heart rate zones, RHR adjusted or not

[starship]

With my resting heart at 52, there is about 20 BPM differance between normal percentages and resting heart adjusted (Kovarian?)

Which numbers should I train by?

Why?

Thanks for helping!

[jur]

I'd say adjusted. Tracks your VO2 better see MAPP. (http://home.hia.no/~stephens/hrchngs.htm)

A Better Method for Gauging Exercise Intensity with Heart Rate For a given exercise mode, heart rate will increase linearly with exercise intensity, and therefore, oxygen consumption. However, the resting heart rate creates an offset between % of HR max and the associated % of "peak" Oxygen consumption for that activity. For example, running at 65% of Heart rate max corresponds to approximately 50% of VO2 max. At 87% of HR max, you are at about 77-83% of VO2 max, depending on your resting heart rate, heart rate and VO2 percentage finally converge at 100%. I prefer to use HEART RATE RESERVE as my training intensity guide. To do this I need to know 1) my resting heart rate, and 2) my peak heart rate for that specific activity. The first one is easy to determine. The second one may sometimes be a slight estimate. My current resting heart rate is about 36 beats/min. My peak heart rate during rowing is about 181. So my heart rate range is 181-36 or 145 beats. Now, if I want to train at 85 % of my peak VO2 for rowing, I will take 85% of my heart rate reserve (0.85 x 145=123) and add it to my resting heart rate (123+36 = 159). PERCENTAGE HEART RATE RESERVE will give a better approximation of % maximal oxygen consumption then just % max heart rate. And, it is more accurate because you can adjust for changes in your resting heart rate.