Good Method for Measuring Max HR?

[RowRinseRepeat]

Can anyone recommend a good method for measuring Max HR, especially with stepped intervals (a member in Sydney mentioned the Australian Institute of Sports stepped method, where a person is measured in 6 intervals and the Max is taken in the last interval).

[Mark E]

Can anyone recommend a good method for measuring Max HR, especially with stepped intervals (a member in Sydney mentioned the Australian Institute of Sports stepped method, where a person is measured in 6 intervals and the Max is taken in the last interval).

It sounds like you already have a protocol in mind, but in my experience a true max heart rate is best achieved during a set of medium-length intervals, like 3 X 1000 meters or similar. The rest interval should not be should be equal or less than the work interval. Of course, the effort level has to be at 11 on a scale of 1-10.

A 2K erg test should get to a very similar number, but anything much beyond 2K is suspect because although the effort may be 100 percent the role of pacing concerns, and the rising level of lactate accumulation, means that longer tests are not as likely to produce the highest possible beats per minute.

[RowRinseRepeat]

Thanks Mark, not wedded to any particular method, just looking for good interval methods as I've read many people require several intervals in order to hit a max HR, so appreciate the advice.

So you would do 3 x 1000 intervals, and the two rest periods in between should not be longer than the length of the high intensity 1000 meter interval? And the HR max measure would be taken at the end of the 3rd 1000 meter interval, of course rowing at "11" on a scale of 1-10?

[Citroen]

Take a look at page 19 (onwards) in Eddie Fletcher's marathon guide: https://indoorsportservices.co.uk/train ... n/download

[iant187]

I think there was a method in the old Concept 2 training guide, where you progressively stepped up in Watt increments.
I'll see if I can find it.

[Mark E]

Thanks Mark, not wedded to any particular method, just looking for good interval methods as I've read many people require several intervals in order to hit a max HR, so appreciate the advice.

So you would do 3 x 1000 intervals, and the two rest periods in between should not be longer than the length of the high intensity 1000 meter interval? And the HR max measure would be taken at the end of the 3rd 1000 meter interval, of course rowing at "11" on a scale of 1-10?

That would do the trick for me.

[Remo]

I have found this method is pretty accurate using a interval of 3x4:00/3:00active rest :

"Find your exact maximum heart rate

Warm up thoroughly so you start sweating.
Do two intervals, each four minutes long. During the intervals you should be too short of breath to talk. Intersperse each interval with three minutes of active rest.
Start the third interval, but two minutes in, run as fast as you can until you're too exhausted to continue. Your HRmax will be the highest heart rate you reach. The heart will reach a plateau at which it cannot beat any faster, regardless of how much you increase the workload."
Ref: https://www.ntnu.edu/cerg/hrmax (about 2/3rds down the page).

Your max HR will vary a little day to day depending on your sleep, your warmup, recent workouts, cardiac drift, and other unquantifiable stuff.

As long as you have a good warmup, you will get a good reading HRMax reading from an all out 2k. I occasionally hit it on long, hard interval sets, or at the end of a hard 5k.

[jamesg]

See https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_di_Conconi

The English version has less detail.

The test serves to identify the AT, not max HR, but no doubt this will be seen. By definition aerobic work is below AT, anaerobic above, so we don't need to know the Max HR to set HR bands, if we know our AT and the Rest HR.

This removes any uncertainty in calculation of AT from Max HR; max drops with age, as we know, but AT also depending on training, not necessarily.

To do the Conconi (or any other similar) test, we can use a C2 erg showing Watts. In HR theory the W/HR curve shows the AT threshold as an inflection point. We can then estimate the band levels in Watts as well as HR.

The aerobic bands would be say max 70, 85 and 100% of AT Watts or of AT HR Range.

[Gammmmo]

Some thoughts:

1. Don't overthink it
2. Stepped test like the Conconi one over ~10-12mins would be a good idea
3. Warm up well including some time at high intensities
4. Be mindful of ambient temperature, health and warming up too much going into the test - all can affect the "right" result
5. Ideally repeat another day under as many conditions being the same as possible
6. Be well rested going into the rest

[hjs]

Can anyone recommend a good method for measuring Max HR, especially with stepped intervals (a member in Sydney mentioned the Australian Institute of Sports stepped method, where a person is measured in 6 intervals and the Max is taken in the last interval).

Simple, row 10/15 minites pretty hard, you should start breathing hard, when you feel you are close to having to slow down, start sprinting for a last max burst.

[gregsmith01748]

Hi,

If you want to use the AIS protocol, here is a write up about my experience with it.

https://wordpress.com/post/quantifiedro ... .com/15829

I measured lactate when I did it, but that's optional. The HR I got with the test ended up about 5 bpm below the max that I've seen in other sessions. I have seen my highest HRs at the very end of long time trials like a 10K or 60'.

[RowRinseRepeat]

Thank you Remo, Mark, gregsmith01748, hjs, Gammmmo, jamesg, iant187 and Citroen - these were all great, easy to follow suggestions. I like a stepped method because in my experience it takes time to get to a max HR.

Going to wait a bit before do a test to give ourselves time to heal from 2 1/2 weeks of bad form where we were pulling too hard with arms which caused both of us develop a bit of a shoulder/upper arm inflammation in one arm. In the meantime when we row we'll be careful not to pull too hard and keep it at a smooth 65-70% and maybe dial back to rowing every other day. The toughest part is knowing how long to rest from rowing to give the shoulder time to heal. Tendons always seem to take longer to adjust to new forces than muscle.

[Allan Olesen]

As written earlier in the thread, there are better ways than max HR if one wants to accurately determine one's training zones.

So I wonder why so many of you have this desire to know your max HR. How does it benefit you?

[RowRinseRepeat]

Allan what are the better ways? I'm interested in it for purposes of knowing best training zones for better fitness and training.

[Allan Olesen]

Zones based on lactate threshold.

I may be too influenced by Joe Friel, but I consider zones based on max HR a crude instrument from old days.

When you train in the upper zones, the target is often to train some aspect of your lactate handling. To get the correct effect of this training, you have to hit some rather narrow HR ranges relative to your lactate threshold.

So it seems logical to go the direct way and place the zones relatively to your lactate threshold instead of going the indirect way and place them relatively to your max. heart rate.