What is your MaxHR and V02 set to?

WarmDontBurn

I know it varies for everyone but I am totally stressing my HRM and cannot find the answers and if I have found them nothing to confirm they are correct.

I used the SubMax step test located here : http://www.howtobefit.com/determine-maximum-heart-rate.htm

My last minute my HR was around 175 and since I walk more then 5 miles a week I added 75 giving me a MaxHR of 250. My F7 maxes out at 240. So it is now set to 240. Before that it was 181 and 191.

I plan to test the V02 tomorrow by walking a mile etc. Right now it is set to 20.

My main goal is to get as accurate as I can with the calories burned on my Polar F7.

krazie4u247

I don't think that you should stress your HRM. I know it is frustrating to work out and not know exactly how many calories you are burning. So I understand your frustrations.

For me I go to Lifetime Fitness and they test your Max heart rates and VO2. I think it is probably more accurate then anything you find on these websites on how to measure it manually. They have you put on this oxygen mask and all of it is determined with the computer and stuff. It is actually really cool.

So now my Anabolic threshold is 192. I haven't been tested in a few months but when I was first tested for this threshold, when I would work out I would breathe really heavy once I hit 192. Now I know that my threshold has went up because when I get to 197 I am heavy breathing and when I get to 207 I am dying. So when you workout what heart rate are you at when you can't talk and are really breathing heavy?

My VO2 max has increased to 33 because I workout a lot. My trainer set my watch, so my max heart rate is set at 212 on my watch with my threshold at 192.

But the higher your VO2 is, the more calories you tend to burn. But also, it all depends on what Zones you are working out in. Do you have a Lifetime Fitness where you live?

WarmDontBurn

Thanks. I am in Canada so no nothing like that around me.

I am not one to go nuts with exercise. I like my walks and not terribly worried about my maxhr I just want to get it all set up so my calorie count is as accurate as it can be. I doubt I will push my limits much.

The day I got my HRM I walked 5 miles and it said I burned 636 calories so the setting were off. I adjusted and now they seem kind of low but I guess my biggest issue is what is the closest? On the internet I added my walk and it says 471 calories burned so I am more confused then ever with what I should record or how to set this thing up to read right. Can you sense my frustration,....lol

krazie4u247

I can totally sense your frustrations. Depending on how fast you were walking and what your heart rate was at, I don't think 600ish calories is that far off. Trust me I used to be so frustrated with working out and my caloric burn.

What affects the amount of calories you burn I think is really your VO2. What is your VO2 set on your watch?

waguchan

I found this site helpful to estimate your VO2: http://www.brianmac.co.uk/vo2max.htm#vo2

WarmDontBurn

When I did my "636" calorie walk it was set to 37. My MaxHR was 191.
I changed the V02 to 20 and thought I changed the MaxHR but now I am not sure.

As it stand right now it is set as follows:

Max HR - 240
V02 - 20
Rest HR - 90

The big walk was about 3.0 mph, 1 1/2 hours and roughly 5 miles. I posted another thread and was told that the 636 for my weight should be 380 ish calories burned. Todays results seemed much more in sync with my iphone but not sure if I should be trusting that.

Thanks so much for taking the time to help me

utes09

My Vo2 automatically set to 44....would having it set wrong affect the calories burned showed on my HRM following exercise? I thought it was based on my HR.

I'm kicking myself right now because I took an exercise physiology lab class and we did all of the body comp tests and did a Vo2 test as well. That was a year and a half ago and I don't have any of the data anymore.

canstey

From your other post I would say as Azdak said, your maxHR is set too low for you. Here are some general guidelines that you can use to see if the HRM seems to be set correctly.

1. Most people cannot average above 80% maxHR for an hour unless they are in excellent physical fitness. Typical is 70%-80% and that would feel like a heavy workout.
2. If you are just starting exercise after having done very little over the past year, it is unlikely you can attain even 90% of your true maxHR even at maximum effort. The better shape a person is in, the closer they can come to actually reaching their true maxHR.
3, As you improve fitness, the lower your average HR will be doing the same exercise like walking 3 miles. It takes more and more physical exertion to raise your HR to 70-80% maxHR like having to run when before walking was enough.

