PeteHski

When you hit your max HR, you are basically going to blow up within the next few minutes if you don't back off a bit. You are not likely to hit your max HR on a normal ride. But you can hit it quite easily with a handful of maximal 30 second sprints (and I mean flat out as hard as you can possibly go). Athletes don't use max HR all that much these days as they tend to base training zones on their Lactate Threshold HR. But it's still useful to be aware of your max HR so you know if you were really trying. Also if you are fatigued you would be unable to hit your max HR, so that is good information too. If you train with HR regularly you get to know these effects and (together with power) it gives you a more objective measure of whether or not you really did push yourself. Sometimes your mind plays tricks on you.

Just be careful with optical wrist HR data. It may not be accurate during high intensity exercise, depending on various factors like skin type and how tight you wear the strap. That's why pros always use a chest strap or dedicated armband optical HRM.

MoAlpha

Max HR is just a physiological anchor for some training zone systems, not something one would normally track. As PeteHski points out above, it’s also obsolete. If you compete or repeated maximal efforts are part of your training, you can just look back at a year’s worth of HR data and make a SWAG at it. If, like most people, you don’t, then forget about it and anchor your zones on lactate threshold HR. That’s another can of worms, but easier to estimate. Pete’s caveat about wrist-worn optical HR devices is also valid.

Grouperdawg

Thats a good question, I use a power meter to monitor my effort bc watts never change with how much I slept etc

But they are expensive so heart rate is helpful. Other then the benefit of training in zones , let’s say I have a 2 or 4 mile climb at an average grade of 8%

I know I can maintain 165 heart rate for an hour or more straight. So, I can pace myself by my heart rate up the climb and not hit the wall. I’ll just spin at what ever keeps me at 165 and I’ll be good. If I’m a mile in and I’m already at 180 it’s going to be a rough one even if I’m feeling good that day I won’t be able to sustain that for the climb and need to cut back

70sSanO

Was just wondering.

Thanks for the explanations.

John

PeteHski

I use both power and HR. I use power to set my target output and I monitor HR to adjust my power targets as required to keep in the right zone.

RAFSteve1

Hi, I'm 64 my resting HR is below 40, it used to be below 30. When riding hard it can go to 220 and is sustainable at 190 for a fair old uphill ride.

greyfox47

Hmmm, in 2010, I had a catheter ablation that totally wiped out the Sinus Node running the show for my atrial chambers and handing off to a pacemaker for controlling heart rate. It's currently set to pace me to a max of 140bpm, which is an easy target when pedaling. Since, for me, I'm 100% paced from the atrial side and the ventricles are pretty much along for the ride. I don't even pay it much mind even though I record for almost every ride.

PeteHski

40-220 is the largest HR working range I’ve ever heard of! Even more remarkable for a 64 year old. Are you a competitive cyclist?

RAFSteve1

An emphatic No to that, though I have been asked many times over the years as to whether I was an athlete, mainly by medics. I actually said in junior school, when asked by the head teacher that I wanted to be a professional cyclist when I grow up. Others wanted to be farmers, train drivers etc. I had both femoral veins cut and cauterized at birth due to being a rhesus baby, which put paid to professional cycling as I have massive varicose veins in both legs, messing up the circulation etc.

nickm001

I would recommend visiting cardiologist and doing stress test. It is simple 12 min "Bruce Test Protocol" done in the office. It can be done on treadmill or bike. Load (effort) is increase in steps to reach maximum you can handle and it will determine your Max HR and you will also know if you have any anomalies( limitations) with your heart. MaxHR is sport specific, running is the highest, biking is perhaps 5% lower ( for example mine is 165 for running and 156 for biking) and did not change since my mid 40's edit: I am 72 now ( so 220-age is worthless formula).
If you know that you have no heart issue, then pick a hill that takes 20min or so , warm up for 15-20 min before, and then go up the hill as hard as you can. You will hit your MaxHR for sure. That is how I check it now maybe once a year.

ofajen

I would have thought this would be affected by heat dissipation, with swimming highest, then biking, then running… but perhaps other factors weigh in? Maybe lack of strength to exert at a level that works the CV system that hard? Or perhaps how the exercise engages the larger muscle groups in the legs?

Otto

nickm001

Many factors, bu the most important one is body weight support. It has to do with what muscle groups you use while exercising. Running uses the biggest muscle groups and you have to support all your weight. Biking also uses major muscle groups but not all your weight is pressing on them, while swimming is the lowest maxHR because natural body buoyancy...

Bald Paul

Is there a Doctor in the house?

