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04-15-03, 07:02 AM
Just saw an article in the newspaper today. Apparantly, the old 220-age for estimating maximum heart rate has no clinical basis.
I suppose someone just came up with it as a "rule of thumb".
I have found from personal observation that it can be quite a long ways off. I have friends who diverge quite a ways from the estimate.
I suspect that training schedules based on amount of time spent at various heart rates are somewhat bogus also. However, it is a good thing to exercise at different levels of intensity so they got that right. I am just rather skeptical that a very structured and very specific training schedule makes that much sense. I suspect that people vary enough that different people require different schedules to maximize performance. I think the old saying is "train your weaknesses and race your strenghts".
I suppose someone just came up with it as a "rule of thumb".
I have found from personal observation that it can be quite a long ways off. I have friends who diverge quite a ways from the estimate.
I suspect that training schedules based on amount of time spent at various heart rates are somewhat bogus also. However, it is a good thing to exercise at different levels of intensity so they got that right. I am just rather skeptical that a very structured and very specific training schedule makes that much sense. I suspect that people vary enough that different people require different schedules to maximize performance. I think the old saying is "train your weaknesses and race your strenghts".