Self-imposed HR limits?
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Jthanmyfitnesspal
Posts: 3,660 Member
Does anyone consciously limit their HR during workouts? Am I the only one that thinks about it?
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I don't personally, but if someone had reason to be concerned that would be perfectly understandable I think...2
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Not often, but I've done it when using a training plan that included HR range targets, or more loosely when doing light recreational exercise on a rest day.1
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Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »Does anyone consciously limit their HR during workouts? Am I the only one that thinks about it?
Not really, I work mostly on perceived effort and have noted that my HR will fluctuate based on factors like fatigue, hydration, temperature etc,1 -
There are training methods that use low HR to improve performance, like Maffetone's. I have friends who have had success with that. I don't use it. My HR is somewhat erratic and usually quite high. I live in a hilly area so every time I go up a hill my HR rises and stays up. The numbers that Maffetone uses as training goals are only possible for me at a walk, not a run, so not helpful.1
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Yes- I have been doing HR zone training since October-ish, and it has improved my distance running quite a bit. It used to be annoying because it would make me consciously slow down during zone 1 and 2 runs to the point where I was fast walking and feel like I'm not doing enough, but the benefits have made me a believer. My heart rate has dropped by about 10 BPM at the same speeds. It's especially noticeable when I'm warming up- my HR used to jump up to zone 2/3 really fast, but now I can easily jog in in zone 1. Unless I hit a hill of course.
I have had my HR zones professionally tested btw.3 -
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I use a Fitbit and generally keep an eye on my HR while exercising. I tend to back off the intensity a bit when I hit 170 or more. I’ve no real reason/justification for this, but it feels right. I’m 55.
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Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »Does anyone consciously limit their HR during workouts? Am I the only one that thinks about it?
MY experience is that my body and mind will not let my HR go where it doesn't want it to be. I'm aware, however, that elite athletes can work through this safety net. I'm not one of them.
Now, with regard to your question, one way that I've controlled my HR during a workout is by using a HR monitor and taking a zig-zag workout approach. Set the HR monitor for lower and upper bpm amounts and work within that range. When the high end beeps, stop and walk and when the low end beeps, resume running, or whatever the activity happens to be.
Most of the time, I don't train this way and seem to "operate" in the 85% to 94% of my MHR during the workouts I'm presently doing.
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Sometimes I have my Garmin yell at me when my HR goes over a certain point. That's when I need to keep some gas in the tank, but might get carried away and be a little too spirited.
But most of the time, no.3 -
No, but I wish I had to worry about my HR getting to high. I don't think I work hard enough to have to worry about it though. The highest I can ever seem to get mine is 155-165, and that is when I am all out sprinting as fast as I can. I don't think I am fit enough to get mine very high because I can't sustain sprinting all out for more than 10 minutes, lol.3
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Not any more, I used to use hr zones but I now have a power meter on the bike so the hr does what it wants.2
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Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »No, but I wish I had to worry about my HR getting to high. I don't think I work hard enough to have to worry about it though. The highest I can ever seem to get mine is 155-165, and that is when I am all out sprinting as fast as I can. I don't think I am fit enough to get mine very high because I can't sustain sprinting all out for more than 10 minutes, lol.
I struggle to get mine above 150-160, not because I'm not fit but because I'm too fit and have to push extremely hard to get my hr anywhere near the max. Even sprinting I don,t go above 1602 -
Yes. I have AFIB. I use a zone approach with a max rate threshhold. Male, over 60, overweight. Coming out of a sedentary IT career into an active retirement (bike, swim, hike, walk, gym), my basic cardio has been steadily improving, but I keep the lid on HR.2
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NorthCascades wrote: »Sometimes I have my Garmin yell at me when my HR goes over a certain point. That's when I need to keep some gas in the tank, but might get carried away and be a little too spirited.
But most of the time, no.
Same here. Garmin beeps when I go over 180. Hasn't happened in a while.
I have friends who swear by training at MAF180. I tried and found it drained the fun from running.
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Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »No, but I wish I had to worry about my HR getting to high. I don't think I work hard enough to have to worry about it though. The highest I can ever seem to get mine is 155-165, and that is when I am all out sprinting as fast as I can. I don't think I am fit enough to get mine very high because I can't sustain sprinting all out for more than 10 minutes, lol.
I struggle to get mine above 150-160, not because I'm not fit but because I'm too fit and have to push extremely hard to get my hr anywhere near the max. Even sprinting I don,t go above 160
Try Nordic skiing. The fittest people on Earth are all competitive Nordic skiers.1 -
Garmin has some training plans that are based on HR, so you work out in a specific zone. As others with Garmins have pointed out, it beeps at the lower and upper limits.
Mine yells at me when my HR goes up... that's actually what started me on my fitness journey, after it happened three times in a week.1 -
Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »Does anyone consciously limit their HR during workouts? Am I the only one that thinks about it?
