Maximum HR what is it good for?

[lukesdad]

You still dont see it do you. The type of training you advocate is ride till your shagged everytime you ride. Im afraid its a bit more subtle than that. you need to target your training torwards whatever it is you want to acheive,then once youve got there,aim higher and reset your training plan.

Thats the only way to improve.

 

[jimboalee]

For all these years I've been thinking the way to increase muscular strength was through hypertrophy.

It seems that you don't actually have to place much stress on the actin and myosin to get them to grow.

Sorry for the sarcasm.

In the books I have, the way to become stronger is through damaging the sarcomere filaments and then allowing them nutrients and time to grow larger. The way to become more durable is to train in the lactic acid system, which encourages growth of capillaries, hand in hand with the number and size of mitochondria in the muscle cells.

Getting totally shagged is part of the process.

Its difficult on a bicycle to set the amount of exertion for muscular strength training because 'one rep to failure' means finding a hill so steep you can only pedal ONE revolution in lowest gear before collapsing in the hedge. This is where the Smith's machine is useful.

For increasing endurance, you'll have to ride until the pain is so severe, you need to stop and scream until the lactic acid has gone.

When did I say you have to kill yourself EVERY time you ride. Only every time you want to improve.....

 

[Bill Gates]

"Max Heart Rate is irrelevant" This statement can be true depending on the context of its use. If looking at max effort then yes it is irrelevant. But knowing what your MHR as an approximation is very useful in training situations.

%MHR is useful to identify the range for

1) Recovery

2) Endurance

3) 10 mile TT effort

4) Anaerobic

2-4 can be achieved by using power and/or perceived exertion, as well as a HRM and calculating %MHR.

However knowing when your HR is or below 65% between intervals is important for knowing when you should wait to do the next effort. For this you need to know your MHR and also to wear a HRM. In this way you get the most out of your intervals. However IMO if you get to the knackered stage regularly then you are most probably overdoing it.