From your other post I would make a starting guess your maxHR is around 205. The reason why I say this is walking should not raise your average HR to 75% of maxHR unless you are in very poor shape. If you are in poor shape then you will likely not be able to raise your HR anywhere near your true maxHR. I read the article and it only recommends adding 75bpm if you are in excellent shape and from your results walking I wouldn't put you in that category at this time. I don't want to sound harsh but it doesn't sound like you are fit enough yet to determine true maxHR through physical tests. I have been exercising strongly for 4 months and I have yet to hit 95% of my estimated true maxHR that I determined from my calories burned and average HR from those 4 months of exercise and seems to be a very accurate estimate for maxHR. However, I have gotten much closer as my fitness improved and it is now easier to stay at 88+% for a short time without feeling like my heart is pounding out of my chest.

I guess the FT7 does not have the built-in test to estimate VO2Max from resting heart rate variability? My F11 can estimate it by recording my HR for 5 minutes in the morning. It isn't the greatest test and it does have some serious limitations but it was a good place to start. I then used the results from my bike rides to help fine tune the maxHR and VO2Max settings.

Edit:
It sounds like you should have your VO2Max set much lower than the default, something in the range of 16-25. I know that seems low but you need to use settings that result in calories burned somewhere around or lower than what MFP estimates for calories burned because MFP is known to over estimate for most people. Ideally you would track your calorie deficits for about 4-6 weeks and see if you are over/under estimating exercise calories by looking at predicted weight loss vs. actual weight lost. Any discrepancies could also be caused by inaccuracies in the food diary but if you are meticulous during those weeks then you could reasonably assign the discrepancy to the exercise calorie estimate or at least most of it.

When I started my F11 estimated VO2Max at 28. That wasn't too far off because my predicted weight loss from calorie deficit was 12.7 and I lost 14 so it was within 10%. It now estimates my VO2Max at 40 and it will take me another few weeks to determine if that is accurate.

WarmDontBurn

From your other post I would say as Azdak said, your maxHR is set too low for you. Here are some general guidelines that you can use to see if the HRM seems to be set correctly.

1. Most people cannot average above 80% maxHR for an hour unless they are in excellent physical fitness. Typical is 70%-80% and that would feel like a heavy workout.
2. If you are just starting exercise after having done very little over the past year, it is unlikely you can attain even 90% of your true maxHR even at maximum effort. The better shape a person is in, the closer they can come to actually reaching their true maxHR.
3, As you improve fitness, the lower your average HR will be doing the same exercise like walking 3 miles. It takes more and more physical exertion to raise your HR to 70-80% maxHR like having to run when before walking was enough.

From your other post I would make a starting guess your maxHR is around 205. The reason why I say this is walking should not raise your average HR to 75% of maxHR unless you are in very poor shape. If you are in poor shape then you will likely not be able to raise your HR anywhere near your true maxHR. I read the article and it only recommends adding 75bpm if you are in excellent shape and from your results walking I wouldn't put you in that category at this time. I don't want to sound harsh but it doesn't sound like you are fit enough yet to determine true maxHR through physical tests. I have been exercising strongly for 4 months and I have yet to hit 95% of my estimated true maxHR that I determined from my calories burned and average HR from those 4 months of exercise and seems to be a very accurate estimate for maxHR. However, I have gotten much closer as my fitness improved and it is now easier to stay at 88+% for a short time without feeling like my heart is pounding out of my chest.

I guess the FT7 does not have the built-in test to estimate VO2Max from resting heart rate variability? My F11 can estimate it by recording my HR for 5 minutes in the morning. It isn't the greatest test and it does have some serious limitations but it was a good place to start. I then used the results from my bike rides to help fine tune the maxHR and VO2Max settings.

