The point of a Heart Rate Monitor is......?

MaxPower0102

Obviously to track your heart rate. I get that much.

Can someone easily explain how I should determine what my "target heart rate" should be? If I am in an hour Spinning class, how do I know where to try to keep my beats per minute?

dbmata

It depends on your training goals which HR zones you want to be in.

Your program will prescribe which zones and for how long.

msf74

Well, the question here is "what are you targeting?"

In other words, what do you want to achieve by working in a specific zone?

20yearsyounger

%HR is used as a gauge for intensity. There are a few calculations but the basic one is 220 - age to find your max heart rate. If you want a moderate level workout (I'll use 70%), and you are age 35, then you would try to achieve (220-35)*.75 = 138

When I do spinning, my heart rate is usually between 130 and 150 (between 70% and 82%) . Where you want to keep your beats per minute depends on your own personal goals and your fitness level.

jacksonpt

dbmata wrote: »

It depends on your training goals which HR zones you want to be in.

Your program will prescribe which zones and for how long.

Agreed.

If you are on a program geared towards HR training, then it should outline what zone, when, and for how long.

If you aren't, or if your goals are more general (fitness, weight loss, overall health), then HR zones are irrelevant to you. Go as hard as you can for the workout you are doing that day.

triguy78

Generally zones 2 and 3 are for fat burning, and 4 and 5 are for aerobic conditioning. Most HR watches will help you calculate your zones when you set them up, but you can also do a Google search and find information on how to generically calculate what your different zones are. If you want to get more precise you can have a test done (I had one done at my gym, otherwise some doctors do it) where they measure your heart rate and CO2 output to tell you your zones. Most people are interested in burning off extra fat, and it surprised me how low my HR needs to be to be in zone 2-3, I had been previously been working out way too hard...I am sure a lot of people fall into the same boat.

BrianSharpe

Rather than relying on a HRM to hit zones go by perceived effort. Many HRMs use 220-your age as the estimated maxHR and that can be wildly inaccurate for many people.

DavidMartinez2

A lot of triathletes I know only work out by HR. They have a goal HR established and they stay there regardless of how fast or slow they may go. Because perceived effort can be subjective and you will have good days/bad days they view it as a way of controlling how hard they are working.

BrianSharpe

DavidMartinez2 wrote: »

A lot of triathletes I know only work out by HR. They have a goal HR established and they stay there regardless of how fast or slow they may go. Because perceived effort can be subjective and you will have good days/bad days they view it as a way of controlling how hard they are working.

Agreed, we've got a number of them at my club too. The difference though is that they know what their maxHR is and what the zones really should be.

For someone just picking up a Polar FT4 and plugging in age and weight perceived effort is probably more reliable than the zones their HRM will give. (I'm a good example of that as 220 - my age gives me an estimated MaxHR that is far lower that what it really is)

LexGN

I wore one when doing cardio for safety. I was on a medication the increased my heartrate, and I had to be careful not to go overboard. I just felt safer. I'm not on the medication anymore, but it was sure nice to know calorie burns for workouts that was accurate, so I may still wear it.

MeanderingMammal

LexGN wrote: »

but it was sure nice to know calorie burns for workouts that was accurate,

For a very special definition of accurate that doesn't really involve accuracy...

20yearsyounger

I don't agree with going with the perceived effort. Yes, the calculations are helpful initially but after a while, you learn your levels. Besides you can start low and increase it to reach your desired HR. As DavidMartinez said, I have good days and bad days. Many times on those bad days it might take me a little longer to get there. The only truth I use is what my heart rate is saying

fat2strongbeth

I primarily use mine to get a more accurate count of calories burned. The estimates on MFP can be very high.

G8rRay

I agree with the issue associated with "perceived effort;" re: good days/bad days. [Per my personal experience. Although, I've found that after running ~4 mi (or more), perceived effort does seem to match other indicators of the same effort--I'm a runner (wannabe).]

Note that as your fitness improves, your resting HR will reduce, but your maximum HR will stay about the same; so, your HRR [max HR - resting HR] will change. The reason I mention HRR is that, it's my understanding, some athletes and coaches use %HRR [100*(measured HR - resting HR)/HRR] as a best indicator of effort when using HR training.

glevinso

While I have calculated my lactate threshold heart rate, I don't believe I have ever tried to figure out what my max heart rate is, or even why that number is useful. And even then the only reason I ended up with a calculation for LTHR, was because it was another metric collected during a functional threshold power test.

