually becoming less fit and if you train on a belly full of crap or after a stressful day you are somehow breaking personal fitness limits. Its only when you look at the top and the bottom together that you can get a good view. The fact that its calculated doesn't matter you could divide one by the other and multiply by PI for all anyone would care, as long as you are consistent. The bigger the gap between Low and High the fitter you are getting. Its not just about gains at the top.

njee20

So why don't you race? You appear to have a superb VO2max...

The OP wasn't trying to derive an improvement in fitness from his max HR, just wanted to know if he should recalculate his HR zones... Personally I'd be extremely wary in applying any such logic to HR metrics full stop. Increasing FTP is a better measure of improved cycling fitness.

diy

Totally agree. I race yachts, does that count

njee20

Again then, do you win? I'm genuinely interested as you're putting quite a lot of focus on VO2Max, yours is very high, does that actually count for anything? It's never a metric which I, or coaches I've had, have really given much weight to.

diy

Its a measure of aerobic endurance fitness, nothing more. Its a much better measure than MHR and increases in VO2 Max tell you much more than increases in MHR. I've not said a high VO2 Max = Success in competive endurance sport, but its probably fair to say the top endurance athletes will have high VO2 max.

njee20

But the OP didn't want a measure of his aerobic endurance fitness? :?

Chinley Churner

I'm starting to sound like a cracked record... forget Max HR and test for Functional Threshold Heart Rate and use that to calculate zones.