How Heart Rate Applies to Training

Learning about heart rate and how it applies to training is a great basic tool to help understand how your body works and performs.

Often, when an athlete is very new to training, his or her exercising heart rate can either be very low or high, with not much in between. This is because in a comparatively untrained individual, the lactic threshold (the point during exercise at which an athlete starts to accumulate lactic acid in the blood) may be quite low, and his or her ability to tolerate lactic acid may also be low. Above the LT, the respiration rate increases quickly as CO2 levels rise in the blood.

Thus, beginners are best served by starting their training programs by focusing on aerobic exercise, which may consist of walking, a walk-run program or easy jogging only. Anything beyond that quickly ramps the heart rate up to an unsustainable level that can undermine an athlete’s fitness progression or even lead to injury.

Heart rate can be a great gauge of aerobic conditioning and endurance gains. While you can invest in a VO2 max test to accurately identify your LT and various heart-rate training zones, this isn’t always feasible for everyone and likely isn’t necessary for the novice athlete.

Instead, here are a few basic guidelines for getting started. Wearing a heart-rate monitor, take note of your heart rate while running for a sustained period at a conversational pace. At this pace you are running aerobically. If you gradually get out of breath (and can’t talk anymore) and your respiration rate climbs, you are working toward LT. You will note your heart rate climbing as well.

For simplicity’s sake I will confine my example to running. Let’s say, for instance, that Joe Runner can run for 30 minutes at 10 minutes per mile at a heart rate of 135 beats per minute. This is a heart rate at which he can run comfortably, but when he lifts the pace to 9:30 per mile he starts to run out of breath. Based on this, I will outline a few steps Joe can take to improve his endurance and get him to the point of being able to tackle some higher-intensity training down the road.

Step 1:

Starting conservatively, Joe should run every second day at 132 to 137 beats per minute, increasing the duration by about 10 to 15 percent per run until he reaches 60 minutes. Joe may notice that as his fitness improves he will be able to maintain a consistent pace as the distances increase and that he can run slightly faster at the same heart rate. That said, if Joe feels fatigued he should take an extra day or two off from running.

Step 2:

Continue to schedule one longer run of 60 to 70 minutes each week at 135 beats per minute. Also include one weekly run of 30 to 40 minutes at the same heart rate plus one run of 30 minutes that includes four to six fartlek pickups of 1 to 1.5 minutes with a full jogging recovery (heart rate drops below 135 for at least two minutes) after each work interval. Joe’s pace for his weekly aerobic endurance runs should gradually get faster. For instance, after a few weeks Joe’s pace could approach 9:45 to 9:30 per mile at the same heart rate.

Step 3:

Over time, Joe should gradually increase the heart rate in his long runs to the 137 to 142 range as he gets fitter.

Over time and with training you will note you can sustain higher heart rates for longer periods of time as your LT heart rate increases. You will also note a substantially lower heart rate while your pace remains consistent or even improves. Once you attain better fitness, you can then take steps to identify your LT and start to base your training off of this.

Comments

• 
  

• Tip of the Month

  June 2010

  Abdominal Workouts: Frequency, Intensity, and Duration

  Over the past 15 years, there has been countless advice on how to “properly” train your abdominals, or core.  There isn’t a fitness magazine out there that doesn’t publish a different abdominal workout each and every issue.  Opinions and research may change over time, but there are a few things you should look at before you alter your workout with each Fitness Magazine you read!
  First of all, it is important to know what your overall fitness and health goal is before designing a strength program for any body part, especially the mid-section.  For overall fitness, it is smartest to treat your abdominal muscles as you would any other muscle group.  The tried and true guidelines for most exercise programs is to work specific muscles to fatigue within a 30-60 second set time limit (intensity and duration,) while giving the worked muscle group at least 24-48 hours of rest (frequency) before working it again.  The amount of sets you do in a given workout (frequency again) can vary from as little as 4 sets to up to 12 for the average workout.  The science behind these theories is sound.  While exercising, pushing your body significantly past the 60 second mark without fatigue generally incorporates aerobic energy, thereby not stressing the muscles most efficiently.  And rest is necessary so that your body can properly rebuild the muscle fibers that you have broken down.  Additionally, you want to be at 100% energy levels for your next workout!

  click here for more »

  click here to read past tips

• Recipe of the Month

  June 2010

  Ham and Cheese Breakfast Casserole

  This healthy update of a traditionally rich ham-and-cheese breakfast strata is made lighter primarily by losing a few egg yolks and using nonfat milk. Gruyère cheese has a delicious, nutty aroma and flavor, which means that with the relatively small amount in this recipe you still get a big impact. To finish the makeover use nutritious, fiber-rich, whole-grain bread instead of white. The results: plenty of flavor, half the calories and one-third the fat of the original.

  4 large eggs
  4 large egg whites
  1 cup nonfat milk
  2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
  1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
  5 cups chopped spinach, wilted (see Tip)
  4 cups whole-grain bread, crusts removed if desired, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 1/2 pound, 4-6 slices)
  1 cup diced ham steak, (5 ounces)
  1/2 cup chopped jarred roasted red peppers
  3/4 cup shredded Gruyère, or Swiss cheese
  click here for more »