heart rate and conditioning questions

**Urban** · 04-22-2007, 04:30 PM

So the heart rate monitor question a couple weeks back got me thinking about my HRM and how little I use it.
- Does anybody use one of these things to meter their workouts?
- Do you try to progress with it (ie, once you manage x amount of time in the zone, you raise the lower limits for the zone)
- is it unsafe to work at a certain percentage of your MHR for extended periods of time?
- Does maintaining a higher (but more steady) average heart rate merit the same benefits as HIIT? or does that just equate to faster jogging?

I think I'll replace my battery and see what my average heart rate is during different workouts (say ross's warrior challenges, 50/20, etc.). I got to thinking about it and I think it might work well for pushing the pace during a workout, or even learning to push the pace in skill training (spending the whole round in a specified zone while working on the mat or in the ring or hitting the bag).

I appreciate any insight offered.

**Standard** · 04-22-2007, 05:34 PM

I'll typically use the heart rate feature when i use any type of cardio machine to guage what pace i want to set, ideally your cardiovascular system should improve so that at the same heart rate your speed will actually be higher. I'm thinking about getting one for out door conditioning as well.

i don't believe its unsafe to work at a steady pace, most endurance athletes would work at a set heart rate for hours at a time, there would be a phycial limit of how high your heart rate can be for a given period of time.

There would be some benefit from a higher HR but HIIT with the rest time allows you to train with a higher total time at a near maximal heart rate then you would be able to do without the rest periods. Your also going to get into a variety of difference between a high sustained limit and a HIIT method in terms of fuel sources used and metabolic effects. So there still is a significant difference doing HIIT.

**Urban** · 04-22-2007, 05:53 PM

I had another thought pertaining to HIIT, could you adjust your intervals/rest periods by going in and out of a set zone? Say Sprint until you go over 95%, jog until you go below 85% and repeat. I dunno, I'm just kind of thinking out loud in this thread.

**Standard** · 04-22-2007, 06:00 PM

It would make sense in my books, maybe adjust the limits but that makes perfect sense, only problem would be having to keep checking your monitor, and their not always that quick updating.

**Urban** · 04-22-2007, 06:46 PM

Well, mine's got an alarm on it that goes off whenever you're outside your set "zone." and an extra 2-3 seconds for the monitor to update PROBABLY won't kill you. actually, as much as I hate running, I'm almost eager to try this out. I was playing with my heart rate monitor today during Clubells cleans to back position and it was harder than shit to go fast enought to get 90% MHR. Highest I got was around 83-84, and with the muscular fatigue involved that was short lived.

Another thought: my monitor has an "average heart rate" and "time spent in zone" feature for looking back at your workout. Conceivably, wouldn't the workout that produces the highest heart average rate produce the best conditioning? Nah, cause again, its like HIIT versus elevated heart rate running: mean heart rate can't account for intervalic work periods. So maybe not the session that produces the greatest AHR, but the interval that does... I dunno, it seems like there should be an application here to determine activity superiority.

**Sonny** · 04-22-2007, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urban

I had another thought pertaining to HIIT, could you adjust your intervals/rest periods by going in and out of a set zone? Say Sprint until you go over 95%, jog until you go below 85% and repeat. I dunno, I'm just kind of thinking out loud in this thread.

I used to do this, it's a nice way to approach things because as you become fitter, the time it takes for your HR to slow down decreases.

Dan's Knuckles · 04-22-2007, 08:40 PM

First, Heart Rate Variability is the description of how much your heart rate fluctuates at any given steady workload, and the more variability the better, because that means you have good parasympathetic and sympathetic feedback going on. Individuals with low heart rate variability have a tendency towards heart disease.

Training intensities are generally set by a % of maximum heart rate or by a % of maximum reserve heart rate, especially in a disease rehab setting, such as for heart disease.

Usually, you are limited at the ammount of time that you can spend at an intensity at or above HR max, simply because it means you are unable to clear lactate and deliver oxygen adequately. Some new research has suggested that using the ventilatory or lactate threshold is more beneficial than than heart rate. If you are going to use heart rate, make sure that you are taking cardiac drift into account; Cardiac drift is your heart rates natural tendency to increase at a set workload to compensate for increasing body temperature (blood sent to the skin too dissapate heat) and to compensate for loss of plasma volume from sweat (also due to heat).

If you're doing intervals, try to do intervals above your ventilatory threshold and then the recovery below that, use that type of strategy.

I use my heart rate monitor to help me know when I should kick up the intensity, because if my heart rate isn't up high even though I think I'm working hard, I know I should be working harder, because sometimes I psych myself out before a training session.

**Urban** · 04-23-2007, 01:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan's Knuckles

If you are going to use heart rate, make sure that you are taking cardiac drift into account; Cardiac drift is your heart rates natural tendency to increase at a set workload to compensate for increasing body temperature (blood sent to the skin too dissapate heat) and to compensate for loss of plasma volume from sweat (also due to heat).

How would you go about compensating for this?

Quote:

If you're doing intervals, try to do intervals above your ventilatory threshold and then the recovery below that, use that type of strategy.

any easy way to determine your ventiatory trheshold?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sonny

I used to do this, it's a nice way to approach things because as you become fitter, the time it takes for your HR to slow down decreases.

Yeah, that's what I figured, and as your fitness improves you have to push harder to get your heart rate to go up to those levels right? So its a double edges sword and your level is determined by your current fitness.

gjmccag · 04-23-2007, 02:04 AM

great info dan!

Dan's Knuckles · 04-23-2007, 01:11 PM

Urban, the easiest way to note your ventilatory threshold is the point when you start breathing really fast. It is linked to blood lactate, because to buffer the lactate in the blood part of the molecule is turned into CO2, which then makes you breathe a lot more.

To compensate for cardiac drift, instead of a set intensity for really long duration stuff, pick a set percent of your max heart rate, and as your heart rate goes above that, lower the intensity to bring it down to where you want to be. This is only a factor if you are going for a while close to your max heart rate. Mainly for long duration workouts, know that your heart rate will increase simply due to increasing demands for blood distribution and fluid loss, so you may drift above the set intesnity that you want to train at because your heart is doing more work to move more blood because you need blood other places than the working muscles, and you have less volume in your blood.