Training Zones

Sometimes the zones are calculated as a simple percentage of your maximum heart rate while another approach is to also consider your resting heart rate. Some advocate the use of your lactate threshold instead of maximum heart rate. Another approach uses your age and weight to calculate training zones. 

The zones reflect different physiological states during exercise and proper training in the various zones can enhance your fitness.

Since a person's maximum heart rate does not vary with fitness, using it to establish your heart rate zone may not be the best approach. A well conditioned athlete may be able to stay at 80% of their maximum heart rate for an hour, while someone less fit may only be able to maintain 20%. 

Your lactic threshold is the point at which your body's lactic production exceeds it's ability to flush it away.

Using your Lactate Threshold:

Bike test protocol:
Warm up for 15 minutes, moving through the different gears, keeping the cadence above 90 RPM. Do a few short sprints to get your heart rate up and ready for the test.

Start out in a gear that you can maintain 90 RPM in. Make sure you remember what gear you started in. 

• Begin your 30 minute TT.
• At 10 minutes into the test, hit the 'Lap' button on your heart rate monitor to get the average heart rate over the final 20 minutes of the test.
• The average for the final 20 minutes is your Lactate Threshold or LT.
• You should finish knowing you gave it everything you had.

15 minutes easy cool down.

• Active Recovery: < 80% of LT, very easy pace
• Aerobic: 80-87% of LT, slightly faster pace, still able to talk
• Threshold: 88-93% of LT, moderate pace, increased breathing
• Lactate: 94-100% of LT, fast pace, breathing is getting uncomfortable
• VO2 Max: >100% of LT, very fast pace, breathing is deep and quick

Using your maximum and resting heart rate:

Instead of just using a fixed percentage of maximum heart rate, this method uses a percentage of your heart rate reserve, which is the difference between your maximum heart rate and you resting heart rate, or your heart rate reserve. After calculating the percentage of this difference, you add it to your resting heart rate. This approach is often referred to as using the Karvonen formula:

Target Heart Rate = (max HR - resting HR) × %Intensity) + resting HR

220-(age) = (MHR) for men 226-(age) = (MHR) for women.
(MHR)-(RHR)=(HRR)
(HRR) x 0.65(65% intensity)=65
+68(RHR)
(RHR)=(target HR@65% of HRR)

Example:
RHR:68
220-56=164(MaxHR)
164-68(RHR)=96(HRR)
96 x 0.65 = 62.4+ 68 = 130.4 (65% intensity)

• Zone 1: 50-60% of Heart Rate Reserve, used for warm up and cool down
• Zone 2: 60-70% of Heart Rate Reserve, used for long, slow runs or cycling, or for recovery rides and runs
• Zone 3: 70-80% of Heart Rate Reserve, used for overall cardiovascular fitness.
• Zone 4: 80-90% of Heart Rate Reserve, used for for training to increase your lactate threshold
• Zone 5: 90-100% of Heart Rate Reserve, used for short periods, usually for interval training.

Using the age weight formula:

Rather than using a fixed percentage of maximum heart rate, this method uses the difference between your age and your weight to arrive at your maximum heart rate. After calculating this number you can then apply the following formula:

Males: 210 minus half your age minus 5% of body weight plus 4 = MHR

Females: 210 minus half your age minus 1% of body weight plus 0 = MHR

Example:
210-28-1.8+4=184.2 (MHR) 

No formula is perfect so if you need a more accurate figure talk to your doctor about a stress test.