Not particularly. For a long steady run in conscious of maintaining below about 150bpm. If I start getting significantly above that I'll gas out after an hour. It's about recognising how physiology adapts and serves as an indicator of performance rather than anything else.
If I'm doing sprint training I don't have bandwidth to look, I'll check after the fact to see that responses and rates of recovery were as expected.1 -
I do a niche sport of Indoor Rowing. My training club is arguably one of the strongest (indoor clubs) in the world. I'm more like a club mascot than a serious competitor, but it does allow me to see the training plans and workouts of some really incredible athletes, many Masters World Record holders (indoor and OTW both).
I know a lot of them have hit plateaus and then used Maffetone's plan or similar and have worked in rate restricted along with HR restricted rows. I haven't done it but I've personally witnessed people set new personal bests many times by implementing a plan with HR restrictions.
Like I said, I'm not really a world class athlete by any means, so I've stuck more with feel and implemented some of the same things into my plans. I'm pretty sure Matt Fitzgerald has said for a long time use feel rather than HR. The problem with "feel" versus HR is we have days where you're supposed be doing long, slow monotonous work and then your favorite song comes on and the plan goes to hell. Doesn't take much either to defeat the purpose of those days. I'd say a lot depends on your self discipline to work mind numbingly boring days like they should be done.2 -
This is a great list of responses, with most people saying "no, they don't limit HR." I've asked my doctor a few times, and he give a pretty measured answer, something like "it's probably fine to max your HR." Note the word "probably," I think there's always a small chance that, if you have a heart problem, it could manifest during exertion. C'est la vie!
Anyway, I attended an indoor running class complete with loud music and a DJ last week. We were encouraged to really push it, and I did. My max sprint was 9MPH on a 1% incline (for about 30 seconds) which gave me a max HR of 170BPM. I'm 57 years, so this was much higher than recommended (on average), and I feel like it left my chest a little sore
. It certainly left one knee a little sore! But, a few days later, all is OK, and I suspect I'm better for it! 1 -
Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »This is a great list of responses, with most people saying "no, they don't limit HR." I've asked my doctor a few times, and he give a pretty measured answer, something like "it's probably fine to max your HR." Note the word "probably," I think there's always a small chance that, if you have a heart problem, it could manifest during exertion. C'est la vie!
Anyway, I attended an indoor running class complete with loud music and a DJ last week. We were encouraged to really push it, and I did. My max sprint was 9MPH on a 1% incline (for about 30 seconds) which gave me a max HR of 170BPM. I'm 57 years, so this was much higher than recommended (on average), and I feel like it left my chest a little sore . It certainly left one knee a little sore! But, a few days later, all is OK, and I suspect I'm better for it!
Just FTR, you didn't actually ask if any of us consciously try to max out our heart rate during workouts, or go as hard as we can manage without worrying about it.
I have done so, and have no real concern about going absolutely as hard as I can to see how high HR will go, now and then, up to and including tested HRmax. I've been at my (tested) max (about 180) any number of times, which is well over my age estimated max. (I'm 63, so 220-age would be 157; other age based formulas I've tried also estimate low). I'm well over that 157 often during workouts (it's just nicely into anaerobic threshold).
(Having higher than estimated HRmax is not any kind of honor; it's just genetics, meaningless . . . and pretty common.) HRmax tends to decline with age, but I've seen some research suggesting the decline is slower among athletes.
I'd actively discourage someone from trying to max their heart rate (at any age), without medical indication that their heart at least has no obvious issues, and certainly wouldn't encourage it before very good base cardiovascular fitness is in place. Personally, I don't see age per se as an issue (though those of us with history of obesity of course need to be extra cautious about being relatively certain there are no issues left over from that).
I rate-limit when using a training plan that suggests I do so; I go for max effort at times, too.
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spiriteagle99 wrote: »There are training methods that use low HR to improve performance, like Maffetone's. I have friends who have had success with that. I don't use it. My HR is somewhat erratic and usually quite high. I live in a hilly area so every time I go up a hill my HR rises and stays up. The numbers that Maffetone uses as training goals are only possible for me at a walk, not a run, so not helpful.
Yes, this! Maffeton ignores the fact that landscape might be undulating, and especially that there are people with a higher natural maxHR. If I trained with this method I could only walk - and would not get much better. I know because I hike quite a bit, and used to walk some 20km a day for pokemon go a few years ago. No, I didn't get fitter this way. I could have continued this for a lot longer without ever being able to actually run.0 -
the concept behind Mattetone works - but IMH the calculation doesn't - getting zones tested (via a VO2 Max test or lactate threshold) and established that way will give you more accurate data
and its not something that happens over night - ideally you need 3-4 months of training to see results (i started seeing them after 3 months) - but then other training ramped up and i stopped following the protocal0 -
Yes. I am prone to fainting, so I can't do intervals or have my heart rate get high when it's hot out. I've been monitoring my heart rate for years, so I am well trained to know when fainting is imminent. Perceived exertion doesn't help; I'll faint when I don't feel like I'm working that hard at all.3
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