Target Heart Rate

K

keropi

0
I have a question about target heart rate and what it means.

Say my target heart rate is 160. Once I have acheived this number on, say, an elliptical machine, what next?

Do I keep working at this rate? If so, how long?

If getting to 160 is pretty easy, wouldn't I want to go higher?

Also, when I run, I've seen my heart rate go up to 180. Is it okay to go above your target heart rate and if so, for how long?
 
I also target heart rate train.
Was also having discussions about this with a mate of mine who plays professional football with an NRL club who mentioned all their cardio training is based on target heart rate interval training.

Warm up until you reach 70% of your MHR.
Go flat out until you hit 85-90% of your MHR then keep it for a minute.
Ease off until your heart rate comes back down to 70% again.
Then repeat.
An hour of this will sort the men from the boys.

Of course, as your fitness levels increase, you can push your MHR.
For example, I can ride a stationary for an hour constantly working between 85-90%, but prefer to break into intervals for the obvious benefits related to interval training.
 
Your target and max HR will change with your fitness levels. That's why I would suggest using the Karvonen formula to work out your rates because it takes into account your resting HR.


You can work out by percentages, like have a hard week, then an easy week, then a medium week. Training works well that way.
 
The doctors who created the Karvonen method have admitted that they NEVER intended for the fitness community to take that formula as gospel. They came up with it for some patients who had undergone heart surgery, and they needed to give them a 'safe' range to keep their heartrate.

Also, unless you are taking your resting heart-rate in the middle of the night while sleeping, you probably are not getting an accurate rate for that. And, unless you want to spend a great deal of money and go through crazy tests, you will probably never know what your true "max" heartrate is.

Karvonen is a great "guess-timate" for a beginner. But if you have been working out for a while, you will find that if you stick to those numbers, you will not be working hard enough.

For example...

If I use the Karvonen method:
my maximum rate would be 181
60% = 109
80% = 145

When I spin, my average rate per ride is about 167 - with me pushing high 170/low 180s several times throughout. If I quit or slowed down every time the heart rate monitor beeped because I was out of my "zone", it would be like a leisurly riding in the park - I would get a horrible workout.

I think the heart rate monitors are a great TOOL, but shouldn't be the only thing you base a workout on. You should go by how you feel (RPE), and push yourself harder than maybe the day or week or month before. To see how you are progressing - chart your heartrate doing similar activites each time and make your own "range" -- see where it is during warm up, during moderate exercise, and during intense exercise. Then see how that changes the more fit you get.

Just my $0.02. :)
 
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