 Poster: A snowHead
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I've just bought an elliptical cross trainer and am now trying to put together a training programme.
After much browising of the web I have a few frustrations. All the programmes I have found on the web are based on RPE (Rate of Perceived Exercise) which I find to be a very vague way of classifying effort. I have also bought a heart rate monitor for this purpose which seems a more precise way to measure effort. So the problem was how to translate the RPE values into target heart BPM (Beats Per Minute). This was the next problem; all the stuff I found on the web gave various slightly different ways of calculating this.
I have tried to take the best of these to produce some formulae to make it easy to generate BPM and % of HRM (Heart Rate Max). I'm wondering if anyone with more knowledge than me can comment on whether these formulae seem sensible and also to offer them for anyone else to use (assuming the knowledgable folk think them sensible).
The formulae I am using are:
HRM = 210 - (age * 50%) - (weight in lbs * 5%) + [4 for men, 0 for women]
BPM = (((HRM - HRR) / 10) * RPE) + HRR
Where:
HRM is the max heart rate for your age and weight. This formula is supposedly more accurate than the simple (220 - age) one.
HRR is your rest heart rate - note this should be taken in the morning before getting out of bed, averaged over several days.
Using these I have put together a spreadsheet allowing a programme to be easily put together using RPE that you can then check is within your target %HRM and gives a nice easy BPM to follow whilst actually exercising.
For the target %HRM I am using:
Beginner or low fitness level: 50% to 60%
Intermediate or average fitness level: 60% to 70%
Advanced or high fitness level: 75% to 85%
So any thoughts? Does this look sensible or do I need to rethink?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I think I need to sit down after trying to work that out!
Phew! 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Forget all the data stuff, find a dry slope, take a mate, short swing up the slope carrying him on your back; worked for getting our technical team fit. Then record how many times completed and time taken per 50 mtr.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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gatecrasher, yeah, think how I felt trying to find the right data to start with! Still if you're going to do it...
Cynic, hehe that looks like a serious training programme; can I be the one being carried? Does that count?
Bottom line is I just wanted a way to build a valid spreadsheet that I can quickly and easily bung in the figures and then train at the most effective rate for me. It might look complicated but once done it is very easy to use. I just need to figure out if I've got the workings correct.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| MadMountainMan wrote: |
For the target %HRM I am using:
Beginner or low fitness level: 50% to 60%
Intermediate or average fitness level: 60% to 70%
Advanced or high fitness level: 75% to 85% |
what are you trying to get out of this
intensity and the time you maintain the intensity are criticla factors. they don't really have too much to do with intermediate/advanced etc - you achieve different things through different combinations of intensity and time
i'm working off the Time Crunched Cyclist at the moment, which obviously is aimed at cyclists, but (a) I am partly getting fit for cycling and (b) IMV the goals are similar for ski touring. it has loads on discovering your thresholds and training at different intensities
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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in other words, someone who is fit will be doing more work for a given heart rate than someone who is unfit, so the targets you have above have nothing to do with whether you are a beginner or not
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Arno, I have been too sedentary for a while now and am aiming to get my general fitness level back up. I appreciate the intensity and time are critical factors, but, as I understand it, you have to adjust these to get your heart into the optimum rate for improving fitness.
My understanding is that when unfit you should have a lower target heart rate. As I understand it, seriously fit atheletes aim to train around 85% of HRmax which would constitute overtraining for someone less fit.
As you get fitter you increase the intensity of the programme to keep in your target range. You have to choose the right target range and obviously those figures are only a guideline.
So I have put together a programme that warms up in the lower bracket of my target range. I am still moderately fit and am starting at the upper end of the intermediate so I aim to be working at around 60% to 75% to start off with. This feels reasonably good; I feel I've had a workout but am not totally knackered. I started with 5min warm up (62%) 5min work (68%) 5 min cool down (62%) (nice and easy). I am now up to 5-62, 2-68, 5-75, 3-68, 5-62. After five weeks I plan to be on 5-62, 7-75, 5-85, 8-75, 5-62.
I have two rest days and one easy day each week, and also some HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) days where you go hard as you can for 20s then active rest 40s and keep repeating. The duration of these HIIT sessions gets longer as I get fitter (hopefully!).
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nothing wrong with easing yourself in 
the program I am starting involves working out your lactate threshold first by measuring your heart rate over 8 minutes at the maximum effort you can sustain for that time. my figures show that as about 171bpm. if you look at your formula based on age, that suggests I am working at 92% of max - YMMV! Once you have done that, it is a case of intervals at differing %ages of lactate threshold. Some longish ones at just under (6-8 minutes); some shorter where you are working above lactate threshold
i guess my point is that there is a bit more to it than saying advanced athletes train at 85% of max
also, once you are in the swing of things, i wouldn't be afraid to work harder than your %ages suggest (but stop if it feels really bad, obviously!). nothing wrong with working at 60-70% but it achieves different things from working harder
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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That's interesting Arno, problem with all this stuff is there are so many different approachs as well as different ways of measuring those approaches. And I certainly see a tendency on the web for people to be somewhat evangelistic about their particular favourite.
I think maximum effort is meant to push as you describe, where you are going into the 90+% region, and is mainly used for high intensity interval training and as said I do have two days a week doing that, and then I very much push to the limit (gets a bit wobbly with this complete newbie to cross trainers) and am probably up in the same region.
I have actually only just got my heart rate monitor (mega delays on delivery - Amazon third parties gah!) and it would seem my perception of effort (based on the descriptive RPE scale) was somewhat off. I was definitely pushing my heart rate higher than the optimum given. Or else I'm actually fitter than I thought and need to up it a bit. Figure I'll keep with my programme as it should still deliver me nicely to a higher level of fitness in my desired timescale (really I'm just a lazy b****r!).
Though I would agree that you are absolutely right; there is a lot more to it than the simple guidelines I mentioned in my first post. But when you know nothing (or very little) you have to find somewhere to start 
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Actually, Arno (sorry about the double post), could I ask about this lactate method, I'm a little curious? Do I understand it right that you work at your maximum level for 8 mins. And then take, what, your average heart rate over that period or your max rate? Then you work out a programme based on % of that heart rate?
If that's how it works it might be interesting for me to work out that figure for myself and then see what the percentages in my programme work out at using your lactate approach.
I have to say, that despite my lack of knowledge, I do find this stuff fascinating! 
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