With improvements in electronics leading to more accurate and more affordable heart rate monitoring technology, wrist watch and handlebar mounted heart rate monitors are becoming increasingly popular among runners and cyclists. Understanding what the monitor's information means and how to apply it to your training will help you to make the most of your heart rate monitor.
How It Works
Most modern heart rate monitors have two components. The first is a chest strap, which lies flat against your skin, just below the level of your sternum, or breastbone. By wetting the chest strap, it can detect the electrical activity of your beating heart and relay this information to your reciever. The receiver is most commonly worn on the wrist or mounted on the bike, and it displays your current heart for immediate feedback. Many monitors also store information for later analysis on your computer.
The Benefit Of Using a Heart Rate Monitor
As opposed to measuring your pulse manually with your fingers on your neck, a heart rate monitor allows you to check your heart rate without stopping exercise, and avoids errors potentially introduced when counting heart beats and watching the clock. This gives you instant feedback as to the intensity of your exercise. This is beneficial for training, as it will let you know if you are working too hard or not hard enough regarding your pre-determined target heart rate zone. This is also beneficial for racing, as it allows you to gauge if you are pushing too hard or too fast and decreases your risk of "burning out" before the end of the race.
Calculating Your Maximal Heart Rate
Your maximal heart rate can accurately be determined during a graded exercise test at an exercise science laboratory. If you can't get to an exercise lab, you can use a slightly less accurate method on your own. Run or cycle as fast as possible up a hill that takes you two to three minutes to climb while wearing your heart rate monitor. Chances are, by the time you reach the top, you will have hit your maximum. If this sounds unappealing, your maximal heart rate can also be estimated using the equation 220 minus your age. The "Journal of the American College of Cardiology" reports that maximal heart rate prediction is not affected by gender or current activity status. Experts do, however, suggest that healthy older adults would be better to use the equation 208 minus 0.7 x age, as the more commonly used equation tends to underestimate maximal heart rate for this group.
Heart Rate Training Zones
After you have calculated your maximal heart rate, you can determine an appropriate training range by calculating a low and high percentage of maximum. For endurance sports such as running and cycling, the Canadian Medical Association suggests working at a range from 70 percent to 89 percent of maximum as high-intensity aerobic exercise. As an example, a 20 year old, who would have a predicted maximum heart rate of 200 beats per minute, would calculate his training zone as being between 140 and 178, which is equivalent to 70 percent and 89 percent. With improvements in training status, or if training for higher intensity sports, some athletes may train at intensities as high as 90 percent of maximum.
Other Uses for Heart Rate Monitors
Overtraining refers to when an athlete has pushed her body too hard and the body is unable to keep adapting to the training stimulus. Overtraining often manifests as a decrease in running or cycling speed, a plateau in training improvements, a feeling of lethargy, a loss of motivation or a depressed immune system. According to "Sport Medicine," heart rate monitoring can be used to help to detect and avoid overtraining. Typically, you would measure your resting heart rate each morning before getting out of bed, or even while sleeping, to determine a normal rate. Elevations above normal indicate that the body is responding to a stress, and that overtraining could begin to occur.
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