HOW TO TRAIN With Heart Rate

[@EverythingIsPhotogenic]

Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 2:55 Why Are We Obsessed With Heart Rate? 7:15 Why You Shouldn't Use Heart Rate First 8:58 Heart Rate As A Lagging Indicator 10:29 Cardiac Drift/Aerobic Decoupling 12:25 FTP and Fitness 15:30 Heart Rate Zones 21:22 Heart Rate Testing 24:18 Training With RPE

[@gioiazucchero]

Nice review! I hardly ever pay attention to HR due to the high variability of factors you mentioned.

[@kristibike]

I started using HR training age 21. I’m now 61. My max HR really has lowered by 10 BPM every 10 years. Still- mine is high. 220 -age STUPID. You are an amazing instructor!

[@dewidavies7995]

Hi Sarah doing 6week ftp training , on week 4, level 15 on zwift, looking forward to autumn, learn to pack in all sodas , vegi vegan. Love walking, 6 months done .thanks 🎉❤

[@DublinDapper]

Power is great for cycling obviously but HR and Pace work fine for running I feel. I understand the arguments against using HR but over all the years my HR has 90% of the time been reliable regardless if I got 2 hours sleep the night before or had 10 Expressos and plus it's just a whole lot simpler. I use the Karvonen method which works well for me. Nice video 👍

[@JCImail]

Great video. Loved it, especially the comments on the 220-Age, so true. My zones were set up with HRR (203-50), I will try the LTHR and set it as auto update on the software side. Thank you.

[@rollandjoeseph]

Ok, that was extremely helpful and informative! I'm a newbie at training using an indoor trainer and a HRM . I just completed my first FTP test tonight and will be revisting this video and any other you've posted on this topic, thanks again , im excited to figure it all out !

[@edszwiftingchronicles3877]

Wow... another amazingly researched and explained video. My wife and I are getting into cycling and zwift for fitness and you are our “gold standard”. Frequently heard within our house is “remember when Sarah explained...”. Please keep up the awesome content!

[@EverythingIsPhotogenic]

Love it! You guys are awesome!! 😃

[@johnwpotter]

Thank you, this is just great and very helpful.

[@richardbarnhill4794]

Great video! I'm a year removed from a heart issue, so I closely monitor my HR while training. I think subconsciously I'm afraid to push it too hard, but slowly reaching new highs. Your Zone 2 comments are spot on! That's where I'm really focusing now, trying to build power through better fitness.

[@ianhutchinson4475]

Ahh the steel bridge, the loop around the Portland waterfront was my favorite run when I lived there

[@jeffrysusanto78]

I just recently found your channel, and have been watching some of your interesting topics around cycling training. I must say your videos are very informative and easy to understand. I have seen many good contents out there and seldom left any comments. Yours are one of the few i took my time expressing my appreciation 😁 keep up the good work 👍

[@jkay5lx5]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. You’re a great presenter. This video was eye opening to me. I’ve always wondered why my resting and max heart rate was so much lower then most people. My resting heart rate is in the 40’s and my max is about 150. I wouldn’t consider myself an athlete but I do exercise regularly. Seeing people climbing Box Hill at a HR in the 190’s while I’m in the 140’s has always made me wonder. Thank you for the information.

[@EverythingIsPhotogenic]

Glad it was helpful! It can be a complicated topic, and a lot of the oversimplifications online make it confusing for the outliers 😉

[@harrygrey8825]

Totally helped me understand zones. Don’t pay much attention to HR. Thx

[@giantkiller8]

Sarah, you are one awesome presenter and talented speaker! I could listen to you all day long

[@GM-vk8jw]

I’ve read most of the Joe Friel stuff and this video is like everything there but without the fluff and padding. HR is so much more than just an [historical] snapshot of how you’re doing performance wise and in this video you get enough information about using a HRM for training. Good Job 👍

[@GM-vk8jw]

The information is always on point and that’s why I smashed the subscribe button 👍

[@EverythingIsPhotogenic]

@@GM-vk8jw you're awesome! Thanks for smashing 😁

[@FrancoisPichette]

On Wahoo Kickr trainer, I can hold 305W for 10 mins (max effort) and heart rate goes to 156bpm max. I can never get it over 160 cycling but I have been over 170 running. My resting HR is low 40s. (I'm 49 years old)

[@ItsMissMacintosh]

superman is that you?

