There are several ways to monitor your training intensity during a workout. Perceived effort and miles per hour are two of the more common ways, however, the most accurate measure of what your body is experiencing is heart rate. Your CompuTrainer comes equipped with a heart rate monitor with target training zone alarms. The workouts in this manual rely heavily on the use of this device.
Heart rate monitoring allows you to control intensity of your workouts and standardizes self-tests that measure progress. Training within scientifically established heart rate ranges can bring about great benefits. Working at low heart rates increases capillary beds. Improvement of fast twitch muscle function and increased tolerance to lactic acid result from high heart rate workouts.
Training "by the seat of your pants" was once a necessity - now it's a handicap. Your heart rate monitor will allow you to get much more from your training than you ever did before.
Most systems for determining how to set up your heart rate training zones are based on set percentages of your maximum heart rate. The maximum heart rate can be estimated by subtracting your age from 220, or , if you've been very active for many years, by subtracting your age from 205. The resulting figure can be as much as twelve beats off according to university studies, so you may wind up working out either too hard or too easy.
Another method for finding your maximumheart rate is by sprinting up a steep hill with an all-out effort (this is NOT recommended). Few of us, however, can find the motivation to drive our heart raes that high short of having a gun at our heads. Around n inety-five percent of maximum, event the most dedicated will start feeling sorry themselves and question their sanity. The result of such a test usually yields numbers that are too low by seven to ten beats per minute.
The third method, and the one recommended, finds your anaerobic threshold heart rate using a variation of the Conconi Test that has been around since the early 1980's. Anaerobic threshold (AT) is the level of intensity above which your body begins to acc umulate lactic acid. For most fit cyclists, this falls in the range of 85 to 92 percent of maximum heart rate and is achievable with a less-than-maximal effort.
Before starting your training program, learn how to use your heart rate monitor by completing the Conconi Test. The version of the test you use depends on if your CompuTrainer has Ergometer/Calibration, which provides the more accurate of the two versions. After finding your AT, refer to Table 1 to determine your five training intensity zones.
Self-Testing
Fitness
Table of Contents