I subscribe to the montly "Women's Cycling" newsletter and today it had this little gem:
If you are a lady, and use a heart rate monitor to gage your workouts, you might be working too hard!
I rely on testing to see what my maximum heart rate is but I can see now why I was justified in doing that -- the old forumla is WRONG!
Old forumla: 220 minus your age.
New forumla: 206 minus 88% of your age.
Using the new forumla, guess what! I got a number that actually makes a lot more sense compared to test results. So there ya go!
Original article printed in NYTimes
According to this my max HR is 178, but I can hit 190 without much trouble. Weird.
ReplyDeleteThat's because you're a guy -- the old formula is still good for guys apparently. The new one is "for the ladies"
ReplyDeleteShould also note that that's why testing is important. Everyone's heart rate is different. Not everyone is going to fit into a math equation.
ReplyDeleteI believe less then 5 percent of population fits equations for max hr.
ReplyDeletePolar has a decent couple of tests ( fit test / own zone ) for determining max hr ... Or training levels- zones, which I think is really what people are after?
Blog looking great thanks for adding link
So true, Peter. I know people with hearts like hummingbirds, and others with hearts like rhinos.
ReplyDeleteThanks for checking in!