[@rollandjoeseph]

@@ItsMissMacintoshrotfl😅

[@seamasmulholland8839]

Great video, loved your take on “220 - Age”. According to that formula I haven’t been born yet! Subscribed. 👍

[@postman1228]

wonderful information. 🙏

[@flagg1129b]

Just started using a heart rate monitor.. this information is great.. THANKS

[@arthurvandenberg4638]

Thanks, great video!

[@mlegrand]

You and I are on the same wavelength talking about heart rate stuff. This is a great resource. Lots of details about how to use HR correctly. Thank you so much for making this!

[@EverythingIsPhotogenic]

I got your video cued up for my ride in a few minutes! So many people asking about heart rate, it's perfect timing!

[@mlegrand]

@@EverythingIsPhotogenic - Mine is more about HR monitor technology. But I have plans to do brands / product differences in a few weeks.

[@EverythingIsPhotogenic]

@@mlegrand that's awesome, a lot of people come into the market with Apple watches and sometimes don't realize the benefits of a sports specific wearable, or better yet a true strap. The straps are so affordable now and the arm bands are negligible in data integrity, it's a no brainer. Anything that can convince more people to transition to these better peripherals will be so helpful. Zwift had 40k riders on at one tine... endurance sport is exploding and I'm excited.

[@lilgalbi]

You’re a legend

[@ChrisP978]

Your heart rate example fit me perfectly, my threshold HR is 160 but my max HR is 201. It took me a couple of years to actually discover my limit as my lack of cardio fitness was holding me back. Thought my limit was 175, then was doing 189 after a year of training, then I tried Zwift racing and found my real limit.

[@EverythingIsPhotogenic]

That's a prime example that so many people endure and confuses so many when it comes to heart rate zones. It's a game changer once you get the right metrics and know what to focus on 🙂

[@grandpashreddypants]

Very freaking helpful. Maybe I'm just basic, but the 220 minus matches my historical peak HR (recent excruciating half hour effort). Totally get how that's not everyone. Much appreciate all the info. (Saves for power meter)

[@michaelhardie9193]

Is that the Daily Stoic on your desk? Great book and author. Love the video. Considering getting a running pod as training with power on the bike has been a game changer.

[@EverythingIsPhotogenic]

It is, I am a big Ryan Holiday fain. I have Courage Is Calling on deck to read soon. A running pod is a solid addition, especially for HR training - running pushes the heart rate much differently and the benefits read across to the bike very well. 🙂

[@alecleonce8414]

I'm new to your site but thank you for an excellent description

[@miguelsuarez1511]

Once again.... perfectly explained. Kudos!

[@elliotthepotter]

Hi, Sarah! I'm not sure how likely you are to see this, but I appreciate your videos so much and have found them to be especially helpful as someone who is new to Zwift (though not new to exercising or bikes). My heart rate reaches 201-203 on max efforts or days where I'm not at my typical max effort but am otherwise fatigued or not fully recovered. It sounds like this has a lot to do with my genetics, but I'm curious if you can share more about whether it is safe and/or healthy to reach that level. To be clear, I'm not asking for medical advice or holding you accountable for my heart health. I had never heard anything about max heart rate other than the popular formula used to calculate it. I'm asking for more understanding because it seems likely that (1) I have been under-training on days when I structure my rides according to various heart rate zones, and (2) my fitness analytics from various programs is slightly incorrect concerning metrics that call on HR_max to provide calculations and insights. For example, if Garmin thinks my HR_max is 190, then my VO2 max is estimated at 42.5. If my HR_max is actually 203, then my VO2 max is estimated to be 45.5. That difference is significant given that it can be difficult to make meaningful improvements to VO2 max and that a difference of 3 could place a person's VO2 max in another category altogether (e.g., good, excellent, superior). I'm not sure where this came from, but prior to watching your video I had the impression that the 220-age formula is engineered to calculate a person's healthy HR_max as they age in order to prevent a potentially dangerous level of stress on the heart during periods of exertion. In other words, I thought HR_max was a reference point such that even if your heart *can* beat higher than 220-age, it *shouldn't* really. This is so interesting to me as someone who pays a lot of attention to their biometrics and is conscious of heart health. If it's the case that I can use my actual max value to train with slightly more intensity according to an HR_max that is 13 beats higher than the one I derived from the formula, that's great to know. Again, I'm not asking for medical advice, but would love your input as someone with considerably more knowledge here than me. Thank you so much! [Edit: I guess I should add that I've seen my HR hit 212 within the past ~3 years while exercising, but I am less in shape now than I was then and 203 is the highest I've seen in the last ~3-6 months. I guess it's possible 212 is really my number since that did occur haha]

[@geopatriarca2820]

May have to watch the video a couple of times. So much information! Thanks for all your fun/fact filled info, Sarah!!!!

