Max heart rate and exercise

significance

I've just recently bought a heart rate monitor, hoping to use it as motivation to push myself a little harder during my daily cycle commute. I've been riding the 10km to work and back most workdays for the past 4 years but would like to improve my fitness. I'm 37, so most of the calculators out there suggest that my MHR should be somewhere between 183 and 194. I've read that I should aim for 70-90% of this MHR (around 128 to 174). But using the monitor on my regular cycle route at my normal pace, I find my actual heart rate during exercise ranges from about 145 at a very comfortable cycling pace to between 190 and 240 when I push myself on uphill slopes (and even then, I feel pretty good). My resting heart rate is about 60 and my heart rate recovers to below 100 in the time it takes me to lock up my bike when I get to work. Is this unusual? Is it unhealthy? Which number should I use as my MHR for calculating training targets? 183 or 240? Will I counter-intuitively improve my fitness if I cycle slower rather than faster?

I'm using a Kathmandu heart rate monitor, cycling alone (so there's almost no chance it's cross-talking with another monitor). I'm overweight (BMI=29) and am currently on a sensible diet to lose weight.

_the_feniks_

I'd use 183 for your training targets. 70-90% of your MHR would be anaerobic. If you are trying to lose weight, you should be around 119-156 (65-85%), which would be aerobic exercise. Aerobic is where you want to be if you want to increase strength and endurance. Not to mention, you burn more calories in that range. Anaerobic exercise works at or above the body's oxygen intake capability and cannot be maintained for a long period of time.

significance

I'm quite surprised. At 119, I feel like I am not exercising at all. At 156, it feels like very light exercise. On my usual route I maintain 180-190 for about 20 minutes if I take it at my customary pace (the rest of the route is too much interrupted by traffic lights to allow much speed). But I'll build more fitness and burn more calories if I take it easy?

MsMonny

I too was about to post something the same...

I just used my HRM for the first time on my treadmill. My resting is about 70 (I am unfit!) but when I was feeling good on the treadmill (but not exessive as I want to ease my way in) my heart was 130 or a bit more. I thought this was the fat burning part but I noticed that it read that I was in the fitness part and I had to lower my heart rate to about 121 to be in the fat buring area. This felt like a 'walk in the park' and not hard enough to actually be fat burning.

???

schobert101

I am copying a reply I wrote a few days ago in another thread about these issues. The 220-age is basically worthless. You need to use YOUR maximum. If the 240 is accurate (it sounds high) then you use that. There is too wide a variation in people maximum for the formula to be of much use.
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For you to use heart rate monitoring effectively you must know what YOUR maximum heart rate is. Your maximum heart rate is genetically determined and not a function of your fitness. The calculations that are widely used are just not that useful as your maximum may be way higher. For example I am 57 years old so if I take 220 - 75=163. Well I am just warming up at 163. My real max is more like 190. Once you know YOUR maximum then you take percentages of that number to get the different zones. It is a bit more than can be explained here but you might want to consider getting a book about heart rate training. There are many. Mine is a few years old but I used "Precision Heartrate Training" by Edmund Burke and it was very good. How to determine your max heart rate though is not so easy. The best way is clinical tesing on treadmill or such. You can do it yourself also and keep in mind that max heart rates are sports specific due to different muscles used. So if you want the zones for running then determine your max heart rate while actually running. The books describe various ways of doing it but as I recalled I did 5 repeats of running up a hill as fast as I could. You need to push as hard as you can until you feel you are going to die (don't try without doctors OK if you are over certain age or risk factors for heart disease etc.). You can also observe your highest heart rates during a short race like 5 K to get an idea. At least that will get you in the ballpark. You really need to do some study/research on the topic or read a book to get all the benefits and do it correctly.

significance

Thanks for that advice!