Where are all the gym buffs?

IDK but mine is always the same way as well.

I don't get it

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Posted by cbcf

IDK but mine is always the same way as well.

I don't get it

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Yeah, does it mean I'm working out to hard? I feel fine.

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Posted by Mici n KC

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Posted by cbcf

IDK but mine is always the same way as well.

I don't get it

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Yeah, does it mean I'm working out to hard? I feel fine.

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no i understand what you are saying. I feel fine as well. maybe a little tired but otherwise I am fine.

gym machines aren't the best for measuring your heart rate (they are hardly ever accurate). but, basically for your age...it usually tells you what your target heart rate should be for optimum fat burning.

heres a link to give you a better idea of what it should be:

american heart ***.

Im no gym buff (obviously) but the machines at my gym have a fat burning rate (65%) and a cardio rate (80%) and I try to stay in between them.

I would think you are burning more calories that way anyway. Im not 100% sure though b/c I have heard of an anaerobic state where you dont burn calories so idk if that can happen.

If you just started working out or getting back in to it then you may get a higher rate at first until your body gets used to it.

ETA- i found this ..

Training below your target zone may not be intense enough to burn enough calories and training above your zone will force your body to burn calories anaerobically (without or lacking oxygen) and inefficiently.

So its just inefficient to work above your target rate.

target heartrate

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Posted by Lucky0510

gym machines aren't the best for measuring your heart rate (they are hardly ever accurate). but, basically for your age...it usually tells you what your target heart rate should be for optimum fat burning.

heres a link to give you a better idea of what it should be:

american heart ***.

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hah it censored your abbreviation of association....too funny....

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Posted by Snick n Nick

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Posted by Lucky0510

gym machines aren't the best for measuring your heart rate (they are hardly ever accurate). but, basically for your age...it usually tells you what your target heart rate should be for optimum fat burning.

heres a link to give you a better idea of what it should be:

american heart ***.

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hah it censored your abbreviation of association....too funny....

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i just saw that. i was thinking ..why did it do that

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Posted by trojo1521

I was talking to my trainer about this the other day. She said the HR machines on the cardio equipment is not accurate at all. Supposedly, the higher the HR the more cardio workout it is and less fat burning, but as long as your are burning calories and getting your heart rate up it will help you lose fat

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I try to do interval training on the treadmill and my HR is always so high! But that is based on what the machines say. I try to do it myself while watching the clock and it still seems high. I'm probably not counting right lol

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Posted by Snick n Nick

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Posted by Lucky0510

gym machines aren't the best for measuring your heart rate (they are hardly ever accurate). but, basically for your age...it usually tells you what your target heart rate should be for optimum fat burning.

heres a link to give you a better idea of what it should be:

american heart ***.

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hah it censored your abbreviation of association....too funny....

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Posted by ChristineAaron08

Im no gym buff (obviously) but the machines at my gym have a fat burning rate (65%) and a cardio rate (80%) and I try to stay in between them.

I would think you are burning more calories that way anyway. Im not 100% sure though b/c I have heard of an anaerobic state where you dont burn calories so idk if that can happen.

If you just started working out or getting back in to it then you may get a higher rate at first until your body gets used to it.

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I have no idea how that works. I was told interval training is best so I do that!

Mine is always way above too (I like hills or intervals).... I always think the calories & HR are off on the machines.... When I sweat, I just figure that a good thing!!!

BUY A HR MONITOR. DO IT. JUST DO IT.

Our hearts are the most important muscle in the body – and one that we cannot see! The HR monitor is our only mechanism for observing our most important muscle, observing when it is strong, observing when it's not doing too hot, and observing its improvements over time. You can get a decent basic-function one for less than 50 bucks (ask me for shopping help! I look at web links students send me all the time…). For those of you who have never seen one, it's a light strap you wear around your chest, with a wrist watch that reads from the transmitter strap. It's not uncomfortable at ALL. In fact, I stopped by a birthday party en route home from my class at 49th St last Friday night (only partially changing) – when I got home from the restaurant four hours later, I was shocked to discover that I had left my HR monitor strap on. I didn't even feel it! And, no, I wasn't drinking. Comfort is THAT much of a non-issue.

Without a HRM, you're going on perceived exertion – and perceived exertion is totally fallible. For example, I rode today at what I thought was REALLY REALLY hard effort (burning, pain, the whole nine yards). Looked down at my monitor: 118 bpm. Seriously. I wasn't working at all. This happens ALL the time.




