One of the most common data points used to monitor progress or design workouts in endurance training is heart rate.

It’s primarily useful because it reliably associates with specific intensities of effort, and it takes into account stress you are experiencing from outside of your training.

However, it is only useful insofar that you understand how to apply it.

So, this week I wanted to give you 3 points that will help you do so more efficiently.

#1: Heart rate targets are specific to the exercise

A quickly noticeable difference between running & cycling is how fast your heart rate gets up.

The primary reason for this is the difference in how much of your body needs blood pumped to it.

While running, your upper body must do some rotational work to act as a counter-weight.

In cycling, your upper body has virtually no job (relatively, at least).

Because your heart doesn’t need to pump as much blood to as large of an area, your heart rate won’t get as high during cycling as it will during running at any given effort level.

So, if you try to apply the same heart rate targets from running to cycling, you may end up smoking your legs when you didn’t mean to.

#2: Heart rate targets vary person to person

Typically, heart rate targets are expressed in terms of a percentage of your maximum heart rate.

The classic formula used to estimate maximum heart rate is to subtract your age from 220 (220 - age = max HR).

However, this formula tends to have a margin of error of +/- 10 bpm.

Plus, as implied in that formula, there is a notable age-related decline of maximum heart rate; and people vary in how quickly or slowly they decline.

So, training at 60-70% maximum heart rate may mean different things for different people.

To fix this, you have two options.

One option is to perform a max heart rate test. I’ll have an article coming out soon on how to do this. Only problem here is that they hurt (I mean, you’re pushing to your absolute maximum) and they are most accurate when doing them is planned out.

Another option is to just pair heart rate with subjective effort.

For instance, a commonly used generic prescription for zone 2 training for running is 60-70% of age predicted maximum heart rate.

It’s also common practice to use the talk test to measure zone 2. In other words, zone 2 is the intensity at which you can still hold a 10-15 word sentence, but if you pushed any harder you would not be able to.

So, you could perform work at this intensity, put yourself through the talk test, and see where you line up. Based on how you feel during the talk test, you could scale your heart rate up or down to find what your zone 2 is.

#3: Heart rate means nothing for lifting

I explain this more deeply in this article/video. However, I’ll give you a short synopsis here.

Something that many people notice while lifting is that their heart rate spikes during hard sets. However, assuming this means that lifting is training your cardiovascular system is a mistake.

During standard strength training, your heart rate will spike for a few seconds, drop back down for a few minutes, and then repeat for however many # of sets you’re doing.

With endurance training, the goal is to get to specific heart rates and sustain them for prolonged periods of time; not for seconds at a time.

Even with circuit weight training, many other systems will fail before your cardiovascular system fails.

As you may have heard me say before: the limiting factor to further movement is what gets trained; nothing else.