Edit:
It sounds like you should have your VO2Max set much lower than the default, something in the range of 16-25. I know that seems low but you need to use settings that result in calories burned somewhere around or lower than what MFP estimates for calories burned because MFP is known to over estimate for most people. Ideally you would track your calorie deficits for about 4-6 weeks and see if you are over/under estimating exercise calories by looking at predicted weight loss vs. actual weight lost. Any discrepancies could also be caused by inaccuracies in the food diary but if you are meticulous during those weeks then you could reasonably assign the discrepancy to the exercise calorie estimate or at least most of it.

When I started my F11 estimated VO2Max at 28. That wasn't too far off because my predicted weight loss from calorie deficit was 12.7 and I lost 14 so it was within 10%. It now estimates my VO2Max at 40 and it will take me another few weeks to determine if that is accurate.

Ok I will try to address all that...lol.

From my previous post it was established that my HR was set too low so I did adjust it. As of right now I have it set to 240 (the max) and the reason I selected to add 75 BPM was because it said "Excellent Shape--you regularly have training sessions that total more than 1 hour a week, or you walk or run at least 5 miles a week." Now I know that I am not in excellent shape at all but I do walk way more then 5 miles a week...shoot some nights I walk 5 miles alone.

My V02 is set to 20 right now and I find the calories to be estimating a little low. My main issue is what is right? Is MFP close to calories burned or my iphone or some other site? So maybe if I bump the V02 up to say 22 maybe that would be more accurate. I still plan to do the 1 mile walk to test and see where that gets me tomorrow.

I appreciate the help very much and will be so happy once his thing is running a little better.

krazie4u247

My Vo2 automatically set to 44....would having it set wrong affect the calories burned showed on my HRM following exercise? I thought it was based on my HR.

I'm kicking myself right now because I took an exercise physiology lab class and we did all of the body comp tests and did a Vo2 test as well. That was a year and a half ago and I don't have any of the data anymore.

From what I have learned from my Gym tests and my trainer, your VO2 has a lot to do with how many calories you burn when you are working out. Here is an explanation from one of the Calorie point tests I have done that explains your VO2. My VO2 is now 33 it used to be 24 but with all my working out and zone training it is starting to increase. My heart is in pretty decent shape. My trainer set my watch, so he put all my zones in there. My resting Heart Rate is 60 and Max is 212. With my Threshold for my body being 192. If you actually adjust your VO2 you will notice that your calories burned will decrease. Depending on what zones you are working out in will determine how quickly you will burn calories. So when you are working out in Zone 3 and Zone 4 you will burn more calories because your body is working out a lot harder. But the VO2 determines the rate in which you are burning calories.

Here is the explanation for what VO2.

Your body needs oxygen to burn fat. VO2 stands for the Volume of Oxygen your body absorbs per minute while at rest and when you move. We measure Peak VO2, which is the max amount of oxygen you used during this assessment. Your Peak VO2 measures your heart and lung fitness and is considered the gold standard for determining your exercise potential. How well do you live up to your potential? There are 2 ways to determine this and both are equally important. The first determines how well your engine is tuned and is indicated by the percentage your Threshold VO2 is of your Peak VO2. The closer your Threshold VO2 is to your Peak VO2, the more fit you are. In addition, the higher your Peak VO2, the more fit you are as well.

krazie4u247

From your other post I would say as Azdak said, your maxHR is set too low for you. Here are some general guidelines that you can use to see if the HRM seems to be set correctly.

1. Most people cannot average above 80% maxHR for an hour unless they are in excellent physical fitness. Typical is 70%-80% and that would feel like a heavy workout.
2. If you are just starting exercise after having done very little over the past year, it is unlikely you can attain even 90% of your true maxHR even at maximum effort. The better shape a person is in, the closer they can come to actually reaching their true maxHR.
3, As you improve fitness, the lower your average HR will be doing the same exercise like walking 3 miles. It takes more and more physical exertion to raise your HR to 70-80% maxHR like having to run when before walking was enough.