If you are just trying to lose weight, the heart rate monitor will help more accurately calculate your calorie burn for your particular activity while you are doing it (it will be more accurate that relying on MFP's guess that uses height, weight, age, gender and time spent).

burnsgene42

Punch up " target heart rate" go the the American Heart Association site. Should give you a rough idea what you're shooting for. You may have to adjust it to you.
When I'm exercising my HR is the most important aspect of the workout. How fast I'm biking or how far I go in a certain time are just not important any more.
We want to challenge our heart , as it gets stronger it doesn't have to work so hard and we have to ride/run faster/further to stay in the "target heart rate" zone.
My P0l@r gives HR and Calories burned. Both very handy.
Good Luck.

MaxPower0102

Thanks! I've been targeting "average Watts as a % of body weight" to gauge how hard I'm working. But one Instructor has us out of the saddle for 25% of class, and my watts go way down when standing.

20yearsyounger

G8rRay wrote: »

I agree with the issue associated with "perceived effort;" re: good days/bad days. [Per my personal experience. Although, I've found that after running ~4 mi (or more), perceived effort does seem to match other indicators of the same effort--I'm a runner (wannabe).]

Note that as your fitness improves, your resting HR will reduce, but your maximum HR will stay about the same; so, your HRR [max HR - resting HR] will change. The reason I mention HRR is that, it's my understanding, some athletes and coaches use %HRR [100*(measured HR - resting HR)/HRR] as a best indicator of effort when using HR training.

I definitely use the resting heart rate calculation since I know mine. But to link this back to the original OP question, you are definitely training your heart so as you do it more, it takes less effort to accomplish the same tasks so your heart rate will likely drop over time at the same cadence/resistance. In order to continue to strengthen my heart, I increase the resistance (or the cadence) to keep my heart rate at the level I want it. So as glevinso implied, reaching the max HR isn't really the goal. I do not have to worry about trying to achieve a max heart rate, I just focus on making it stronger at a lower heart rate and getting the most out of the exercise each and every time.

dbmata

MaxPower0102 wrote: »

Thanks! I've been targeting "average Watts as a % of body weight" to gauge how hard I'm working. But one Instructor has us out of the saddle for 25% of class, and my watts go way down when standing.

There's also the whole thing that when fitness increases, wattage input will increase at the same hr level.

ShawnTX

Just to add another consideration in there: It is vital, IMHO, to know your HR zones if you are trying to make progress in exercise or weight loss. Training in zone 2 for extended periods of time causes dramatic increases in the mitochondria in your cells. These are the powerhouses in your cells and directly impact your metabolic rate. To put it simply, the more mitochondria you have, the more endurance capacity you will have and the more energy your body will physically be able to use during workouts and throughout the course of your day. So everybody that is interested in fitness and maintaining a healthy weight can benefit from zone 2 training. Zone 5 increases aerobic capacity. Zones 3 and 4 are largely a waste of time as you reap much more benefits from the same amount of time doing interval training and switching up between z2 and z5 workouts. The problem is that most people stay in z3 and z4 and then wonder why they seem to be working so hard (perceived effort) but are not making great progress. The problem with the above is, as others have stated, HR zones are highly individualized and will even change significantly over time in the individual. I get my max HR and zones professionally recalculated once a year. I live near Dallas, TX and there are a number of places that will do this for as little as $100. If you have the means, I recommend getting it done just to take the guesswork out of the equation. While there are a ton of other metrics that we triathletes use to gauge our performance (i.e. LAT, VO2 Max, etc.), knowing your HR zones is the one that I think is simple enough to apply to anybody and any activity to great effect.

DavidMartinez2

glevinso wrote: »

While I have calculated my lactate threshold heart rate, I don't believe I have ever tried to figure out what my max heart rate is, or even why that number is useful. And even then the only reason I ended up with a calculation for LTHR, was because it was another metric collected during a functional threshold power test.

I'm reading Matt Fitzgerald's "80/20" book and just did a tempo to determine my "threshold HR" (his term). I'm supposed to do my easy runs at ~80% of that HR; for hard effort workouts he recommends using goal pace vice HR.