Heart rate training and Spinning
Dec. 28th, 2004 09:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ninevirtuesThis entry might be boring if you are not interested in training and heart rate. I'm musing. Feel free to skip if not interested!
Still with me? Okay... I got a chance to take a spinning class here in Albuquerque. That was very instructive: The instructor urged everyone to have a heart rate monitor, had one to loan out, and taught the class based on heart rate zones. I've been wanting to do that, but haven't known how to do so until now.
The Spinning program (the one I'm certified with) makes a big deal out of heart rate training, for some good reasons. Spinning can be intense exercise. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all formula for heart rate. The commonly used one (220-age = maximum heart rate; exercise at 70% of your max) doesn't work for everyone. (Come on, do you REALLY think that formula would work equally well for two radically different people... say, 6'3", 220lb novice triathlete Pete and 5'0", 95lb longtime bike racer Cathie? No way. Their fitness goals, fitness levels, and the sheer size of their hearts are radically different.)
But there is no way I would recommend to my spinning students that they buy a heart rate monitor, unless I can provide a solid rationale why they should expend $60 or more on that project. Can you imagine how that discussion would go?
"So, I think you should buy a heart rate monitor."
"How would I use the number it shows me?"
"Uh...."
No. No way. But the Albuquerque gym manages it successfully, and here's how they do it: They hold special sessions quarterly, in which they determine people's heart rate zones individually (cost to participant: $6).
Protocol: Equip the person with a heart rate monitor. Have them lie quietly on an exercise mat, eyes closed, as relaxed as possible. After five minutes, get their heart rate. This is the resting heart rate. Then have them stand up, and after a moment, have them take heart rate again. The difference (according to the Albuquerque spinning instructor) is a measure of your current stress level. (I'm not so sure about that; I'm thinking that a 6'6" person would inevitably register as more stressed than a 5' tall person when you use this method, because the taller person's heart must inevitably work harder to push blood higher. This deserves further thought, though, because heart rate definitely rises with stress-- both emotional and physical stress.)
After measuring this difference, have the person get on a spin bike and warm up. (15 minutes?). After warmup is complete, have the person pedal slightly harder (so they raise their heart rate by ten beats). Stay at this new heart rate for two minutes. Then have them raise the resistance on the bike and pedal slightly harder, so their heart rate goes up by ten beats again. Repeat this process until the person reaches his/her ventilatory threshold. (That means.... the person's breathing changes noticeably; the person begins to get a little red, and when they talk to you, they generally use one- or two-word sentences.) This is likely to be their lactate threshold heart rate (the heart rate at which they are no longer working aerobically, and a substantial portion of their energy has begun to come from anaerobic metabolism-- so they make lactic acid faster than their body gets rid of it.) The lactate threshold heart rate is the one you need to calculate training zones.
When you believe the person has hit ventilatory threshold, keep going, but have them raise their heart rate by five beats every two minutes. Keep going until they no longer want to continue (and, if you ask them, their percieved exertion is 10 on a 1-10 scale).
At this point, the test is over, and I'd have them cool down for 15 minutes. While they cooled down, I'd be plotting their heart rate vs. time. I'd see the heart rate graph rise arithmetically vs. time, until they reached their lactate threshold heart rate, at which point their heart rate would level off.
Next up: When I dig my books out of the recesses of my packed car (Jan 3?) I will post about calculating heart rate training zones and what you do with the zones you have calculated.
Postscript: I have been working on this post for two hours, and I've been periodically interrupted by L (who wants to play, or be read to, or who gets into something she ought not to.) Naturally, that's more important, and gets attended to first. ("Welcome to my planet," says K.)
Still with me? Okay... I got a chance to take a spinning class here in Albuquerque. That was very instructive: The instructor urged everyone to have a heart rate monitor, had one to loan out, and taught the class based on heart rate zones. I've been wanting to do that, but haven't known how to do so until now.
The Spinning program (the one I'm certified with) makes a big deal out of heart rate training, for some good reasons. Spinning can be intense exercise. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all formula for heart rate. The commonly used one (220-age = maximum heart rate; exercise at 70% of your max) doesn't work for everyone. (Come on, do you REALLY think that formula would work equally well for two radically different people... say, 6'3", 220lb novice triathlete Pete and 5'0", 95lb longtime bike racer Cathie? No way. Their fitness goals, fitness levels, and the sheer size of their hearts are radically different.)
But there is no way I would recommend to my spinning students that they buy a heart rate monitor, unless I can provide a solid rationale why they should expend $60 or more on that project. Can you imagine how that discussion would go?
"So, I think you should buy a heart rate monitor."
"How would I use the number it shows me?"
"Uh...."
No. No way. But the Albuquerque gym manages it successfully, and here's how they do it: They hold special sessions quarterly, in which they determine people's heart rate zones individually (cost to participant: $6).
Protocol: Equip the person with a heart rate monitor. Have them lie quietly on an exercise mat, eyes closed, as relaxed as possible. After five minutes, get their heart rate. This is the resting heart rate. Then have them stand up, and after a moment, have them take heart rate again. The difference (according to the Albuquerque spinning instructor) is a measure of your current stress level. (I'm not so sure about that; I'm thinking that a 6'6" person would inevitably register as more stressed than a 5' tall person when you use this method, because the taller person's heart must inevitably work harder to push blood higher. This deserves further thought, though, because heart rate definitely rises with stress-- both emotional and physical stress.)
After measuring this difference, have the person get on a spin bike and warm up. (15 minutes?). After warmup is complete, have the person pedal slightly harder (so they raise their heart rate by ten beats). Stay at this new heart rate for two minutes. Then have them raise the resistance on the bike and pedal slightly harder, so their heart rate goes up by ten beats again. Repeat this process until the person reaches his/her ventilatory threshold. (That means.... the person's breathing changes noticeably; the person begins to get a little red, and when they talk to you, they generally use one- or two-word sentences.) This is likely to be their lactate threshold heart rate (the heart rate at which they are no longer working aerobically, and a substantial portion of their energy has begun to come from anaerobic metabolism-- so they make lactic acid faster than their body gets rid of it.) The lactate threshold heart rate is the one you need to calculate training zones.
When you believe the person has hit ventilatory threshold, keep going, but have them raise their heart rate by five beats every two minutes. Keep going until they no longer want to continue (and, if you ask them, their percieved exertion is 10 on a 1-10 scale).
At this point, the test is over, and I'd have them cool down for 15 minutes. While they cooled down, I'd be plotting their heart rate vs. time. I'd see the heart rate graph rise arithmetically vs. time, until they reached their lactate threshold heart rate, at which point their heart rate would level off.
Next up: When I dig my books out of the recesses of my packed car (Jan 3?) I will post about calculating heart rate training zones and what you do with the zones you have calculated.
Postscript: I have been working on this post for two hours, and I've been periodically interrupted by L (who wants to play, or be read to, or who gets into something she ought not to.) Naturally, that's more important, and gets attended to first. ("Welcome to my planet," says K.)
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no subject
Date: 2004-12-28 08:58 am (UTC)But your last post was only an hour and a half ago.
Well, then...
Date: 2004-12-28 02:23 pm (UTC)it sure feels like two hours!
no subject
Date: 2004-12-28 10:26 am (UTC)(Also, I can relate to the toddler conversations. Aren't kids fun in small doses? Now you know why I admire parents!)
Small doses, yeah
Date: 2004-12-28 02:24 pm (UTC)(blush) thanks!
Like I said, one Mother's Day per year is NOT enough!