Playing with my new heart rate monitor!

[toaster]

Hey all,

Well, after much talking about it, I finally got a HRM--I got a good deal on the Reebok 1200 from eBay. I've been getting to know how to use it this week, and I think I have most of the basic functions down, but I have a couple of questions:

1. What formula did you use for determining your max/min heart rate? My manual lists the standard 220-age, but also suggests that if you exercise 3 or more times per week, you should use 205-1/2 age. I definitely fit the latter category, but I wound up using a number somewhere between the two.

2. Once you figured your max/min HR, what range did you set for intensity? Again, my manual recomments that to lose body fat, you should train at 60-69% maximum HR (whereas to increase aerobic capacity or athletic performance, it recommends 70-79%). I figured I probably want the former range.

Oops, wait a minute!!! As I'm writing this, I realized that what I set for my upper limit was my ACTUAL maximum HR, NOT a percentage of this--stupid! I did use 60% to figure out the lower range of 111, but I was using 185 as the high number. Looking at it now, I realize that if I'm sticking with the 60-69%, my upper number should be 128--can that really be right? If so, I know that I've been exercising WAY out of the upper limit of my range all week. This is really interesting...feedback appreciated!!!

Okay, now that I'm back from my tangent, I have a couple of other questions:

3. If your HRM has stopwatch and countdown timer functions, do you use these? If so, how? It's nice that my HRM has these, I'm just not sure if they'll be useful to me at all.

Okay, I think that's it for now; I appreciate your thoughts.

[toaster]

Just wanted to add that I tried one of the online HR calculators that uses the Kavornen method, and this is what it came up with: it gave me a max HR of 184 with a 60-75% zone of 134-153. But now I'm really confused--where exactly does that range come from? I would think it would be 184 x 60% (.6), which gives me 110.4, and 184 x 75% (.75), which gives me 138. What am I missing here???

[bzar]

congrats on your new toy!

1. What formula did you use for determining your max/min heart rate? i did two "field tests" using instructions from Sally Edwards book, Heart Zone Training (page 8 & 9 i believe). my max in the two field tests came out as 157 for both, and that's the MHR. i have a polar b3, BTW.

2. Once you figured your max/min HR, what range did you set for intensity? i also go for 60%-70%, which translates to 94-109 BPM.

Looking at it now, I realize that if I'm sticking with the 60-69%, my upper number should be 128--can that really be right? If so, I know that I've been exercising WAY out of the upper limit of my range all week. This is really interesting...feedback appreciated!!! i came to the very same conclusion. as such, that means that very intense step aerobics is ruled out for me. and to some extent, running. so now i do lots of brisk walking, and by trusting this method, i have not lost endurance or aerobic capacity. my RHR is still 45-48 BPM. if you track your RHR for a while, you begin to understand whether you are overtraining or not. if it increases, then you're overtraining.

3. If your HRM has stopwatch and countdown timer functions, do you use these? mine doesn't have this, and i've never really needed to use it. what i do use a lot is the constant reading of my HR, total minutes worked out, average BPM, and # min in my zone.

[toaster]

Thanks for the detailed response, bzar! Wow, I can't believe that the high end of your range is only 109--right now, my minimum is 112! Does this mean that you wind up modifying a lot of videos down? Also, since you began using your HRM, have you seen fitness gains/results that have convinced you this is the way to go?

[KarenP]

[QUOTE=toaster]

1. What formula did you use for determining your max/min heart rate? My manual lists the standard 220-age, but also suggests that if you exercise 3 or more times per week, you should use 205-1/2 age. I definitely fit the latter category, but I wound up using a number somewhere between the two.

I found that the age based formulas don't work for me. So I do the field test in Joe Friel's book to dermine lactate threshold. It's a half-hour time trial and you hit the lap button 10 minutes in, then use the average of your last 20 minutes as your LT.

On Tuesday in spin class, we did the CTS (Carmichael Training System) field test. To 8 minute ALL OUT intervals and you take the highest average and set your zones from there. I might try using Chris Carmichael's zones for a while.

2. Once you figured your max/min HR, what range did you set for intensity? Again, my manual recomments that to lose body fat, you should train at 60-69% maximum HR (whereas to increase aerobic capacity or athletic performance, it recommends 70-79%). I figured I probably want the former range.

My HR has 3 different zones that you can set, and I set my 1st one wide -- the bottom of zone 2 to my max. The second one is set for tempo, and the third is set for threshold to my max.

IIRC, Zone 2 is 80-88% of LT, Zone 3 (Tempo) is 89-94% if threshhold.

As a new user, I recommend setting your zone wide and observing where your numbers are for low, moderate, high and very high intensity exercise. Your numbers may vary greatly from the age based formulas. When you're ready, do a field test.

3. If your HRM has stopwatch and countdown timer functions, do you use these? If so, how? It's nice that my HRM has these, I'm just not sure if they'll be useful to me at all.

The feature I use most is the lap button and lap clock.

[toaster]

Thanks Karen. One question--how do you know if an aged-based formula "doesn't work" for you--is it just because the numbers don't feel right?

[KarenP]

Originally Posted by toaster

Thanks Karen. One question--how do you know if an aged-based formula "doesn't work" for you--is it just because the numbers don't feel right?

Yes. Also, if you think about it, using your max HR to determine your zones doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It's your threshold that's the important number, and that can vary quite a bit through training. Which is why you need to perform those field test periodically.

[Mary09]

I had that Reebok HRM and liked it. It was acting up, though, or prone to electrical interference, I'm not sure which.

I never use the stopwatch or counter functions.

I wound up setting my target range wide, from like 70-85% of MHR, since I'm one of those I think that my HR runs higher than the formulas. I've read that the standard formulas work well for about 80% of people, and 10% outly at each end. I didn't like my 'time in zone' being too low because I was working out hard, in what some sources do consider a good zone to be in, at least for parts of your workout. I'm a junkie for the big calorie burn, so I like to keep it a little high.

[bzar]

Originally Posted by toaster

Thanks for the detailed response, bzar! Wow, I can't believe that the high end of your range is only 109--right now, my minimum is 112! Does this mean that you wind up modifying a lot of videos down? Also, since you began using your HRM, have you seen fitness gains/results that have convinced you this is the way to go?

beth,

yes - but it doesn't cause me any grief. the other day, i did Bosu Cardio Fusion with Rob Glick. after the first half, i did some of the moves on the floor to bring my HR down - it had migrated to the 84% level.

the greatest thing is that by getting continuous feedback, you can modify up or down. videos with basic stepping are really good for staying in the 60-70% zone (The Firm The Hare; The Firm FatBlaster; The Firm Ballroom Aerobics; Gilad's step aerobics; Gin Miller) you can do cathe, i'm sure, but you'd have to do some of the moves on the floor.

with leslie, i usually wear weighted gloves. cathe's kickboxing workouts can keep me in the range without using weighted gloves.

ETA: everything is relative, so even if mine is lower, i still get a great workout. when my HR goes into the 110 & 120's, i sense the "huffing & puffing" coming on - i let it stay there sometimes, but i try not to have sustained levels above 70%.