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Last week I talked about how to calculate your maximum heart rate and how important knowing this number is to your training. In this film I’ll be going through how to use your max to actually calculate the various fitness training zones and outline the benefit each one gives. According to wattbike.com There are seven heart rate training zones and they are all expressed as a percentage of your max. This means there will be a little bit of calculation involved but you don’t need to be a Stephen Hawkings level maths genius to work things out. So if we are all sitting comfortably, I’ll begin. The first is what they call the recovery zone and refers to any ride under 60% of your max. To work this out on a calculator you start with your max, so using me as an example, 188 beats per minute, and multiply by 0.6. This gives us 112.8 but you could probably round this up to 113 beats per minute. The benefit you will receive in this zone is improved recovery and promote muscle regeneration. At this pace it should feel nice and easy and you should be able to chat comfortably. Zone one is between 60 and 65 percent of your max. So, for our example we multiply 188 by .65 to get 122.2. Again, you could round this down to 122 beats per minute. We have already calculated the lower end of this zone, so 113 forms the upper end. When you cycle at this intensity, it should still feel fairly relaxed and you should still be able to hold a conversation. You should also be able to ride at this level for several hours. The benefit you receive here is improved fat burning and generally just getting comfortable on the bike. Zone two is between 65 and 75 percent of your max. In our example, this gives us a range between 122 BPM and 141 BPM. At this intensity it should feel like you are starting to wok and the benefit you will receive is increased power and efficiency. This is where most of your endurance training should take place. Zone three is between 75 and 82 percent. This gives us a range of 141 BPM to 154 BPM. You can certainly start to feel it when you ride at this intensity. You should be sweating and your legs will start to burn but the pay off is increased fitness and even better endurance. Zone four is between 82 and 89 percent. This gives us a range between: 154 BPM and 167 BPM Its starting to hurt now. You should be pretty stressed and sweating freely but the benefit will be increased overall speed. Zone five is between 89 and 94 percent. This gives us a range between 167 BPM and 177 BPM. At this intensity you should be gasping for breath but the pay off will be improved time trialling and short term resistance to fatigue. Zone six is anything above 94 percent. You won’t be able to maintain this level for more than a few seconds but training at this intensity will increase your sprint speed. Many cycling computers today will not only show your actual beats per minute but will also show your heart rate as a percentage, taking away the need for you to do any mental arithmetic on the bike. You can also use it to set an alarm if you go above or below a certain heart rate. If you have a Garmin Edge 510 I show you how to do all of this in another couple of films. If you would like to follow my efforts on the bike you can follow me on Strava. My profile is here: http://www.strava.com/athletes/515946
