In last week’s newsletter Dr. Mirkin wrote an informative column Tips for Keeping Your Maximum Heart Rate Up As You Age. He’s correct that the formula of (220 – your age) is a wildly inaccurate way to determine your maximum heart rate. However, your max heart rate – even if determined with a heart rate monitor by riding all out – is irrelevant. Here’s why.
Mirkin writes, “How fast you can run, cycle, ski or swim over distance is limited by the time that it takes to move oxygen into your muscles. Your heart pumps oxygen-rich blood to your muscles, so the faster your heart can beat, the more blood it can pump to your muscles and the faster you can move.
“Keeping your maximum heart rate up means that your heart is stronger, which allows you to exercise faster and longer.”
Your performance is a little more complicated.
Max Heart Rate Doesn’t Indicate Fitness
Max heart rate is largely a function of age and genetics not how fit you are. Depending on how you picked your parents you may have a higher or lower heart rate. Your maximum heart rate changes very little with changes in fitness.
Cardiac output: Your cardiac output is a function of your heart rate and your stroke volume, how much blood your heart pumps per beat. Your cardiac output decreases by about 30% between the ages of 20 and 80. While your maximum HR inevitably declines, through exercise you can maintain your ability to sustain a reasonably high heart rate. You can also slow the decrease in the elasticity of your heart, which is what reduces stroke volume. In fact, with moderate-intensity exercise, you can improve your maximal oxygen uptake by 20-30% over a sedentary lifestyle, which is comparable to the increases observed in younger subjects.
VO2 max: Your cardiac output and hemoglobin concentration in your blood determine how much oxygen goes to your working muscles. What matters is how much of the O2 is used by your working muscles. This is called your VO2 max, which is also called “aerobic capacity,” A rider is tested wearing a breathing apparatus that determines how much oxygen is inhaled and how much is exhaled. The difference is what was used by the muscles to produce energy. The more oxygen one can use, the more aerobically fit that person is.
Coaches Don’t Use Max Heart Rate
Mirkin writes, “Exercise physiologists use your maximum heart rate to determine your level of fitness and guide the intensity of training.”
I have each new client do a 20-minute time trial to establish baseline fitness. After the TT the client reports to me:
- Distance covered
- Average speed
- Level of perceived exertion if using rate of perceived exertion (RPE).
- Average heart rate if using a heart rate monitor.
- Normative power if using a power meter.
Note that I do not test for maximum heart rate.
From these I can extrapolate the rider’s anaerobic (lactate) threshold (AT) or functional threshold power (FTP) and RPE at AT. A rider’s RPE, AT or FTP all indicate current fitness and may change as the rider gets fitter. Because RPE, AT and FTP are a function of current fitness I base a rider’s training zones and workouts on these. To the best my knowledge no experienced coach uses max heart rate.
What You Can Do to Improve Performance
Increase VO2 max: You can increase your VO2 max, although the workouts are very painful. Warm up for 10-15 minutes. For the main set, start with 1 to 3 hard efforts of about 1 to 2 minutes. The recovery time between each hard effort is 100% to 200% of the duration of the hard effort. Increase the number and / or duration of the hard efforts week by week until you are doing 2 to 4 hard efforts of about 2 to 3 minutes, totaling about 4 to 12 minutes and with the recovery time between each hard effort still 100% – 200% of the duration of the hard efforts. The hard efforts should be at RPE 8+ on a 10 point scale, >105% of AT, 106-120% FTP.
Improve cycling efficiency: VO2 max isn’t the sole determinant of performance. How you use the O2 is also important. Imagine two riders with the same VO2 max who are climbing a sustained climb. The first rider is out of the saddle rocking the bike back and forth. The second rider is sitting rock solid as he pedals. The second will get to the top faster. Practice riding with your upper body motionless. This is a good drill on the trainer in front of a mirror this winter.
Coordinate firing of muscles: This is called neuromuscular facilitation. A muscle is composed of a number of motor units. A motor unit is a bundle of muscle fibers controlled by a specific nerve. When your brain tells a muscle to contract the motor units don’t naturally contract at the same time — you’re wasting oxygen. You can improve the firing pattern by practicing sprinting. When you are sprinting you’re making maximum demand on your muscles and they respond by adapting so that the muscle fibers fire at the same time. Start with two or three 30-second sprints with full recovery (at least 10 minutes) between each sprint.
My column on 6 Kinds of Intensity Training explains the different kinds of intensity training. Each of the six kinds brings about different adaptations. This column explains how to pick the right kind to meet your goal(s).
After you’ve decided what kind of intensity training is best for you, my column Intensity Training for Maximum Benefit explains how to do intensity training.
You can download from my website a spreadsheet to determine your training zones.
Benefits of Exercise
Mirkin makes two important points:
Greater fitness slows decline: “A recent study from Ball State University in Indiana shows that exercising as you age slows down the loss of maximum heart rate (Med Sci Sports Exerc, Jan, 2016;48(1):73-81 Nearly 650 healthy men and women, ages 18-80, not taking any heart-rate-altering medications, completed two treadmill all-out efforts at least one year apart. The older participants had lower average maximum heart rates, but those who were most fit and had the highest values had the least drop in their maximum heart rates over the year, regardless of age.”
