New Maximum Heart Rate

[Thug]

So at last nights Crit, I'm working my backside off and notice at one stage that my HR was at 104% of max.

 

I downloaded the info into Sporttracks this morning and here are some of the max's the Garmin recorded:

 

209, 206, 203, 200, 197, 196 & 194

 

Now for the interesting part and yes I know that the 220 - age has been disproven but theoretically I should have a max of 176 but taking into account my fitness levels I have previously set it to 180. On no less than on 18 of my laps last night I recorded a max hr % of 100% or higher with the above 7 recordings being the highest.

 

So the question now is, what do I peg my HR Max at ? or should I give up cycling and take up a less strenuous sport.

 

 

 

[Canaris]

your heart is going to explode....

[fandacious]

garmin isnt always accurate... and neither is polar. i've had my polar show 105% on my warmup

[Prince]

My actual max has always been at least 16 beats higher than the theoretical.

[IanJ]

garmin isnt always accurate... and neither is polar. i've had my polar show 105% on my warmup

 

Was going to say the same thing, was it consistenly at that level or just a single reading spike if it was a spike it could be interference. There is a electrical substation at the side of the car park, was it always in the same location?

 

My Garmin HR seems pretty accurate, just my cadence sensor that won't pair with the 705 since I replaced the sensor battery.

 

 

[VincentBikes]

Each person has a natural maximum heart rate which you can or cannot reach based on fitness levels etc. Your body has a sort of built in protection mechanism. That what is in your polar is a theoretical measurement and according to some experts the best is to either do a max heart rate test and add 5 beats per minute to the max reading or you adjust it to what you reach in a race. So imo change the zones in your polar to the max you have reached in the race. Even further minor adjustment in future might be possible.

 

[Jean-Jay]

i also have higher hreat rates than most ppl i know - always been like that, i dont pay any attention to it unless i start feeling dizzy...

[fandacious]

 

My Garmin HR seems pretty accurate' date=' just my cadence sensor that won't pair with the 705 since I replaced the sensor battery.

 

 

[/quote']

 

ja - my 705 wouldnt pair with my cadence sensor for 5 weeks. then half way through 4passes one day i suddenly started getting cadence. its been fine ever since then. very wierd

[Willehond]

Heart rate is just a number and it's meaningless to compare with others.  Let's rather talk POWER

My HR hits 200 when I am fully rested and do some intensity.  Not even close to the 220 rule! It's crap.

[linnega]

I'm with Kona, your heart is going to explode....

Seriously though, your max heart rate is best determined while out riding.  Your heart could beat faster than any maximum, but your brain only allows it to beat at a certain speed.  When it gets to that point, you will not get enough oxygen carried to your muscles so you won't be able to continue at the same pace, and your HR will drop.

My max HR is around 202/3 these days, so I use 200 as it is easy to calculate 80% of 200 or 95% of 200 (!).  If my HR max was 187 as per the calcs then I would have had an average of more than my maximum for the first climb of Sunday's KZN Expedition!

[Thug]

Ian, where is that sub-station ?

 

Highest readings were obtained on the backstraight before the bottom bend.

 

[PPWTF]

 

garmin isnt always accurate... and neither is polar. i've had my polar show 105% on my warmup

 

Suunto is the way ahead - clinical levels of readout / analysis

 

[jacostrydom]

"Highest readings were obtained on the backstraight before the bottom bend. "

 

I would be carefull with straight away accepting this as your new max. Physical influences that I have picked up is wind flapping your shirt against the strap, as well as vibration from corrugations in the road. Both of these tend to make my HR go where I know it cannot go.

[Thug]

Don't believe that 209 is my new max but the best anyone has come up with is that Garmin/Polar HR readings are not always accurate.

 

I can understand a once off (ok, maybe twice) spike but not consistently high readings.

 

Will have to try this whole malarkey again next week and see what's the result.

 

 

[Comebackboy]

I don?t know sh*t about that... All I know about heart rate is that my threshold use to be at 194 and my max was 204... So either I was cruising along or i was in the red!!!!! <?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

[Speed Devil]

My heart rate hits 150% everytime my wife says......oh forget it