No?

I'm a heart patient. I don't go to my local garage and ask the mechanic what my max heart rate should be. I go to my doctor, who gave me a stress test, and told me what my beneficial range is, and where my safe maximum is.

If you have any medical questions, I would strongly suggest you do the same.

genejockey 

I feel like there's some confusion about terms.

HRmax is the maximum beats per minute your hear WILL do, hence "Maximum Heart Rate". It varies person to person, and by age for any individual. You can't change it with training. It's just a parameter, not a point of pride. Because it's really hard to actually get your heart going that fast if you're not really fit, many older sources suggest using the 220 - age formula, which has been determined not to be predictive for many if not most people. Older heart rate zone calculations used to use HRmax, but it's been superceded by easer to determine numbers.

It is NOT the same as 'maximum safe heart rate', which is something for your doctor to determine if you're under a physician's care.

livedarklions

Actually, there is a doctor in this thread. It's not me, but I'll let you guess who it is.
But yeah, if you're worried about overdoing it, your doctor, who will have way more information about you than any doctor in an internet thread, is who you should be talking to.

ChamoisDavisJr

OP didn't ask a medical question. He asked how other cyclists figure our HR zones. It seems he did his HR zones with that crappy 220-age thing, so he wanted to know how to better set his zones. He didn't ask about max HR either. I'm guessing if he was an actual Heart patient like you he might have mentioned it.

We should probably ****can this thread anyway since the OP hasn't come back to clarify his position, ask a follow up question, or even to acknowledge any advice he's been given.

Bald Paul

Hopefully it's not because he managed to exceed his maximum safe HR.

GhostRider62

Has anyone who is healthy had an MD tell them how hard to exercise?

I saw 4 Cardiologists and two Pulmonologists in 2019. None of them told me how hard or how long to exercise. All of the Cardiologists were very supportive and honest WRT to the condition I presented with. The Electrophysiologist Cardiologist told me, "it was an honor to meet an old guy so fit, Total Respect"....."Keep doing whatever it is you are doing" and when I went to check out, the Reception wanted to know when he wanted to see me again. I told her, "Never" and she said, "Impossible, that never happened in 13 years". The top dog Sports Cardiologists basically told me they did all the tests they could and just live my life and keep riding. Nothing like.....keep it to zone 2 or a HR of 120 BPM. None of these six experts gave me any advice on intensity or duration of exercise and I made it clear I often ride nonstop for 12 hours or more. One asked my longest ride and I sheepishly admitted it and he said, "Cool".

Bottomline, MDs treat problems. If you don't have a problem, why would they be your trainer.

MoAlpha

So true and its a bad idea to invite a physician, especially a cardiologist, to find something wrong with you.

Most of them are very good at what they do, but they are biased as a group by the amount of disease they see and often over-interpret findings in healthy people who wander under their gaze. Remember also that cardiologists’ offices are the money-losing front end of a ravenous beast with a huge profit center in its belly where the cath labs and ORs lie. The system is full of perverse incentives and you can find yourself on your back with a hose in your groin or your sternum split before you have a chance to think critically about it.

genejockey 

Is that better or worse than waking up in a bathtub full of ice with a note taped to your chest that says, "Thanks for the kidney!"?

livedarklions

With talk like that, you're going to make it harder to play "guess who the doctor is."

spelger

good story and glad you are healthy. so...why were you there?

Koyote

Okay, I've gotta know: how old are you?


Before a routine surgical procedure a few years ago, the surgeon wanted me to have a EKC test to ensure that I was healthy enough for general anesthesia. (I was north of 50 yrs old, and that was their cutoff. Hmm, I guess this was more than just a 'few' years ago.) After the procedure, the tech remarked that mine was the first 'normal' test she'd seen that week. (It was Wednesday.) For a moment I felt proud of myself, but then considered that they see a lot of sick people.

ChamoisDavisJr

It's right there in the name! He's 62 (In addition to being Superman!)



Based on the results from my own EKG and those of my cycling friends...you should have an "abnormal" test. Meaning your HR is lower than average so that it comes out as abnormal because the Tech who runs the test will have the baseline HR set to high. *Usually* cyclists are well under the average and will trip an abnormal result.

I guarantee you that the Tech giving GhostRider the test has to call in every Doctor in the facility to come and stare, mouth agape, at the most genetically gifted ATHLETE they've seen in XX years!

GhostRider62

Ha Ha

Just keep exercising.

MDs are not there to train you. They are there to address medical problems. I have plenty of those and would not wish them on any of you haters.