During exercise, your heart rate may suggest the direction you should take, but are you really sure that it is the right one? Why? Whatever your answer, stay with us for 90 seconds.
Welcome to the 100% evidence-based “90-second sports science lab”, brought to you by the world’s top experts!
BASIC LEVEL
During your training workout, you can follow your heart rate (HR) fluctuation. What happens in reality is the basic knowledge you need to understand what is actually going on.
HR reflects individual parameters, such as age, sex, health and training status. It can also be affected by others factors, such as climate, hydration, humidity, recovery, mood and so on.
The key values to use when determining the individual HR are:
- HR at rest
- HR pre-exercise
- Maximum HR
Although there are simple formulae that can determine the maximum HR, these simply offer an indicator in reality. Put another way, two people with the same age and sex can have huge differences in HR pre-, during and post- exercise.
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
Training yourself to understand what is meant by HR can be useful. Without an individualized check-up, however, what you think is right may be lower than the training stimulus you need or too much for your training goals.
The level of HR is…
