Maximum Heart Rate Zones....

[deptfordmarmoset]

I know this has probably been done to death elsewhere but.....

Until now, and since getting a Garmin last year, I have used the calculation of "220 - age" to get the maximum heart rate. However, in this weeks Cycling Weekly pull out guide to sportives, it suggests this formula for calculating your max heart rate: Men 214 - (0.8 x age) or women 209 - (0.9 x age)

Based on the first formula (i.e. 220 - age) my max heart rate would be 157 bpm. Using the CW formula it is 163.6.

Which formula should be used or does it not matter to that extent as both are only a guide perhaps?

Guide I hope. I did the sums starting with my age of 63 and ended up with the same figures as the ones you've quoted. Then I recounted my age and decided I was 62.5. Which is just as well because I exceeded that max heart rate last week and, if I'm now dead, I haven't even noticed the difference.

 

[Shortandcrisp]

That 220 minus age thing nearly always underestimates mhr in my experience. Only way to truly determine yours is by enduring a little pain along the way!
But does anyone really need to know their mhr to ride sportives?

 

[WelshJon]

Cant speak for other models but my Garmin 520 has an auto-detect max feature. I originally sent it at 185 but a few hard rides later its around 190. Go out and sprint up a hill

 

[ColinJ]

Cant speak for other models but my Garmin 520 has an auto-detect max feature. I originally sent it at 185 but a few hard rides later its around 190. Go out and sprint up a hill

Or grovel up a steep one! I once turned a 90 degree bend onto a hill with stretches of 15-20+% and encountered a strong headwind. My HR hit 198 bpm on that ... I was very close to my limit.

 

[Milzy]

I've hit 204 a few times trying to set a decent Strava time up steep long climbs. seem to manage tonking on at 180 for a few hours without much discomfort. My mate had heart surgery and he's not allowed to go over 160.

 

[RegG]

Thanks for all the replies which confirm more or less what I was thinking.

 

[zigzag]

there is only one way to find out your true max hr - to test it (which is v.unpleasant, but doable every now and then). otherwise it's a guesswork with no value in it.

 

[screenman]

There is a hill not far from here that will have my old Polar showing 220 every time, I know this is more to do with overhead wires than my old ticker.

 

[Spartak]

I know this has probably been done to death elsewhere but.....

Until now, and since getting a Garmin last year, I have used the calculation of "220 - age" to get the maximum heart rate. However, in this weeks Cycling Weekly pull out guide to sportives, it suggests this formula for calculating your max heart rate: Men 214 - (0.8 x age) or women 209 - (0.9 x age)

Based on the first formula (i.e. 220 - age) my max heart rate would be 157 bpm. Using the CW formula it is 163.6.

Which formula should be used or does it not matter to that extent as both are only a guide perhaps?

If it's in Cycling Weekly then it must be true ! ......

 

[Simon Head]

Can you get any heart rate monitor that records your heart rate over a period of time?

 

[ColinJ]

Can you get any heart rate monitor that records your heart rate over a period of time?

Yes - lots (most of the more expensive ones?) do.

 

[Simon Head]

So can I presume that my Garmin Edge 1000 has then and that it is downloadable to a PC?
What I think the most useful way of finding your max heart rate, is to sprint on turbos for X time, once warmed up, then average out your heart rate over this time, sprint 3 times to get a reliable average.
This should be regularly repeated as your fitness improves.
I am not sure yet how long the sprint should be for, maybe 20 seconds?
Also your heart rate will obviously initially rise but then I think it should reach a plateau zone. It is only this plateau that one should average

 

[Yellow Saddle]

So can I presume that my Garmin Edge 1000 has then and that it is downloadable to a PC?
What I think the most useful way of finding your max heart rate, is to sprint on turbos for X time, once warmed up, then average out your heart rate over this time, sprint 3 times to get a reliable average.
This should be regularly repeated as your fitness improves.
I am not sure yet how long the sprint should be for, maybe 20 seconds?
Also your heart rate will obviously initially rise but then I think it should reach a plateau zone. It is only this plateau that one should average

This won't get you even near your max. It is a hard, all-out effort at the cruel hands of a coach and a whip. The monitor should be invisible to you during this procedure. If you don't die, you're not doing it right.

 

[S-Express]

What I think the most useful way of finding your max heart rate, is to sprint on turbos for X time, once warmed up, then average out your heart rate over this time, sprint 3 times to get a reliable average.
This should be regularly repeated as your fitness improves.
I am not sure yet how long the sprint should be for, maybe 20 seconds?
Also your heart rate will obviously initially rise but then I think it should reach a plateau zone. It is only this plateau that one should average

Sorry, this makes no sense as a way to establish MHR.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

So can I presume that my Garmin Edge 1000 has then and that it is downloadable to a PC?
What I think the most useful way of finding your max heart rate, is to sprint on turbos for X time, once warmed up, then average out your heart rate over this time, sprint 3 times to get a reliable average.
This should be regularly repeated as your fitness improves.
I am not sure yet how long the sprint should be for, maybe 20 seconds?
Also your heart rate will obviously initially rise but then I think it should reach a plateau zone. It is only this plateau that one should average

Max HR is just that, there's no averaging involved.