Heart rate when exercising. Does it tell you anything?

[richard at home]

I check my heart rate and O2 level after doing intense rowing for 30 mins or 15 mins.

Is it telling me anything useful?

My resting HR is 50-60.

After hard exercise, it peaks at 165. Recovery to below 100 in 2 mins.

I am finding that my lung capacity seems to be limiting me pushing harder rowing. Maybe that's due to ambient temps though, just like a turbo car!

Just curious if any of that indicates anything? I think recovery time is the most improtant thing?

[johnpsanderson]

richard at home said:

I check my heart rate and O2 level after doing intense rowing for 30 mins or 15 mins.

Is it telling me anything useful?

My resting HR is 50-60.

After hard exercise, it peaks at 165. Recovery to below 100 in 2 mins.

I am finding that my lung capacity seems to be limiting me pushing harder rowing. Maybe that's due to ambient temps though, just like a turbo car!

Just curious if any of that indicates anything? I think recovery time is the most improtant thing?

HR is a reasonable indicator of effort. It is skewed by things like heat and sustained effort over time (it drifts upwards over time at a constant level of effort) As a cyclist I’ve always used is an ‘real time’ indicator against the HR which correlates with my lactate threshold, so used it to gauge effort for defined interval sessions. Nowadays this seems fairly ‘old fashioned’ as power metering is widely available, but it works for me.

I don’t think that doing an effort then checking what your HR peaked at is telling you much. Max heart rates are very personal to individual (despite the oft cited 220 minus your age formula) I’ve seen time to recover to resting HR / amount dropped from a max effort over a set period time cited as a general indicator of fitness, but again, it’s not really guiding your training whilst your doing it. At best it’s showing progression afterwards.

[ExV8]

I use mine in a similar way to a power metre.

Accepting that everyone has different heart rate performance.

When cycling I limit to 130 on a recovery ride, when pushing on a club ride too long over 160 on the front and I look to recover.

Running it gives more of a guide in races that I may be over cooking it but in training and slow runs a guide to speed/exhaustion.

[Robmarriott]

According to the internet my max should be 185 and while exercising I should be aiming for 105-157.

My resting rate is normally around 60 and during my normal treadmill run, I’d struggle to keep it under the 160 the internet suggests, despite the doctor saying I’m fit and healthy.

I haven’t checked properly and I don’t think I trust the built in heart rate stuff at the gym but I reckon I could comfortably knock on the door of 200bpm without any trouble, and if I stopped running and walked at that point, I’d be down to under 150 in well under a minute.

Obviously I’m no doctor but I think it’s something you could overthink.

[BobsPigeon]

I watched this the other day, been watching a few because I've taken to using the Maf method to see what I can gain as I'm trying to run a 4o min 10k this year (before it's too late)

https://youtu.be/EamGPN4eeIo

[richard at home]

So not much to learn from HR. It cannot be compared between people.

It's just down to your own physiology.

[thebraketester]

richard at home said:

So not much to learn from HR. It cannot be compared between people.

It's just down to your own physiology.

Just because it varies from person to person doesn’t mean there isn’t to much to learn from it.

[richard at home]

thebraketester said:

Just because it varies from person to person doesn’t mean there isn’t to much to learn from it.

Yes, I meant in absolute terms. You can certainly learn something from changes in your own HR prior, during and after exercise.

[mcelliott]

Robmarriott said:

According to the internet my max should be 185 and while exercising I should be aiming for 105-157.

My resting rate is normally around 60 and during my normal treadmill run, I’d struggle to keep it under the 160 the internet suggests, despite the doctor saying I’m fit and healthy.

I haven’t checked properly and I don’t think I trust the built in heart rate stuff at the gym but I reckon I could comfortably knock on the door of 200bpm without any trouble, and if I stopped running and walked at that point, I’d be down to under 150 in well under a minute.

Obviously I’m no doctor but I think it’s something you could overthink.

All that info you have gathered sounds poop, unless you are following a structured training program with HR zones, ignore what you have read, a full gas effort should see big numbers which is what a healthy heart is designed for.

[Trevor555]

thebraketester said:

richard at home said:

So not much to learn from HR. It cannot be compared between people.

It's just down to your own physiology.

Just because it varies from person to person doesn’t mean there isn’t to much to learn from it.

Take note though if you're recovery time, and resting pulse changes.

This was one of the earliest signs I had a problem.

[Jimbo.]

It’s better than nothing but certainly doesn’t tell you everything: it’s so susceptible to influences such as temperature, (de)hydration, fatigue, stimulants etc it’s hard to know when it’s giving you reliable, consistent, repeatable information with which to gauge efforts/training/fitness,

It’s also a lagging indicator so almost useless for short, sharp intervals.

[Ashfordian]

richard at home said:

So not much to learn from HR. It cannot be compared between people.

It's just down to your own physiology.

You cannot compare it to others but you can monitor yourself once you know your own HR.

eg higher resting HR overnight can be a sign of illness or fighting one, or a poor nights sleep for whatever reason. But it is something over time you get to know.

[millen]

if you link a heart rate monitor to Strava then the crickles app https://crickles.casa/home/ gives oodles of stats on your heart fitness, both relative to others and relative to your past exercise sessions. I've used it only as a cyclist (I can't run) and I'm not sue if it needs a paid Strava subscription to work. Couple of screenshots below