[@RichardChynoweth]

Thank you! This is incredibly helpful information 👍.

[@beddoerocks7509]

Love your channel wonderful information with no bull thanks

[@jinx6493]

Excellent video, stuffed with really detailed, interesting and useful information! Very well put together and explained perfectly! Thank you for expelling some of the myths and explaining the different topics so concisely. Very VERY useful video, thank you 👍

[@mathewrose2951]

I only just learned about the connection between fatigue and a "non-reactive" heart rate. I experienced it first-hand last night. I thought I was recovered enough to do a fast ride up the Alpe, but my HR bogged wouldn't go above 162, not matter what: 280 . . . 300 . . . 330w. It stayed the same, with the only difference being that my legs started to feel more and more spent. I gave up on setting a PR for the ride and settled in to ride the last 30 minutes of the climb at 270, a solid high tempo pace.

[@EverythingIsPhotogenic]

It feels awful! It's quite frightening when it happens outdoors, but you usually can limp your way through at a lower intensity. The heart and brain don't always agree lol

[@craigthomasutube]

I had the same experience last week, up the Alpe hoping for a great time, only to realize my h/r was under by 5 beats or so. Yep, legs were fatigued and overall not the pep I was hoping for. Managed to do under an hour without blowing up. Saturday was a major difference. Legs were rested and managed my second best time, 3 minutes shorter, and got the h/r closer up to expected! 5 beats makes a big difference. I wonder if current best ride at near an hour, 56 minutes in this case, with an average from Strava’s watts makes for current FTP w/out testing?

[@steffb9678]

Thanks a lot for breaking this down so perfectly understandable!!!

[@saintuk70]

Another good topic to cover, thank you. Will give it my full attention later, after work.

[@kristianniss5201]

I am 29. 220-29 is 191. My max HR is 192. You say that it's garbage, but that's only true for people in very bad health, people with heart problems or very fit people.

[@EverythingIsPhotogenic]

No its not only true for people in very bad health or with heart conditions. It also is true for elite professionals, very fit amateurs, genetic outliers and more. That calculation is built on population averages and as such, is not good for those people who don't live average lifestyles. Your anecdotal account doesn't undermine my premise. Full stop.

[@ZwiftingWithGranny]

Wow, what a tremendous amount of useful information for athletes! I use the puke scale for my rate of perceived exertion. Great video.

[@EverythingIsPhotogenic]

Ah the puke scale, the perfect blend of weird and inappropriate 🤣

[@ZwiftingWithGranny]

@@EverythingIsPhotogenic well yeah, but it's me, so...🤣

[@pierrerivard4884]

Another great video. Thanks a lot for all the work you put in to explain these concepts . Ride on!

[@natalienat7894]

Spot on! Keep up the great work 👍

[@PVVI2015]

Awesome👍 Thank you!

[@ItsMissMacintosh]

Thank you.God info all in one video

[@kaczekaosh]

Thank You...Really Perfect Video... :)

[@stefan8521]

Thanks for a great and informative video. Do you have a view on the effectiveness of the Maffetone method of heart rate training as a means of building endurance?

[@colmy1651]

Great video!

[@Cookefan59]

22:51 I sure am glad your furry lil friend wasn’t around to hear that blasphemy. 😂 🤣😂😅😀

[@EverythingIsPhotogenic]

Oh he heard.... I had to pay restitution by way of treats for several months afterward 🤣

[@michaelhoile1369]

When I was 23 I was tested in a lab and my max heart rate was 167.bpm ..now I'm 58my max is 163 bpm 🎉🎉🎉

[@RightRudder]

Comments you made about Caffeine and increased HR made me think to ask this question: I'm not a daily coffee drinker, I only use it on hard ride days to raise my HR. Typically, riding under the same perceived difficulty (as well as power shown on my Power Meter) I will see a HR that is 8 bpm higher with Caffeine than without Caffeine. So is it helping me, or hurting me, to use caffeine to raise my HR for rides? As in, am I increasing blood flow, which can deliver more O2 to my muscles resulting in higher performance? Or, am I making my heart more tired by beating more, thus limiting my endurance?

