I’ve been intrigued by the heart rate information that is captured by my Garmin Edge 305 GPS-enabled cycling computer. I decided to learn more about the various heart rate zones.
You can personalize this by finding your own maximum heart rate. A simple method is to take your age and subtract it from 220. The resulting number is your heart’s maximum beats per minute. When you’re close to that number, you’ll know it – the heavy breathing and pounding chest gives it away!
There are five heart rate zones:
- Zone 1 : “Healthy Heart Zone” : 50-60% of your maximum heart rate
- Zone 2 : “Fitness Zone” : 60-70% of maximum heart rate
- Zone 3 : “Aerobic Zone” : 70-80% of maximum heart rate
- Zone 4 : “Anaerobic Zone” : 80-90% of maximum heart rate
- Zone 5 : “Red-line Zone” : 90-100% of maximum heart rate
Interestingly enough, 85% of the calories burned in Zone 1 and Zone 2 are from fat. This number decreases as the intensity of the workout (and the Zone) increases. In Zone 4 & 5, your body is relying heavily upon carbohydrates since they are easier to burn quickly.
You can read more by visiting the following link:
http://www.primusweb.com/fitnesspartner/library/activity/gf_guide2.htm
This information would suggest there are benefits to having workouts that are less intense. When I go back and review my workout data on Motionbased.com, I see that a large percentage of my bike rides are in Zone 4.
Weight loss is one of my primary training goals. To that end, I spent time during a 16 mile bike ride today to monitor my intensity and concentrated on smooth spinning. I was able to spend almost an hour in Zone 3.
More heart rate training information coming soon…as I learn more.
Bottom Line – There is benefit to be had by not always blasting away at the pedals trying to break new speed or max heart rate records!!
Funny, I was just googling redline target heart zone and your bike geek blog appeared in the search results