Increasing max HR

eortiz

I've been riding for about 4 months now (after more than a year off the bike). I use to have a max HR of ~ 170 when I was 32 yrs old. Now that I am turning 35 my max HR is ~160. Is it still possible to increase my max HR despite my age? NOTE: I just determined my max HR base on sprinting to the max where I am just pretty much dead at the end or when I can hardly breath. Thanks for any help and keep those pedals turning

Duckwah

1. you can't really increase your max HR

2. there would be no point anyway, what is important is power output at your LT

eortiz

Hmmm, makes sense. So it's basically like (compared to an engine) high torque at low RPM. Thanks. I guess I have to do a lot of interval training

Blimp

Here's a couple of ideas:

1. Ride up a steep hill flat out until you can't go any harder. The commit yourself for another 20 seconds of pain.
2. Get on an indoor trainer, and gradually increase intensity until you reach max hr. Then push harder for 30 seconds. Have a friend handy to motivate you and catch you.
3. Try a different sport, ie. running, climbing. My max hr is 10 higher when rock climbing than cycling.

pedalhome

Maximum heart rate is such a tricky thing. When you initially begin to get back in to shape, you might be able to achieve a higher recorded heart rate during an intense effort because:

1) short-term adaptations to your ability to endure pain thresholds and increased musculature efficiency due to training
2) being fresh for the workout
3) having eaten properly for the workout

But usually, after long-term fitness improvements - recorded maximum heart rates actually tend to decrease. Crazy.

I'll agree with the others in saying that you might want to focus on your ability to maintain a higher power output at a lower heart rate - but a good base of aerobic capacity is needed, too.
Intervals? Yes, that's one way to do it. But, don't discount the beauty of the aerobic base. Get out there on long'ish hours in the saddle. The pace? Just stiff enough so that prolonged conversations are difficult. Weekend group rides are the way to go, as long as your group isn't trying to hammer each other in to the ground...that's pretty rare.
You might want to test for your lactic threshold (LT) - an 'easy' way to do that would be to do a 25-30 minute time trial on relatively flat roads. About halfway through the time trial, start recording your heart rate...the average for the last half of the time trial will pretty much be your LT.
What do you do with that number? Well, that's a long story, I reckon. But here's an example of a great workout I do in the winter:
My LT is about HR 167-169.
I live in Nevada - I'll begin racing the US national calendar races in March. So, right now I'm doing what I call 'base intervals.' These are longer efforts, 5 to 8 minutes of 4-6% grade climbs, at 80-85% of my LT (that's a HR of about 140-145bpm). They aren't hard, but they definitely aren't easy, either. I do 5 to 7 of those on Wednesdays with my training partners, rests of about 2.5 minutes between climbs. They've worked for me for a long time and I'd recommend the workout to improve your aerobic capacity (and climbing ability).

good luck and hope that hasn't confused the issue,
michael

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Paul Graham

Obviously care is needed but there is no reason why a healthy person should not push the standard envelope.

I am 45 years old, train every day. Every third day I take my HR to the my personal max.. 180 bpm. I should say I have been training for 20 odd years.

My training revolves around HR bmp starting at 100 and building up at 10's.. 110..120 and so on. At 180 I am flat out and can only sustain this level for 60 seconds.

Take care

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eortiz

Pedalhome, thanks for the advice. Since I live in SD and there are good, no distraction climbs around my area, I'll see what I can do with them.

Paul, hats of to you. 180 bpm at 45 yrs old! You're the MAN! I know some cyclist I ride with who are 55 and they are just like diesels when they pace the group.

eortiz

Pedalhome, thanks for the advice. Since I live in SD and there are good, no distraction climbs around my area, I'll see what I can do with them.

Paul, hats of to you. 180 bpm at 45 yrs old! You're the MAN! I know some cyclist I ride with who are 55 and they are just like diesels when they pace the group.

ric_stern/RST

There tends to be a modality effect for HRmax, i.e. in different sports you'll get a different HRmax. If you're going to base training on HRmax, then you should test for HRmax in the sport you're going to do (else you could be working too hard or easy).

As an aside, trained cyclists will be able to reach a HRmax of 100 to 105% of running HRmax (so it doesn't necessarily mean you'll have a higher HRmax in a sport other than cycling).

Ric

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ric_stern/RST

After a period of training HRmax tends to decrease a few b/min, this is a normal adaptation to endurance training




Although this is frequently quoted by coaches as a way of establishing a HR associated with LT, this is incorrect. LT is a *workload* (i.e., power output in cycling, velocity/speed in running) that elicits an increase in lactate over exercise baseline levels. Frequently, the literature refers to this as 1 mmol/L increase over exercise baseline or at a fixed level of 2.5 mmol/L (which would be very similar to a 1 mmol/L increase). It's *never* measured as a HR.

LT, is actually a *low* intensity, it represents most trained riders endurance/tempo level, and is ~ 15 to 20% below (~1-hr) TTpower, and thus, can be maintained for up to several+ hours




This seems rather low to me to perform such short intervals at. I recommend that at about that level people perform there *continuous* endurance rides for up to several hours.

Also, there's no reason why some moderately intense intervals can't be completed during the 'off-season' at close to or equal to TTpower (just a little lower and shorter than during the season). Makes no sense to me to loose what it takes so long to gain.

Ric

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pedalhome

Yikes - we're bringing mmol/L to the discussion. OK, if you want to go get tested - yup, that's 'official' measurement used by exercise physiologists for an LT test. But come on, we're not talking about rocket science here...

HR is a decent, cheap, and effective way to get the same numbers within a satisfactory percentage of error. Again, it just isn't that complicated. Mr. eortiz, you've been training now for 4 months. You're in San Diego (lucky dog) where year round training is the norm. I recall spending a couple years training there and it just got so...surreal - not having any bitter winter to make me face mortality. But I digress.
You've been training for 4 months. You're body still is making all those really cool jumps in fitness that occur when the lifestyle change is made (even though you were only off the bike for a year). That's pretty exciting.
I'd say it's ok not to worry about your max HR right now. Just keep it fun and get in the miles. Let your body adapt to the training. Take it slow, be patient, climb a lot, and enjoy that mild SoCal winter. I hear Mt. Palomar calling your name.
michael

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ric_stern/RST

just trying to point out that you're measuring different things (LT isn't TT power), there's whole thread about it somewhere!

ric

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Paul Graham

To digress.. I have recently started using a Stairmaster machine at the local gym. Apart from the novelty I find I can build and control HR more precisely.

Just thought I'd throw that in

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eortiz

Thanks for the encouragement! I really need it I have been climbing hils here (1 mile at 8% and 3 miles at 6-7% grade). Although I know I am just trying to climb without blowing up at the top, I know I am getting stronger because of the time difference it took me to climb the hills before and now. I have not tried Mt. Palomar but I guess now is a good time to check it out

Thanks again for all the help and for everyone who gave me something to worry about other than HRmax.

Keep those pedals turning!