Heart Rate Training

A fellow buddy has been asking me about Heart Rate Monitor. Though this item is a luxury to some and essential to others, i found myself stuck between the two.

So, i got myself some cheap HRM. The first one was purchased at a cheap cheap RM128 (Ciclopuls CP8+), which is still in service after 4 years.

The second one was purchased at RM180 (SigmaSports FIT Watch), which i've been using for the past 2 years.

I recently had the strap on CP8+ changed and had the battery in the FIT watch changed.

"Why is having a heart rate monitor so important?", you asked me.

For one, you would get to monitor how hard you are pushing yourself. Secondly, you get something to distract you on those long boring runs.

After 4 years of using the HRM, i find them pretty indespensible. Over the years, i've grown attached to it. It helps monitor my workout, tell me my caloric burnt, my recovery rate and act as a timer for my training.

When i first started the sports, i was an unfit late 20's male. With a resting heart rate of 72bpm and a hefty 90kg on the scale (which i tried to convince myself was muscle), i was a prime candidate for heart diseases.

Today, i'm a self professed fit person (i think i am), with a resting heart rate of 56bpm and a good 76kg weight which i plan to shed anohter 4kg.

Hospital uses treadmill and HRM to do stress test, as a method to detect early heart diseases. The recovery rate is the best indication of your current fitness. A fast recovery rate meant that you are fit. A slow recovery rate means you have a lot of work to be done where cardiovascular health is concerned.

This is my rough guideline that i uses as a basic to my training (or the lack of it)


The Stats

It is also interesting to note that running heart rate and cycling heart rate differ from each other by a little bit. The effort to pedal and the different muscle group used for cycling exert different type of workload on the heart. You will notice that your heart rate are relatively lower when you cycle eventhough you feel that you put in more effort compared to cycling.

This is evident from the other 2 methods used to calculate the working heart rate for running and cycling. The 2 other method used was londeree and moeschberger & Miller et al. Brianmac has a comprehensive write up on these 2.


Rocket Science?

So, it doesn't matter what you are gonna do with the training, the guideline below will be a good indication of what your heart is doing for you, if you train it at the certain heart rate range, as per below.



Happy training!

Menu for today : Afternoon - Swim 30minutes Evening - Run 5KM treadmill