[@EverythingIsPhotogenic]

Wow, 8 BPM. You must be very genetically caffeine sensitive, but that's ok 🙂 So we will try to take a crack at this. The higher HR is not likely to hurt you in any real way within most rides in terms of premature fatigue - what I haven't seen the science on is cumulative strain over the course of days/weeks, there may be a deleterious effect there if the increase is this substantial i.e. slowed recovery. For longer rides over 4 hours, the impact might be more substantial. The half-life of caffeine is about 5 hours and cardiac drift often occurs as muscles start to breakdown. If your HR is already inflated to a higher percentage of LTHR from the caffeine and the muscles are in need of more oxygen than the increased blood flow can provide (to answer your question, that is the crux of the performance benefit that you get from caffeine) and the heart rate doesn't have any room to climb, does that become problematic and cause a further decline in power? I honestly don't know that answer and haven't seen any literature on it. Your HR sensitivity to caffeine is much higher than I have ever seen. 8 BPM is probably pretty normal at rest or at a recovery intensity, but that delta usually closes as the intensity gets higher. The same thing happens with race nerves, people might start from a stop even as high as a few beats under their LTHR and ride that line through a neutral start, but things do settle in eventually, and there might be a modest elevation by a few beats for the remainder of the event. It's interesting that you see that kind of disparity at harder efforts. What you really want to know is whether you're getting the benefits you should be. Time to exhaustion has been shown to be increased by ~12% with caffeine use in moderately sensitive athletes, so you would want to evaluate whether or not you feel you have another 10% or so in the tank with caffeine. What's strange is that the increased HR pervades your hard days. It's pretty normal for some people to see those lower intensity increases as I mentioned, but HR at submaximal efforts usually decreases with caffeine. That additional energy provided by oxygenating the muscles should reduce the work needed to be performed by the heart and in turn, RPE. I wouldn't fret it too much if your RPE tracks well with your Power. However, if you aren't seeing any real increase in power against RPE, it may not be worth supplementing with caffeine at all. Some people don't get the performance boost. I wouldn't be taking caffeine *just* to increase HR though, there isn't a benefit there. The increased blood flow you get from caffeine isn't coming from increased pump volume from the heart, it is coming from endothelial function in the blood vessels at the same HR. When it comes to caffeine use, you want it to increase your power to HR ratio and/or decrease RPE. It might be worth a little more experimentation and data diving in your case. Maybe do some journaling of your activities, just a few sentences in the notes section of your training app and log caffeine use vs non-caffeine use and compare some similar efforts. If you find that the impact is only to HR, dump caffeine, you might be trading off fatigue for no performance benefit. If you see benefits in power and RPE, then maybe you play with doses and intensities to see what is right for you. There might be a lower dose that impacts the HR less, but still gives you a boost. 🙂

[@RightRudder]

@@EverythingIsPhotogenic Thanks, Sarah, for taking the time to respond and give a Very detailed answer to my question! : ) For one, I had never heard of the "endothelial function in the blood vessels" and had thought increased performance came from faster-HR providing more Blood Volume. I definitely learned something new right there. My overall take away from your response is to methodically try to determine if power is actually increased as Caffeine Induced HR baseline increases. I'm new to Zwift (which is how I stumbled onto your channel), but I can easily imagine how the repeatability of using Zwift (esp workouts) can get me to that answer. And I wanted to also say that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE your KZbin channel and the wealth of information you have there on both Zwift and Physical Performance!!! As an example, I had never completely understood the Strava Performance Graph until I just found your "MASTERCLASS - TSS, CTL, ATL, TSB" It a gold mine : ) I find myself sitting here watching video after video back to back (when I should be Zwifting ; )

[@esripuppy8872]

Haha - good video thanks. I think the green hospital smiley might mean that morphine was used.

[@EverythingIsPhotogenic]

#facts 🤣

[@bnfrl2010]

Thank you Sarah

[@bnfrl2010]

Did stage 3 ADZ at 100%. Beat my last time by 10min 😂😂😂. I can feel it and had to ride on the lowest gear and lots of standing and grinding. 62:52 not bad for a 50 year old retired US army Soldier 😂😂😂

[@bnfrl2010]

One last thing Sarah. You killing me😂😂😂. In a good way thanks so much for the tips

[@airman9820]

My max hr is 180 if I went by the 220 minus age it would be 165. So yes not a good way to determine max hr. Running intervals up a steep hill does it for me. I cant seem to hit max on a bike, maybe not enough load compared to running.