From your other post I would make a starting guess your maxHR is around 205. The reason why I say this is walking should not raise your average HR to 75% of maxHR unless you are in very poor shape. If you are in poor shape then you will likely not be able to raise your HR anywhere near your true maxHR. I read the article and it only recommends adding 75bpm if you are in excellent shape and from your results walking I wouldn't put you in that category at this time. I don't want to sound harsh but it doesn't sound like you are fit enough yet to determine true maxHR through physical tests. I have been exercising strongly for 4 months and I have yet to hit 95% of my estimated true maxHR that I determined from my calories burned and average HR from those 4 months of exercise and seems to be a very accurate estimate for maxHR. However, I have gotten much closer as my fitness improved and it is now easier to stay at 88+% for a short time without feeling like my heart is pounding out of my chest.

I guess the FT7 does not have the built-in test to estimate VO2Max from resting heart rate variability? My F11 can estimate it by recording my HR for 5 minutes in the morning. It isn't the greatest test and it does have some serious limitations but it was a good place to start. I then used the results from my bike rides to help fine tune the maxHR and VO2Max settings.

Edit:
It sounds like you should have your VO2Max set much lower than the default, something in the range of 16-25. I know that seems low but you need to use settings that result in calories burned somewhere around or lower than what MFP estimates for calories burned because MFP is known to over estimate for most people. Ideally you would track your calorie deficits for about 4-6 weeks and see if you are over/under estimating exercise calories by looking at predicted weight loss vs. actual weight lost. Any discrepancies could also be caused by inaccuracies in the food diary but if you are meticulous during those weeks then you could reasonably assign the discrepancy to the exercise calorie estimate or at least most of it.

When I started my F11 estimated VO2Max at 28. That wasn't too far off because my predicted weight loss from calorie deficit was 12.7 and I lost 14 so it was within 10%. It now estimates my VO2Max at 40 and it will take me another few weeks to determine if that is accurate.

Ok I will try to address all that...lol.

From my previous post it was established that my HR was set too low so I did adjust it. As of right now I have it set to 240 (the max) and the reason I selected to add 75 BPM was because it said "Excellent Shape--you regularly have training sessions that total more than 1 hour a week, or you walk or run at least 5 miles a week." Now I know that I am not in excellent shape at all but I do walk way more then 5 miles a week...shoot some nights I walk 5 miles alone.

My V02 is set to 20 right now and I find the calories to be estimating a little low. My main issue is what is right? Is MFP close to calories burned or my iphone or some other site? So maybe if I bump the V02 up to say 22 maybe that would be more accurate. I still plan to do the 1 mile walk to test and see where that gets me tomorrow.

I appreciate the help very much and will be so happy once his thing is running a little better.

----
I think it is sort of hard to estimate your actual VO2 because all of these sites giving suggestions on how are not very accurate. You can't really go by your age because your body may be in different shape than is predicted for someone in your age bracket. When I did my test in February I was only in the 10% for my age. But I hadn't consistently worked out in a while so my VO2 was very low. I re did my test in May and it went up from 24 to 33. Which is a huge improvement. Then my base and my threshold got a lot closer.

So if you have just started working out and if when you walk your heart rate gets up to 191 then you might not have that high of a VO2. When you are walking your heart rate should be low. Unless you are speed walking, you should not be in Zone 3 or 4 while walking. Read my previous post that explains what your VO2 is.

I think unless you have a gym by you that does those tests, it is better to err with having to low of a VO2 then to high. That way you will have a better idea of where you are at as far as working out an burning calories.

WarmDontBurn

So when I do the walking test to get my V02 would you think I should still drop is a few? Like if it says 24 I should drop to 22?
I am going to call around to some gyms and see if this is something they offer. How exactly would I ask...just say to you test V02 or can you?

krazie4u247

I would say you can drop your VO2 to 22 or you can just leave it at 24 to see what you come up with when you do your test.

