Heart rate questions
Discussion
I recently got a heart rate monitor but I am not sure I am doing a few things right.
When taking a resting heart rate how do you do it? My rate is never constant even when sitting still. It will wander up and down a bit. I am happy with the window it is in but unsure about what I can count as the rate? My guess is the HRM takes a sample over a few seconds and extrapolates to give a BPM. Therefore when I get the odd 49 is that really my RHR or do I need to use the average feature over a full minuite which normally sees about 52bpm. Both numbers are pretty good but I think it is cherry picking to just choose the low over the average.
The other question is about recovery times. Does anyone have a chart to compare them? I have read it is over one or two minuites and you subtract start BPM from finish. I have only done this once and finished with 172bpm and was down to 129bpm in a minuite giving a 43bpm drop. All I know is the bigger the number the better but it means nothing to me. I would like a chart that shows what is good for ages etc like I have for the RHR. does anyone have one?
I think this is the right sub forum for this. Sorry if its not.
When taking a resting heart rate how do you do it? My rate is never constant even when sitting still. It will wander up and down a bit. I am happy with the window it is in but unsure about what I can count as the rate? My guess is the HRM takes a sample over a few seconds and extrapolates to give a BPM. Therefore when I get the odd 49 is that really my RHR or do I need to use the average feature over a full minuite which normally sees about 52bpm. Both numbers are pretty good but I think it is cherry picking to just choose the low over the average.
The other question is about recovery times. Does anyone have a chart to compare them? I have read it is over one or two minuites and you subtract start BPM from finish. I have only done this once and finished with 172bpm and was down to 129bpm in a minuite giving a 43bpm drop. All I know is the bigger the number the better but it means nothing to me. I would like a chart that shows what is good for ages etc like I have for the RHR. does anyone have one?
I think this is the right sub forum for this. Sorry if its not.
It doesnt really matter. Pick one way of measuring and stick with that. It is how the RHR trends that gives the info.
example
monday-49bpm tuesday-48bpm wed-49bpm thur-50bpm sat-56bpm
The increase might mean your training a bit hard and need a break, or getting the cold, or dehydrated etc
Over a longer period of time you should see the rhr trend drop slowly.
Stick with one system until you get some data built up.
The interval training you describe is more about letting your bpm fall to around the 120bpm before you begin the next rep. With intervals, it's the break that counts. Just wait it out till your rate drops back to 120 then go again.
Depending on load/intensity the rest time might increase as you go up the reps. I always try to train at a level so that the 8th reps is do-able without a major increase in recovery time between.
example
monday-49bpm tuesday-48bpm wed-49bpm thur-50bpm sat-56bpm
The increase might mean your training a bit hard and need a break, or getting the cold, or dehydrated etc
Over a longer period of time you should see the rhr trend drop slowly.
Stick with one system until you get some data built up.
The interval training you describe is more about letting your bpm fall to around the 120bpm before you begin the next rep. With intervals, it's the break that counts. Just wait it out till your rate drops back to 120 then go again.
Depending on load/intensity the rest time might increase as you go up the reps. I always try to train at a level so that the 8th reps is do-able without a major increase in recovery time between.
tpivette said:
It doesnt really matter. Pick one way of measuring and stick with that. It is how the RHR trends that gives the info.
example
monday-49bpm tuesday-48bpm wed-49bpm thur-50bpm sat-56bpm
The increase might mean your training a bit hard and need a break, or getting the cold, or dehydrated etc
Over a longer period of time you should see the rhr trend drop slowly.
Stick with one system until you get some data built up.
The interval training you describe is more about letting your bpm fall to around the 120bpm before you begin the next rep. With intervals, it's the break that counts. Just wait it out till your rate drops back to 120 then go again.
Depending on load/intensity the rest time might increase as you go up the reps. I always try to train at a level so that the 8th reps is do-able without a major increase in recovery time between.
^^^^This is good advice.^^^^example
monday-49bpm tuesday-48bpm wed-49bpm thur-50bpm sat-56bpm
The increase might mean your training a bit hard and need a break, or getting the cold, or dehydrated etc
Over a longer period of time you should see the rhr trend drop slowly.
Stick with one system until you get some data built up.
The interval training you describe is more about letting your bpm fall to around the 120bpm before you begin the next rep. With intervals, it's the break that counts. Just wait it out till your rate drops back to 120 then go again.
Depending on load/intensity the rest time might increase as you go up the reps. I always try to train at a level so that the 8th reps is do-able without a major increase in recovery time between.
As an example, last week I was doing a reps session on the track 200m fast (30-32s) 200m easy (about 60s) 16 times continuously. Heart rate was normal in the fast efforts (up to 185-190bpm) and usually in 60s of easy recovery would drop to 130ish, the idea being to build the fatigue through the session. Did the first few and it only dropped to 175 in the 60s recovery - confirming my feelings that everything is still not right.
On that note, remember that heart rate is only one of a number of indicators of fitness or illness. Exercising to how you feel is also important.
Cheers for the replies guys. I was speaking to a guy at work today about interval training. It sounds like a good way to really build up fitness. My current technique is a little unrefined. I am just finding a reduction in improvement at the moment, end of the easy gains I guess. I thought the HRM could open up some more ways to train and measure.
Using the HRM is a great way to show small improvemnts and keep you motivated, but you need to be able to train at a precise effort to really see the benefits i.e on a bike in the gym, treadmill or Concept 2 rower.
One set of exercise I used to do was pick a fixed maximum heart rate, say 150 or 160, then row on a concept 2 until your HR hits that level (prefereably over 5 or 10 mins), then continue the session at that rate for as long as you want 30, 40, 60 mins etc.
Record the number of metres covered and then try again after a couple of days - you'll find that over a few sessions you'll gradually cover more and more distance. It might only be a few 10's of metres further, but it's very satisfying to see the distance increase everytime you step on and a surprisingly accurate barometer
One set of exercise I used to do was pick a fixed maximum heart rate, say 150 or 160, then row on a concept 2 until your HR hits that level (prefereably over 5 or 10 mins), then continue the session at that rate for as long as you want 30, 40, 60 mins etc.
Record the number of metres covered and then try again after a couple of days - you'll find that over a few sessions you'll gradually cover more and more distance. It might only be a few 10's of metres further, but it's very satisfying to see the distance increase everytime you step on and a surprisingly accurate barometer
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