More generally the fitter your are and the more consistently you exercise the more slowly you lose overall fitness, not just max heart rate.
Exercising prolongs life. “Exercising as you age can also prolong your life and help prevent heart attacks, cancers, strokes, diabetes, being overweight and more.”
Scientists and physicians don’t know of anything that prevents these causes of death; however, exercise along with diet, stress management and a healthier lifestyle reduce the risk of death from one of these.
More Information
My eBook Anti-Aging: 12 Ways You Can Slow the Aging Process incorporates the latest research and most of it is new material not published in my previous eArticles on cycling past 50, 60 and beyond.
The book explains why intensity training is important for older riders. It includes how to do intensity exercise and different intensity workouts. It describes the pros and cons of gauging intensity using rate of perceived exertion, heart rate and power.
It explains how to get the most benefit from your endurance rides. It has sample training plans to increase your annual riding miles and to build up to 25-, 50-, 100- and 200-mile rides. It explains why both endurance and intensity training are important and it integrates endurance and intensity training into an annual plan for optimal results.
Anti-Aging describes the importance of strength training and includes 28 exercises for lower body, upper body and core strength illustrated with photos. It includes an annual plan to integrate strength training with endurance and intensity training. It also has 14 stretches illustrated with photos.
Anti-Aging includes an annual plan to put together all six of the aspects of aging well: cardiorespiratory exercise, intensity training, strength workouts, weight-bearing exercise, stretching and balance. The book concludes with a chapter on motivation.
Anti-Aging: 12 Ways You Can Slow the Aging Process your comprehensive guide to continuing to ride well into your 80s and even your 90s. The 106-page eBook is $15.95 ($13.57 for Premium Members after their 15% discount).
Coach John Hughes earned coaching certifications from USA Cycling and the National Strength and Conditioning Association. John’s cycling career includes course records in the Boston-Montreal-Boston 1200-km randonnée and the Furnace Creek 508, a Race Across AMerica (RAAM) qualifier. He has ridden solo RAAM twice and is a 5-time finisher of the 1200-km Paris-Brest-Paris. He has written over 40 eBooks and eArticles on cycling training and nutrition, available in RBR’s eBookstore at Coach John Hughes. Click to read John’s full bio.
Why don’t you two collaborate ahead of time in stead of airing your disagreements in this public forum? Obvious professional jealousy of the Doctor.
Hmmm …. I have the greatest respect for Dr. Mirkin and I invited him to contribute to my eBook Anti-Aging. He wrote a terrific column for me. I didn’t agree with all of it but he has a well-informed point of view and I published the column.
Rather than “Professional jealousy” I’d call this professional differences.
I have been a full-time professional cycling coach for 25 years and have earned certifications from USA Cycling and the National Strength and Conditioning Association. I’m the author of Distance Cycling. If you want references see Joe Friel’s The Cyclist’s Training Bible and Fast after Fifty, Allen & Cheung Cutting Edge Cycling, Cheung and Zabala Cycling Science.
Respectfully,
Coach John
@W: Dr. M and Coach Hughes are both well respected in the field of exercise physiology.
Your comment “Obvious professional jealousy of the Doctor.” is unfounded, way out of bounds and, in my opinion (since you voiced yours), is totally uncalled for in this forum.
While it could have been more subtle, I think W makes some good points. Coach Hughes is a respected and knowledgeable coach with extensive experience. I thoroughly enjoy his articles. He is bright and articulate; that said, he does NOT have a medical degree, in fact he does not have ANY advanced college degree related to medicine, physiology or kinesiology, yet he often, inappropriately I think, expresses a medical opinion as if it is fact. It’s not; he is not qualified. Dr. Mirkin sticks to medical issues; he does not venture into coaching techniques. I wish Coach Hughes would do the same. Or if he disagrees with Dr. Mirkin, he should quote medical authorities, not give a layman’s opinion as if it is a medical opinion.
Hi James,
I have been a full-time professional cycling coach for 25 years and have earned certifications from USA Cycling and the National Strength and Conditioning Association. I’m the author of Distance Cycling. If you want references see Joe Friel’s The Cyclist’s Training Bible and Fast after Fifty, Allen & Cheung Cutting Edge Cycling, Cheung and Zabala Cycling Science.
Respectfully,
Coach John
Agreed…….but haters will hate , a fact of life, sadly.
