max HR

[rlholtz]

What might the differences be on max heart rate: biking vs erging vs running?

[jamesg]

I find the pain in my legs when biking stops me reaching the MHR (175) that I see on the erg, which lets me use other muscle too so distribute the pain better. No doubt a large amount of biking would develop more leg muscle so work the heart more. I never run unless I have to catch a train so wouldn't measure success by HR. X-country skiing, especially skating uphill, is a good way to see high HRs.

[LJWagner]

More muscles used rowing than running or biking, so heavier potential cardiac load. Leg muscles used differently biking and running. Less back muscle use biking.

It depends on training, which gains accustomization to load, and how hard you can push yourself.

Get equivilently trained athletes, in terms of their ability relative to standards of performance, at the same age in each sport.

To compare, might want an erg 2K, a good miler or two-miler, and a sprint cyclist. Everyone goes all out for 7 minutes. Compare heart rates. Highest heart rate wins. Have emergency personnel on hand.

[hjs]

Two things

One: We tend to reach the highest Hf the more muscle we use and the more upright we stand (blood has to go against gravity)

Two. A body has to be used to an exercise to be able to use the muscle 100%. In practice this means that people tend to reach there max hf in the sport they do primarely. If you do some else , for instanse , a cyclist goes running, the muscle will give up before the heart will. The cyclist needs to cycle to fully use his hart.

[ancho]

I think I've reached my highest HR's running uphill

[editedby]

I've reached numbers doing sprints up stairs that I've not been able to match on the C2 with the same perceived effort; in my case @5 beats less.

[rlholtz]

Got a Schwin exercycle for my birthday last month. It has heart rate monitoring through palm contact with the handlebars. I've been trying to establish a max HR for future training and find my HR is at its greatest half a minute or so AFTER a supreme effort. Maybe as much as 10 bpm more than during it. Any physiological explanation for this?

[Byron Drachman]

Any physiological explanation for this?

Would you accept a completely made-up explanation? I love talking about things I don't know anything about. That way, I'm not limited by facts and information. Here goes my theory:

The heart tries to maintain some "phase-locking" with the body, and keep coordinated with rhythmic body motions such as moving the legs in circles, pushing rhythmically with the legs, etc. Perhaps the heart tries to maintain a heart rate that is a certain multiple depending on the motions involved. If you are near a max and you suddenly stop, there aren't these control factors and the heart feels free to beat will-nilly. Of course with the same rhythm if you pull harder, the heart rate increases, but perhaps there is some effort by the heart to stay in synch with the rowing. As I said, this is a totally made-up fact.

I have also experienced a rise in heart rate when I stopped suddenly, and I've heard from other people that this happens. That's why I hate to see a crew suddenly just slump and stop rowing after crossing a finish line. I think it's safest to continue with a light load but not suddenly stop.

In cycling, a great way to get a cramp is to sprint for the finish in a time trial, then coast, get off the bike, and drop to the ground, demonstrating to all people nearby that you gave it your all.

Byron

[rlholtz]

I like the way you think. So which should I consider my MHR for training purposes; the rate I got while cycling hard or the rate I got afterward while cycling easily?

[Byron Drachman]

Here's a website that has some interesting stuff about heart rates, intervals, etc.

http://home.hia.no/~stephens/index.html

He points out that your maximum heart rate depends on the activity and my own experience is that is correct. Like Ancho, the highest heart rate I ever measured was after running up a hill. I can get a higher heart rate on a StairMaster (stepping machine) where I am vertical compared to rowing or cycling. There is a step test described at the UK website:

http://www.concept2.co.uk/guide/

Or you can do al all-out 500 m sprint, after a proper warmup, and see what you get. The training guide is a little confusing about percentages of max heart rate. In the small print somewhere they say find your resting heart rate (first thing in the morning) and your max heart rate, and then use percentages based on those two numbers. For example 70% of max heart rate is supposed to be taken as

resting heart rate + .7*(max heart rate-resting heart rate)

For rowing, I would use the max heart rate I can get while rowing.

Byron

[rlholtz]

Thanks for that.

And now, at the risk of beating a dead horse I'll ask, "Max heart rate while rowing, or max heart rate that may come after the hard rowing comes to an end?"

[Byron Drachman]

In the training guide at the UK website, section 3, they describe a way to find your max heart rate. You keep increasing watts and watch your heart rate until no further increase is possible. It's torture, but anyway the answer according to those authors is that it is the highest heart rate you can achieve while rowing, not the heart rate (even higher) that you can get when you stop.

Byron