Training with a Heart Rate Monitor
Training with a Heart Rate Monitor
As you all know, I have been riding a bike on a regular basis for almost 30 years and rowing for almost 4 years. After all of this effort you would think that I would have it all figured out my now. Not true. In late 2004 I learned about the benefit of training with a heart rate monitor (HRM). I have had one for years but I never took it seriously until I went to a sports clinic to get my heart tested. I thought I would do pretty well since I was so active. Boy was I wrong. Apparently I had been training the wrong way for all those years. The doctor said I was in fine shape but I wasn’t getting the maximum out of my workouts because I wasn’t paying attention to my exertion level during each workout. The only way to really do that was to be wearing a HRM. With that encouragement and further reinforcement from my on-line bike trainer I decided to get serious about using the HRM. The results for me in 2005 were dramatic. By the end of the season I was riding faster and harder that ever before. I plan to keep training with the HRM to improve even more.
Since I learned the hard way, I though it would make sense to share this with all of you so you don’t have to go through the learning cure I did.
First let’s talk about your heart rate. At birth our heart rates are very fast just like a bird. The theoretical maximum heart rate for a male is 220 and for a female 230. Don’t ask me why it is different. Maybe Catherine can tell us some time. As we get older, the maximum heart rate actually declines. To get an accurate measure of your maximum heart rate you need to do a stress test. Since most people don’t want to go through that process they can use a formula to calculate their theoretical maximum heart rate. The simple formula is: HR minus your age. For me that would be 220 – 52 for a maximum heart rate of 168. For Catherine the rate would be 230 – 22 or a maximum of 208.
The next thing to do is complete a chart that shows your heart rate at various percentage of your maximum heart rate. This chart is used to plan and execute your aerobic workouts.
Listed below is a schedule that shows what mine and Catherine’s heart rate zones would be.
Male
Age 52 Replace 52 with your age
Intensity Ranges
50% 84
55% 92
60% 101
65% 109
70% 118
75% 126
80% 134
85% 143
90% 151
95% 160
Female
Age 22
Intensity Ranges
50% 104
55% 114
60% 125
65% 135
70% 146
75% 156
80% 166
85% 177
90% 187
95% 198
You can calculate your own range by using the formula above.
In the next update I will talk about what the different ranges mean and how often you should be exercising in each range.
I hope this helps you as much as it helped me in 2005.