Heart Rate Zones

Troy said:

Hi to all, I have taken up Cycling as a weight loss tool.
I have also invested in a heart rate monitor.
I feel fairly fit, and was told to not go over 75% of my MHR.

Before anyone could advise you, who told you not to go over 75%
MHR? Doctor? If so, don't do it? 🙂

Anyone who is healthy shouldn't have to restrict their heart rate.
As you get older, it's probably wise to consult a doctor, but if
you check out okay, it shouldn't be a problem.

IHMO, not a doctor, advice worth what you paid for it etc.

--
..dt

Troy said:

Hi to all, I have taken up Cycling as a weight loss tool.
I have also invested in a heart rate monitor.
I feel fairly fit, and was told to not go over 75% of my MHR.
However I feel that sitting on 75% of my MHR, I am not really working that
hard.
I am 44 years old, and play lots of physical sports.

I many times will sit on 95% of my MHR, and feel like I am working hard, but
I don't feel like puking.

My main question here is, Is it dangerous to sit on 95% of my MHR.

I ride with some friends on road bikes, and if I have to try to keep up at
constant speeds of just over 30 k's and hour, my HR is working at 95%, if I
slow it down to 75%, I have no chance of keeping up with them.
Advice needed.

How have you calculated you MHR? If it's the old 220 - age formula then that's probably the source of your problem

First thing you need to do is find out what your MHR actually is which basically means you need to do a threshold test. Others on the list can point you in the right direction of where to get this done professionally. As far as I know it doesn't cost that much and if you're going to get results from HR training your MHR is key data that you really need.

not going in to too much detail lower HR ( 50%-70% )looses body fat, Medium
(70%-80%) burns fat & Carbs, High HR (80%-100%) burns mostly Carbs. If you
are training for an event most of your training will be long distances in
the lower HR range with more training at the high HR a couple of weeks
before your event to build up your lactate tolerances.
You can get heaps of in depth detail of HR training from Sally Edward's
book, The Heart Rate Monitor Guide Book, well worth buying if you are into
HR training.

10yrs of training with HR monitors & still getting faster at 32yrs. Jamie.

"Troy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Hi to all, I have taken up Cycling as a weight loss tool.
I have also invested in a heart rate monitor.
I feel fairly fit, and was told to not go over 75% of my MHR.
However I feel that sitting on 75% of my MHR, I am not really working that
hard.
I am 44 years old, and play lots of physical sports.

I many times will sit on 95% of my MHR, and feel like I am working hard,

but

Quoted message said:

I don't feel like puking.

My main question here is, Is it dangerous to sit on 95% of my MHR.

I ride with some friends on road bikes, and if I have to try to keep up at
constant speeds of just over 30 k's and hour, my HR is working at 95%, if

I

Quoted message said:

slow it down to 75%, I have no chance of keeping up with them.
Advice needed.

quote='dtmeister'Troy said:

Hi to all, I have taken up Cycling as a weight loss tool.
I have also invested in a heart rate monitor.
I feel fairly fit, and was told to not go over 75% of my MHR.

Before anyone could advise you, who told you not to go over 75%
MHR? Doctor? If so, don't do it? 🙂
[/QUOTE]Your body doesn't burn as much fat >75% MHR. Once you go over 75% MHR it starts to use more carbs as its fuel. So if you do go over 75% MHR you'll still get fitness benefits, but not as much weight loss.

To find your MaxHR you can do a ramp up test yourself as follows:

2min at a REALLY slow pace (don't go over 100bpm)
2min slightly faster (an extra maybe 10-15bpm)
2min faster again (an extra maybe 10-20bpm)
2min faster again (an extra maybe 10-20bpm)
2min flatout

Look at your HRM at the end of that and you should have your MHR.