Heart Rate Training

The heart rate monitor is an important training tool that every endurance athlete should utilize.  Using a heart rate monitor appropriately can enhance training, decrease injuries, and improve energy utilization.  To understand how to effectively train with a heart rate monitor, one needs to be familiar with terms such as maximum heart rate, training zones, aerobic energy, anaerobic energy, lactate threshold, and VO_2max (maximum oxygen uptake).

Your maximum heart rate is the maximum number of times your heart can beat in one minute.  A training zone is a heart rate range (ex. 140 to 150 bpm) which you will maintain during your training session or part of your training session.  There are a variety of methods used to determine maximum heart rate and training zones.

    - A common method used by fitness buffs approximates maximum heart rate (MHR) by subtracting one's age from 220.  (MHR = 220 - age).  However, this formula is based on research performed in 1971 and more recent studies show that it may overestimate MHR in younger people and underestimate MHR in older people.

    - A newer formula was recently developed by researchers at the University of Colorado and published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.  The formula calculates MHR by multiplying age by 0.7 and subtracting this result from 208.  (MHR = 208 - (0.7 x age)).  The table below shows the differences between the old method and this new method.  Although this formula is considered a more accurate approximation of MHR, it still has a margin of error of 6 to 7 beats (meaning if your calculated MHR is 187, in reality it could be anywhere from 180 to 194).  This has some significant implications for those athletes that calculate their training zones using percentages of MHR.

Table 1.  Comparison of MHR calculated by the old and new methods.

Aerobic energy is the energy that your body produces utilizing mostly oxygen.

Anaerobic energy is the energy that your body produces utilizing sources other than oxygen.

Click here to learn more about improving performance through AEROBIC TRAINING.

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