No one is “hating.” Coach Hughes seem eminently qualified to be a cycling coach; he is experienced, knowledgable and articulate. I thoroughly enjoy his coaching articles. But that is not my point nor probably W’s. My issue is that being a cycling coach for 25 years and having obtained cycling certificates and publishing an ebook, is NOT in any way shape or form qualification to give or criticize medical advice. Don’t confuse being a coach with being a Doctor. It is my understanding that Coach Hughes has no advanced degree in medicine, physiology, kinesiology…; not even a basic undergraduate science or biology degree. I understand; it’s not necessary to be a “coach.” Yet he often present his layman “coach” opinion as an expert medical opinion – that is simply inappropriate. Or if he wishes to express a conflicting medical opinion, at minimum he should substantiate his argument with credible medical studies; not just his layman opinion. Coach Hughes is blessed with a lovely talented daughter who has a Doctorate in Physical Therapy; I’m sure she would take offense if as a layman I published a Youtube video critical of her therapy techniques. Dr. Mirkin is a medical doctor. There is a vast difference between a “Coach” and a Medical Doctor albeit both are important.
There are other points of view:
I believe that every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine running around doing exercises.
Neil Armstrong
anent the prior, at a finite number of beats, then being in shape vide resting at 48 more than makes up for the exertion for limited times at 150, say. jus’ sayin’
I look forward to your next column on Hitting the Hills. I’m 67 and can generally keep up with cyclists up to 20 years younger, except on hills > 4% grade. I assume it’s declining V02 max due to age? My heart maxs out around 168 to 170, but drops quickly after an interval. I’m currently doing TrainerRoad Build Phase 2 in addition to outside group rides. I have good intentions to do more leg work in the gym, but I find that rather boring compared with riding.
Here’s my experience.
I was at 170lb when I started riding 35 years ago. Then 15-20 years later, I went to 160lb and thought I could fly.
After starting tours in Colorado and dragging my @#$ up the climbs for several years, I dropped to 145lb. That was the year I could actually ride away from my younger friends without much trouble.
You didn’t mention weight, but most of the riders I see and/or ride with should be focused much more on weight than HR.
The measurement I’m fond of is efficiency or power/HR. That lets me know what I’m getting from my heartrate effort.
This is a little off the exact topic but just wanted to share what I’ve learned for myself.
You’re correct that losing weight makes a huge difference, although most of the younger guys I ride with are about my same weight. I was 205 a couple of years ago and dropped to 185 in Spring of 2018, which (along with Winter spent indoors on TrainerRoad) changed me from a B group to A- group. Due to fantastic cooking of my wife (married for one year), I’ve crept back up to 195 and am doing intermittent fasting to drop some lbs. I had a CR heart scan last year which showed partial bloackage of “widow-maker” artery, but I passed a nuclear stress test with flying colors, and cardiologist put no limits on my exercise.
That’s true that HR max doesn’t reflect the current fitness a d is unussble for comparions of riders – but Dr. Mirkin didn’t use it for any of these purposes. He pointed out that it is a limitating factor for the same rider. A s yes, it is.
An open debate is just what this forum needs from its contributors. These two articles held my interest more than anything I’ve read since RBRW was sold by John Marsh. Did John bash Gabe? No, he kept it professional. Highly valuable and credible
With respect to Gabe, a medical degree does not qualify him ipso facto to have the definitive view nor does the absence of any advanced degree disqualify John. Hiding behind degrees can be a red herring. Those of us over 65, like Gabe, John and I know experience trumps degrees when you’re likely 40+ years removed from earning them.
I’m with John on this. I no longer know what my max HR is, nor do I care. It ain’t the number of beats, it’s the quality of the beating. I scrutinize ridiculous amounts of data after most rides and, like John. find many other metrics which offer greater relevance. Sure, average HR can tell me about perceived effort, but I don’t need it to know how hard I’m working. Out of habit, however, I still wear a HR monitor just to see how much faster my heart beats, all other things being equal, after a few days off. Don’t ask why I want to know that, I couldn’t answer it.
My opinions, all.
Seth,
“An open debate is just what this forum needs from its contributors.”
And this is in the spirit with which I wrote the column.
Coach John
It hit the mark with me John.
Coach Hughes wrote: “Your cardiac output and hemoglobin concentration in your blood determine how much oxygen goes to your working muscles.”
I think sports physiology in general ignores what may be another important contributor to VO2 max: respiratory efficiency. Nothing seems to be said about ventilation/perfusion ratios, respiratory rate, mouth-breathing vs nasal breathing vs diaphragmatic breathing, etc., and how they can affect performance/endurance. If you have great cardiac output, and great Hgb concentration, but are under-utilizing the capacity of the lungs, then you’re missing out on maximizing your potential. If respiratory efficiency can be improved, then it’s easy to see that the variables of cardiac output and Hgb concentration can be enhanced.
A heart rate monitor Is still a useful tool; used to be the only tool. 12 mile TT @ 160 bpm, a 24 mile TT @ 155 bpm. The last mile HR starts to drop no matter how hard you push. If you are cruising along & your HR is 180 you are dehydrated! When asked how I delt with the altitude when climbing Independence Pass, the Hart rate monitor, 1st hour 115 bpm, 2nd hr 120, 3rd hr 130 then the switchbacks; Don’t Look! That was when I was 58, now at 79 after a heart attack I wear an hr monitor but the max is 125.