Heart rate versus cadence

[WaynejG]

I have just wired my MTB to measure cadence and I am using a chest strap for the HR. Yesterdays ride my HR spent 80% of the time in the fat burning zone. My cadence however was 62 rpm. From what I have read, the cadence should be 80 to 90.

 

How do I balance these two? Or am I over thinking the whole thing?

[Pure Savage]

I have just wired my MTB to measure cadence and I am using a chest strap for the HR. Yesterdays ride my HR spent 80% of the time in the fat burning zone. My cadence however was 62 rpm. From what I have read, the cadence should be 80 to 90.

 

How do I balance these two? Or am I over thinking the whole thing?

 

Over thinking, also depending on the terrain you can keep your cadence at any range really. 

 

This morning I did 95 average cadence at 70% heart rate.  Was just to Hout Bay and back, nice and chilled.

[Veebee]

don't stress about all the data.

 

Some are grinders and some are spinners, so find the cadence you comfortable with and ride on.

[JA-Q001]

Are you riding a single speed or do you have gears, if you do, change gears while riding.

[SwissVan]

I have just wired my MTB to measure cadence and I am using a chest strap for the HR. Yesterdays ride my HR spent 80% of the time in the fat burning zone. My cadence however was 62 rpm. From what I have read, the cadence should be 80 to 90.

 

How do I balance these two? Or am I over thinking the whole thing?

General belief is that 90 rpm is the ideal cadence, however this is not cast in concrete as cadence depends on the individual, just like heart rate.

 

I would say 62 rpm is to low a cadence, continuous low cadence like that puts a lot of strain on your muscles / tendons and can even result in lower back pain.

The 62 cadence you mentioned, is that an accurate indication of your average and what kind of ride was it?

 

Cadence can be trained, in other words you can train to peddle at a higher cadence.... he who spins wins..... higher cadence tends to save your legs I.e. Not fatigue the muscles as quick as low cadence does.

 

Everyone has their own comfortable cadence, there is no exact formula to this other than to learn over time and experience......

[PeterF]

Use your gears to match cadence with heart rate. If you are not used to riding at a higher cadence then as with anything build up to it gradually.

[AryM]

Lots of factors to deal with:

What gears are you riding?

Ratio?

What terrain were you riding? Road, Outdoor, Hilly, Flat, Undulating?

 

But yes, don't stress about the data.

If you feel comfortable, then go out & Ride.

But high cadence generally ups your HR. There's a Sweet Spot to find the perfect balance between HR & Cadence. Everyone is different. Now go find yours...

[WaynejG]

Cool thanks for the replies. Was just buzzing about the suburbs after work. Yesterday was also the 1st time with the cadence sensor.

[Martin PJ]

If your legs are sore, your cadence is too low. If you are out of breath, then it is too high. If everything hurts then it is about right.

[Tristand]

A good pedalling technique tends to increase the cadence a fair bit too.

You may want to focus on it a bit.

[gtr1]

HR more closely linked to power, and power is a combination of cadence and the gear you ride in. So spinning a high cadence can get your hr up! but will be more linked to how heavy the gear is.

 

As mentioned 90 is regarded as an optimum cadence, but some will ride a bit higher and some a bit lower. The idea is to find a gear that you can comfortably ride in at around 90 cadence.

 

If not used to a high cadence you can train for it and increase it. Lower cadence usually means you push a heavier gear, which will tire you out quicker.

[Fat Boab]

All good advice thus far.

 

As an aside, let me muddy the waters slightly to illustrate how HR and cadence can conflict with one another at times? I have a local hill that I use for hill reps. If I set my target HR at say 95% of my max and ride the hill in a 'big' gear such that my cadence is (say) 60 rpm, then I climb faster than in a lower gear, at cadence 100 rpm, whilst also maintaining my 95% of max HR.

 

Conclusion? I generate more power (climb faster) at a lower cadence, at the same HR. (I can't comment on the relative recovery from these differing sessions). Presumably we have an interesting power-cadence-torque-HR relationship with various constraining conditions between variables (perhaps those more knowledgeable in power training already know this?).

[Reden]

All good advice thus far.

 

As an aside, let me muddy the waters slightly to illustrate how HR and cadence can conflict with one another at times? I have a local hill that I use for hill reps. If I set my target HR at say 95% of my max and ride the hill in a 'big' gear such that my cadence is (say) 60 rpm, then I climb faster than in a lower gear, at cadence 100 rpm, whilst also maintaining my 95% of max HR.

 

Conclusion? I generate more power (climb faster) at a lower cadence, at the same HR. (I can't comment on the relative recovery from these differing sessions). Presumably we have an interesting power-cadence-torque-HR relationship with various constraining conditions between variables (perhaps those more knowledgeable in power training already know this?).

I found the same but on flat roads. High cadence (around 90 rpm) gave higher bpm than at 80rpm. This did not happen until I was reasonably fit. 62 Cadence is quite low.

With time you will see a trend in your RPM vs BPM developing.

 

But then do not worry too much about the numbers.

I also went a bit faster at 80rpm with the lower heart rate.

[arendoog]

I have just wired my MTB to measure cadence and I am using a chest strap for the HR. Yesterdays ride my HR spent 80% of the time in the fat burning zone. My cadence however was 62 rpm. From what I have read, the cadence should be 80 to 90.

 

How do I balance these two? Or am I over thinking the whole thing?

Yes !

[bertusras]

All good advice thus far.

 

As an aside, let me muddy the waters slightly to illustrate how HR and cadence can conflict with one another at times? I have a local hill that I use for hill reps. If I set my target HR at say 95% of my max and ride the hill in a 'big' gear such that my cadence is (say) 60 rpm, then I climb faster than in a lower gear, at cadence 100 rpm, whilst also maintaining my 95% of max HR.

 

Conclusion? I generate more power (climb faster) at a lower cadence, at the same HR. (I can't comment on the relative recovery from these differing sessions). Presumably we have an interesting power-cadence-torque-HR relationship with various constraining conditions between variables (perhaps those more knowledgeable in power training already know this?).

 

I've picked up on the IDT that for the same power output, my HR is 15-ish BPM lower at 60-70 than at 90-100 cadence. Quite interesting.

[s14phoenix]

too low cadence could have a negative effect on your joints like your knees. Spinning at a higher cadence while maintaining the same speed helps take some stress of the knees especially.