[@steffb9678]

Well, watched this video again, as I've an HR zones issue: I'm using a Garmin Forerunner 945 for 6 weeks now, and training effect etc. is based on "classic" max. HR (90, 80, 70, 60, 50%). I also use Strava, and everything is based on a different max HR (96, 87, 77, 58-0%). But the related zones (anaerobic, threshold, tempo, endurance, recovery) are the same. So every time I'm training at threshold I get different effects (VO2max vs. threshold). Now I'm a bit confused and don't know which one to follow: the Garmin model, the Strava model, or adjust both to somewhere in-between? Hmmmmm.

[@leefont6116]

So the hr chart you showed.. is it different than running zones? My running zone 2 is 130-145.. but according to this it's 110-130, I was wondering if cycling zones are different and possibly why.

[@phfloors]

Hi there, love your channel. I have quick question. When I ride my zone 2 with power meter and my HRzone is 3 at the same time. what to do ? stay in power zone 2 or lower to zone 1 to stay in HRzone 2 ? To train for base training

[@phfloors]

never mind 16:21 says about that :D

[@libertandoapoeira]

This last week I race in Zwift and I got as maximum hr 195bpm (final sprint) with a polar H10 chest strap. I'm 47 years old, think it's a bit too high for my age, don't you think?

[@stevem2939]

Hi @ 8:00 you show a long list of things that can affect HR....... Surely most things on that list can also affect power output !!!

[@EverythingIsPhotogenic]

I mentioned that some things can affect performance and some may not. The idea is that those elements *could* impact the heart rate value independently of output giving a high or low heart rate reading that is not indicative of stress.

[@motomoto898]

Excellent :) ! Thanks - are you a doctor?

[@EverythingIsPhotogenic]

Nope. Hobbyist interest in medicine and physiology only 😉

[@kevinderung8524]

Do you use heart rate variability in your training (Whoop/Oura Ring), what are your thoughts?

[@EverythingIsPhotogenic]

I use the body battery widget on the Fenix 6 pro which is the same concept as a Whoop bad but with a little more precision in the activity data as it's fed right from my power, HR strap and other telemetry from all my Garmin devices. I don't rely too heavily on it though. It's an interesting insight but the data supporting HRV is still conflicting. If you use it as a sense check against how you're feeling or performing I think it can definitely give some good insights and valuable feedback, but using it to actually gauge your readiness is probably a bit short sighted. A "poor' HRV score could deter someone from a key workout on what could be a breakthrough day or inversely could give someone confidence with a "good" score and the body is actually not equipped for the challenge. I think the greater value comes from the sleep calculations. The body battery model weights heavily for sleep time and quality and uses HRV as a variable (I'm not completely positive on how whoop or oura weights their variables). It's not necessarily telling me anything I don't know, but it's giving me a good visual reminder that I'm leaving performance on the table when I get insufficient rest. I have gone back and forth between trying out Whoop for the experience, I'm inclined to think the data will be redundant to what I'm already getting, but if I was still using the forerunner 935 I would probably be using it. It's a big upfront expense which is probably worth it for those without a flagship watch or want a more minimalist design though, people rave about them. I think the value is in the accountability like "hey asshole, sleep more" or "uh you can't just ride 36 days in a row nitwit." 🤣

[@SenorGonzo]

My heart rate goes up every time you post a new video. Could you please stop messing up my training data.

[@EverythingIsPhotogenic]

Lol 😆

[@jarrykurri2155]

Lionel Sanders has left the chat

[@tinshield]

Yeah, the 220 - age is not good. Mine should be 169. I’m usually 187 and I’ve hit 192 in the last year. 🤷‍♂️

[@brookedavey397]

Why are you here… Munchausen's? 😂😂😂

[@alisagvozdeva8617]

Training with heart rate is a piece of cake. Now try to train without it... 🧐

[@EverythingIsPhotogenic]

Training with ONLY heart rate is not. Suprathreshold efforts with power is a piece of cake.

[@colincarstens4074]

Hey look, I have using Perceived Effort scale for years .... easy, medium, hard, really hard, I think I am going to throw up, oh crap I did throw up, please call and ambulance I am going to have a heart attack. lol :P

[@EverythingIsPhotogenic]

That calls for a new smiley scale!