My gym calls the test for the VO2 the calorie point. But you can ask if they do metabolic tests or any testing to help members determine their VO2 and cardio workout zones. There has to be a gym that specializes or focuses on zone training, and if there is then they probably do have those tests.

WarmDontBurn

Thanks so much. I appreciate the help very much. I now feel like I am getting some answers and not so stressed

Thank You!!

WarmDontBurn

So I did the Rockport test. I kinda messed up at the end because I didn't take my heart rate right away. So my last reading on my HRM was 167 and when I took it after I stopped it was about 154.

With those numbers it is giving me a range of 33-35. So now I am stumped...LOL...again. I know online is not the most accurate but it is a starting point right? So should I put is around 30? Or go lower to 25?

Also just to compare. I walked 1 mile in 15 minutes at about 4.0 mph

MFP says I burned 87 Calories
Iphone says 56 calories
HRM says 63 calories

I also did my workout with the Wii and it says I burned 139 calories when my HRM says 81...lol.

canstey

Ok I will try to address all that...lol.

From my previous post it was established that my HR was set too low so I did adjust it. As of right now I have it set to 240 (the max) and the reason I selected to add 75 BPM was because it said "Excellent Shape--you regularly have training sessions that total more than 1 hour a week, or you walk or run at least 5 miles a week." Now I know that I am not in excellent shape at all but I do walk way more then 5 miles a week...shoot some nights I walk 5 miles alone.

My V02 is set to 20 right now and I find the calories to be estimating a little low. My main issue is what is right? Is MFP close to calories burned or my iphone or some other site? So maybe if I bump the V02 up to say 22 maybe that would be more accurate. I still plan to do the 1 mile walk to test and see where that gets me tomorrow.

I appreciate the help very much and will be so happy once his thing is running a little better.

You do not need to be in excellent shape to walk 5 miles a day. You could be in poor shape and still be able to do it. Running 5 miles a day without ever needing to walk during the run would qualify. The above desription of excellent shape is inaccurate. The number of hours per week is much too low and it isn't the number of hours of exercise per week that is the most important number; it is the quality and effort of each session that is more important although it does take many hours a week if your normal daily activity is sedentary. You cannot walk your way to excellent fitness because it doesn't challenge the body enough but you can walk your way to reasonable fitness and ideal weight from the calories it burns combined with proper diet to maintain health and calorie deficits.

Your calories are working out because your maxHR is too high and VO2Max is probably too low. I can guarantee you that your actual maxHR is not 240. I strongly suggest you set it to a reasonable 205 and only adjust it upwards if you are able to get to 200+ at full effort within the next few weeks. The easier setting to adjust is maxHR based upon actual avg/max HR of walking, running, or biking and using the 70-80% sustainable rule and 90-95% maxHR at full effort rule. I would favor more like 70% than 80% and 90% over 95% at this point. If your calories are too high at maxHR=205 using MFP calories burned as a maximum possible then reduce your VO2Max setting. Use mechanically quantifiable exercises like "walking @ 3 mph for 60 minutes" or "biking at 10-12mph for 75 minutes" where calories burned can be estimated reasonably accurately from known mechanical work and user's weight regardless of the user's perceived effort. Other activities like Zumba are so dependent on unquantifiable user effort like "easy", "moderate effort", or "full out" it is impossible to estimate them accurately.

I know it is a pain to get the right settings on the HRM for accurate calorie burn but you are experiencing first hand the limitations of trying to compute calories based purely on a user's HR.

WarmDontBurn

Ok so if I set my HR to 204 what should my V02 be? I keep getting advised lower but not sure how lower.

