I just did the spinerval 2.0 (Time Trial) workout last night. In the video Troy was shouting out Heart Rates of the other participants and they were lower than mine at the time. It seemed as though I was going the same cadence as the people in the video. So it got me to think, if myself and another person were going the same cadence in the same gear and my HR was 170 bpm and his was 150 bpm. Does that mean he is in better shape? And does age play a factor? So can I use HR as an indication that I am getting into better shape if i notice a decline in my bpm as i keep on doing this spinerval DVD?
Heart rate is a highly individual variable. It is influenced by fitness, stroke volume, medical condition, age, genetic factors and a subtle conspiracy of all these things. Realistically, you cannot compare your heart rate to another persons at a given exertion level. When I ride against the younger guys here on the Computrainer, Calvin and Greg, they can maintain heart rates of 185 BPM + for an extended period. I am at my anaerobic threshold at 188 BPM, that is about redline for me, and that is pretty darn high for a 42 year old. At 188 BPM your heart is beating fully more than three times per second and blood is travelling through your cardio pulmonary system in excess of freeway speeds.
A somewhat “standard” hallmark of fitness is how low a person’s heart rate can be for how “work” they are doing. That normally defines our concept of fitness. Some people have an uncanny “supercruise” capability, where they can maintain extremely high power outputs with minimal efforts. What takes me 175 BPM to accomplish may only take them 155 BPM. This generally could suggest they are doing less “work”.
In general, don;t compare your heart rates to others. It serves no purpose. Instead, use your heart rate monitor to gather some useful data over a period of time such as:
A 30 day log of resting heart rates in the morning to track trends and establish a benchmark.
A “Test Conconi” as outlined by the test protocols in Rob Sleamaker and Ray Browning’s excellent book “Serious Training for Serious Athletes”. Perfomr that test every 6 weeks to see changes in your Anaerobic Threshold. It is an easy test to perform on an indoor trainer.
An accurate log of average heart rates and cadences and power outputs as collected on a Computrainer- your “best” or most effecient cadence should become apparent once collect enough data.
In and of itself a heart rate monitor is an utterly useless piece of equipment. It is what you do with the information and how you interpret it that provides some value.
I’m going to reply to keep this discussion going, but not because I have any expert advice. First of all, I have the same video, and I notice the same thing. There are way too many variables to consider though- for one, what your anaerobic threshold HR is compared others. I think as long as you are at the same intensity, you are getting the same workout. As far as cadence goes, it also depends on the trainer and bike configuration. So, if you have the same wheel size, same gearing, same cadence and same trainer, then you are putting out the same power as the other guys.
As far as fitness is concerned, if you hold your cadence constant from one session to another, and your heart rate is dropping per session over time, then that seems to me to be an indicator of improved fitness. However, I personally wouldn’t use this video as a guide since it’s too hard to keep things constant from session to session with all the rest intervals and such. Personally, in this video, I would try to increase the cadence as high as possible on the intervals, as the goal is to increase power and power sustainability. So in other words, use the video for what it’s for, hold intensity constant, rather than power. Use it as a tool to increase fitness rather than test it. Note, that I believe threshold HR’s change with fitness, however, I don’t know that it’s up or down.
On a side note, some of the cyclists on there are amazing. That guy in the first row to the far left of the screen just cranks away, even on the rest intervals. So does that woman in the back row on the right riding the road bike. I don’t know if she has her trainer setting low or what, but she has a super fast cadence on the one leg drills and tempo efforts.
The weird thing is that I find I usually have similar cadences during the tempo efforts to some of the people, but I get smoked on the 1 leg drills. I also find I do much better on the second set of tempo efforts than the first.
Somebody at another board posted a HR training about Mark Allen. He switched to HR training after a period of “training all out” every time out.
Over the course of one year’s training at a HR of 155 (zone 2?), his time per mile went from 8:15 to 5:15 (both time periods, HR=155). I think whether you are pro HR training or not, it can be admited that significant progress was made.
It’s just like strength-training. If you are squatting 255x12 and it’s very hard, and you get to a point where squatting 255x12 is “easy”, even though the weight on the bar hasn’t changed, significant progress has been made, and performance will be drastically increased.
There many ways to measure progress … most deal with the simplicity or the equipment available. Sometimes I think we over-complicate measuring progress.