Min and Max on a HRM?

Chris has asked a very good question about the settings on his heart rate monitor, he needs to know what to set his minimum and maximum heart rate. This is a tricky thing to work out and there are two or three ways of doing it. This is what he needs to know

Question:
Can anyone please tell me what I should set the minimum and maximum rates at on a HRM?

Hi Chris,

There are a few different ways of looking at this, first do you want to use the upper and lower setting as a guide for when you are training in a zone or are you using it as your “absolute” minimum and maximum heart rate?

If you are riding in zones then you want to ride in an aerobic zone for steady strength work to burn carbohydrates and fat to power your muscles, this is done at over 70% of maximum heart rate, but below 85% of maximum. Then there is anaerobic work which is done between 85% and 90% of maximum and is achieved without use of oxygen to the muscles as it is a short flat out burst of energy, this can also use the bodies lactate energy system for efforts under 1 minute.

If you just want to know you minimum and maximum then you have to take your pulse in the morning when you wake and this will be your resting heart rate or minimum. Your maximum is found by either; going to a coach and having him evaluate your results from a test rig or by guessing at it by using the old formula of 220 minus your age. Or by riding till you drop on a medium/hard climb, this is not advisable as you may black out if you go to the limit and should only be attempted with someone who knows what they are doing and on a quiet road.

Depending on which HRM you have it may work out your minimum and maximum and you training zones from an easy test that it has built into its soft-ware, you give it your age, weight and level of training and then do a resting test and it will work the numbers out for you, this is slightly more accurate than the 220 minus age method. The only sure way is to go to an expert and he will run you through some rigorous tests and come up with all your body functions, like; maximum heart rate, VO2, training zones, lactate zone and all the information you need to train properly.