WarmDontBurn

I also just wanted to add that I went back and plugged in my max HR that was recorded and it still gives me a V02 of 32. Mine is set to 22 and I figured these tests online were at least a basis. I plan to contact a local gym tomorrow and see if they will do a more accurate test but in the meantime I am not sure how low I should be going. I am already 10 under what the Rockport test shows:

http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/endurancetests.html

krazie4u247

So today you inspired me to ask my trainer some questions to try to help you out better. So I asked him what on the HRM helps determine the calories you burn. It said its mostly the VO2 that determines the calories you burn. So the VO2 is what determines the rate in which you burn calories. He said that the Max HR is very subjective and you never really know what your max HR is. Unless you are in a medical facilitate and they are monitoring you. If a person hits their max heart rate they probably would need to be revived. So the Max HR has little affect on determining calories. The highest I have gotten my HR is 207. But he just has my watch set max of 212. I don't know what your max is but I agree with the previous post that you should have it around 205. It is hard for a lot of people to get their HR to 200 like I can. But my threshold again is 192, so when I run my heart rate increases fast!!

I am glad you are less stressed. I would say you can try to estimate your VO2 right now and maybe put 25 if you want. I looked at the test on that site and I am just not sure how accurate that is. It's sort of reminds me of those BMI calculators. Which are so incorrect at times.

Douniap

Hello everyone

I read some of the answers here and I thought i'll give you some answers as a physician:
1. To find your maximum heart rate, you need to know your resting heart rate
2. how to calculate your resting heart rate: try taking your pulse for 1 minute as soon as you open your eyes in the morning. do that over 3 mornings. do the average and that should give you an estimate of your resting heart rate.
3. Find your maximum heart rate: If you are a female, subtract your age from 226. If you are a male, subtract your age from 220. The obtained number is your maximum heart rate.
4. find your Maximum Heart Reserve (MHREs): substract your resting heart rate from your Maximum heart rate.
5. Now you need to determine your training zones:
5.1. the lower limit or recovery zone ==> it is 60% of MHRes
5.2. The Upper limit of your training or Lactate Threshold ==> it is 89% of MHRes

From here you can then determine the different zones simply by multiplying by different factors:
a. 60% to 65% * MHRes
b. 70% to 75% * MHRes
c. 80% to 85% * MHREs ==> this where most people workout at when they really push it unless you are a professional athlete and then you can push it to 90%
d. 87% to 90% * MHRes ==> Lactate threshold and race day

As for calculating your VO2 Max, if you don't have access to a facility where it can be calculated properly, here is another way of doing yourself:
1. find a treadmill and warm up for 2 minutes
2. Jog one mile at an easy, steady pace, making sure that you take longer than eight minutes if you are a male, or more than nine minutes for a female. Keep track of how long it actually took you and conveert it into a decimal number.
3. note your heart rate at the end of that mile
4. You need your weight in Kilograms for the calculation.
the calculation itself:
1. If you are a male, start with 108.4; if you are a female start with 100.5
2. Multiply your Weight in kilograms by 0.1636
3. subtract the resulting number from either 108.844 (male) or 100.5 (female)
4. Multiply the decimal number (time iut took you to Jog a mile) by 1.438.
5. Subtract the result from the last number obtained in step #3 above
6. To obtain your VO2max, multiply your heart rate (taken right at the end of the one mile jog) by 0.1928
7. Subtract the result from the last number obtained in step #5 above

So the formula looks like this for female:
100.5 – [lbs./2.2 (0.1636)] – [time (1.438)] –
In general if you are between 20 & 39 years of age, you should at least have a VO2 Max of 36.75 milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute.

Hope this helps and clarifies many things.
To your health
Dounia

canstey

Hello everyone

I read some of the answers here and I thought i'll give you some answers as a physician:
1. To find your maximum heart rate, you need to know your resting heart rate
3. Find your maximum heart rate: If you are a female, subtract your age from 226. If you are a male, subtract your age from 220. The obtained number is your maximum heart rate.
Hope this helps and clarifies many things.
To your health
Dounia

So what did resting HR have to do with finding maxHR? Also the 220-age or 226-age is not accurate for all people and just a reasonable starting place if you have no other information. MHRes can be a more accurate way to determine training zones if you care about such things but it doesn't help to determine maxHR or VO2Max needed by the HRM to more accurately calculate calories burned during exercise.