First numbers from my polar s120
 

Is there a good resource online for heart rate information? I know of a few books mentioned here, as well many great posts; but I'd rather have something all in one place. Eventually I'll buy one of those books.

The main questions I'm looking for is figuring out my resting heart rate and what is an average rate, and is jogging/cycling at 80% of my max a good place to train. I was thinking I would jog 20minutes 4 times a week, and I cycle to work for 1 hours 5 times a week. My max rate (age method) is 196.

I woke up this morning and had a heart rate of 60bpm. As I sit here typing its around 65 and seems to jump to 80-90 when I walk. I haven't gone cycling with it yet, however I went jogging (20mins) and found I naturally went at 80% of my max.

Thanks for any help!

I can recommend some books.

Start with "Heart Rate Monitor Book" by Sally Edwards. It will break down heart rate training and give you the basics.

Then, go to "Heart Zone Training", by Sally Edwards. In that book, you'll find a more comprehensive explanation about heart rates and how to find your numbers and train in the different energy systems.

Finally, get "The Heart Rate Monitor Book for Outdoor and Indoor Cyclists" by Sally Edwards and Sally Reed. This book breaks down heart rate training, gives comprehensive tests, and also gives workouts you can do on your trainer or outdoors.

Koffee

For some quick and dirty answers:

-You'll want to create a program that uses a variety of % of max heart rate, depending on the type of training you are doing that day/week/period.

-Do not use the "220-your age" rule to determine your max heart rate - it is a very poor indication for most of us. It certainly is for me.

Good luck!

so whats the best method to find max hr, i have read so many different methods but i always come to the same conclusion. Mine is always 195 or so. And i am always at 80-90% of max when riding. It cant be right, but i have nothing else to go on, and i am not going somehwere to pay someone to do it for me.

You probably are closer to 80- 85% when riding. You are right- no one can ride at 90% max hr for a significant amount of time except trained professionals, and they know better than to waste their energy doing that too.

If you don't want to pay, then just add an additional 20 beats to your highest number you ride at, and that's probably close enough to your max.

Find a college or university with a kinesiology or sports physiology department and see if they need volunteers or lab rats for any studies on VO2 max, hr max, or anything like that. I had my tests done for free once, and it was like $2000 worth of tests and all I had to do was go in for 5 hours of extensive testing. Then afterwards, they gave me a printout of my results like an inch thick. You live in New York- there are plenty of universities and colleges out there, get to calling! :D

Koffee

Not a bad idea, Thanks.