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AN INTRODUCTION TO HEART RATE MONITORING

Why heart rate based training?

“Heart rate monitoring is one of the best ways to monitor training loads in athletes and its use is recommended to all referees regardless of standard”. Matt Weston, Sports Scientist, PGMOL.

When you start training, your heart rate increases rapidly in proportion to the intensity of the training. The number of times it contracts and relaxes a minute is your heart rate. This aerobic (cardiovascular) fitness is one of the most important components of physical fitness and is measured by the amount of oxygen transported in the blood and pumped by the heart to the working muscles and as the efficiency of the muscles to use that oxygen. The harder the training, the more fuel the muscles need and the harder the heart has to work to pump oxygen-rich blood to the muscles. As you get fitter, your heart is able to pump more blood with every beat. As a result, your heart doesn’t have to beat as often to get oxygen to your muscles, this decreases resting heart rate and exercise heart rate on all exertion levels, which is a reliable indicator of your physical condition and the level of the exercise

Good aerobic fitness decreases the risk of disease such as; a stroke, high blood pressure and diabetes. Fitness can be improved by activities which use large muscle groups such as; running, jogging, cycling, walking and swimming. So like any other muscle the heart becomes more effective with use.

At rest a healthy heart beats approximately 70 times per minute. A conditioned heart will beat 40 – 50 beats per minute or even less. In men the heart rate is at its maximum value between 15 – 30 years of age. This decreases progressively with age, so by 60 the average maximum aerobic power is 75% less than that of a 20 year old. With a sedentary life style, there is a 10% reduction in the aerobic power per decade, but with an active lifestyle this falls to only 5%. Factors that affect aerobic fitness and heart rate include: heredity, fitness level, exercise type, environment (temperature, humidity, and altitude), mood, drugs, alcohol and eating habits.

What is a heart rate monitor? Light-weight telemetric heart rate monitors equipped with electrodes were developed by Polar, in Finland and have been available since 1983. The transmitter belt detects the electrocardiogram (ECG - the electric signal originating from your heart) and sends an electromagnetic signal to the Polar wrist receiver where heart rate information appears.

Why is it important to monitor your heart rate during exercise? During training the optimum position you are seeking is a balance between; frequency, intensity, duration and exercise type. So by monitoring your heart rate you can record how your body is coping with the training at that point in time. To evaluate the intensity you are training at this is shown in beats per minute (bpm), or it can be shown as a percentage of the maximum heart rate (HRmax). The HRmax is the highest number of heart beats per minute during maximum physical exertion. The intensity of HRmax has been broken down below into Polar Sports Zones – as used by the PGMOL.

Polar Sport Zones focus on heart rate based training which is derived from your maximum HR %. These different heart rate zones produce different health and fitness benefits. So, for example if you want to burn fat you need to do this at a lower intensity than you would of you wanted to burn carbohydrates. Lower intensities bring more health benefits and are recommended for active recovery for more experienced exercisers as well as weight management. Exercising at a moderate intensity will improve endurance and overall aerobic condition. Higher intensities are only recommended for regular exercisers and athletes for short periods when improving performance.

So a heart rate monitor can tell you exactly what level to exercise at for your individual maximum benefit. It is beneficial to spend time exercising in the different heart rate zones.

Key information from your heart rate monitor HRmax is the highest heart rate achieved in an all-out effort. It is very individual due to heredity, fitness level and age so is different for every individual. Maximum heart rate can be predicted from age, e.g. maximum heart rate for adults equals to 220 - age. If you know your maximum heart rate you can understand how intensively you are working.

Resting heart rate usually averages between 50 and 85 bpm (beats per minute) in an adult but can be lower in athletes. Your hrm can use this figure to calculate your level of fitness and track how this improves over time.

Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) is the highest rate of oxygen consumption measured during exercise and a “golden standard” of cardio respiratory fitness. Again your hrm can indicate your VO2max level and your fitness level.

Recovery - Your hrm can be used to determine how well your heart rate has recovered after exercise, and help you know when you are ready to exercise again, once your body is fully rested.

A heart rate monitor can take the guess work out of training by allowing you to train at your own pace with regular feedback on your fitness improvement, whilst keeping you motivated.