ONCE YOU GET YOUR MONITOR

Step 1: Open box. Strap on transmitter.
Step 2: Gasp in shock that your HR is through the roof, even when you don't think you're working that hard.
Step 3: After you chat with me, you discipline yourself to spend the next 4-8 weeks remaining completely below 80% max HR. You slow down your pace. You stay in the seat for most of the ride, no matter what the class is doing.
Step 4: You complain to me that you're bored, you feel like you're not working hard, you're miserable. You miss pushing really hard and getting that endorphin surge.
Step 5: After 4-8 weeks, you have so greatly re-built your aerobic base that you find that you actually need to push HARDER with MORE resistance to hit that even that 80% aerobic barrier than you were using when you thought you were going 'all out.'

This is called adaptation. When we let the body work in the heart rate zones that it's supposed to work at, it gets damned good at it. It just requires a little bit of patience – an investment at the front end – to be able to get to that point.



'WHAT'S THIS 80% STUFF?': MAX HEART RATE & PERCENTAGES THEREOF

Everything we do in HR training relies on taking percentages of our 'max HR' – i.e., below 80% MHR is aerobic training. The problem is that most of us do not know our max HR!

Since it is the anchor point for all of our training, we at least need to take an estimate. We can do that in one of four ways: (1) actually get it measured in a laboratory setting (best way, but costly and inconvenient); (2) lactate field test (very good way, but requires a lot of self discipline); (3) sub-max HR test (pretty good way, requires a bit of self-discipline); and (4) age-predicted calculations (not ideal, but better than nothing!)

Of these, I will walk you through the ones we can do ourselves. All of these should be done when we feel rested, and have not engaged in intense anaerobic exercise (both Spinning and non-Spinning – anything above 85% MHR – any BURNING!) in 24 hours.



1) Foster Sub-Max HR Test (developed by Carl Foster, Ph.D.)

I have modified the descriptions to make more sense than I think the actual Foster scale instructions read:

Step 1: Warm-up adequately for 5-10 mins

Step 2: Get yourself to 120 bpm. Recite the Pledge of Allegiance out loud.

Ask yourself: Can you speak COMFORTABLY? 'Yes' or 'Uncertain'

Step 3: Increase your exercise effort to raise your heart rate by 10 bpm (i.e., 130 bpm)

After 90 seconds, recite the pledge of allegiance out loud.

Ask yourself: Can you speak COMFORTABLY? 'Yes' or 'Uncertain'

Step 4: Repeat this every two minutes until your answer is 'Uncertain.' Record your HR (in bpm) at the point where you answered 'Uncertain.'

Step 5: Cool down adequately for 5-10 minutes

Step 6: Calculations/mathematical adjustments:
If you are in poor shape, add 50 bpm
If you are in average shape, add 40 bpm
If you are in excellent shape, add 30 bpm
If you are in competitive athletic shape, add 20 bpm.

Step 7: Arrive at your calculated estimated maximum heart rate. This is the number we then multiply by 70%, 80%, 85%, etc. for our various training zones.



2) Lactate Field Test **Requires a HR monitor that records average heart rate!

Step 1: Warm up adequately for 20 minutes.

Step 2: Get on a tough seated climb. Accelerate until you are pedaling as fast as you can while sustaining that resistance, keeping all your weight toward the very back of the seat. NO BOUNCING. If you're bouncing in the seat, slow down. Think: MAX EFFORT WITHOUT BOUNCING. Start your HR monitor.

Step 3: Hold this for 30 minutes. Yes, 30 minutes! Stop your HR monitor.

Step 4: Look at what the HR monitor reports as Average HR. That is your field-measured 85% MHR value (otherwise known as 'Lactate Threshold' – when we start to go anaerobic). If we then want to reverse-calculate your max (to then calculate the other percentage numbers), take Lactate Threshold divided by 0.85 = Max HR. Then we can work with that number further.

3) Age-Predicted… with a new twist that I just learned today!

You've heard me (or others) talk about age-predicted Max HR values. In the fitness world, we use the age-predictive formulae as follows:
For men: 220 – age = Max HR (then we multiply by percentages)
For women: 226 – age = Max HR

This of course does not account for fitness conditioning level, body composition (fat vs. muscle), or the phase of the moon. It's just a starting point, when we have nothing better.

There's a standard reference chart where one can find their age and then see all their percentages pre-calculated. I have the one for men posted on my website, http://spintastic.googlegroups.com/ under 'Features.' Women are a bit difference, since it's based on 226, not 220 – age.

I took a Spin instructor continuing education workshop today and learned the COOLEST trick ever in the entire world, to adjust the numbers to make them more accurate.

I'd like to credit NYSC instructor (and Master Spinning Instructor) Iona Passik for this absolutely friggin' brilliant amazing technique. I'm obsessed with it, and I want to do it for all of you who have HR monitors. And it's just so amazing that the rest of you NEED to go out and get HR monitors, *just* so that I can do this for you (in addition to that whole 'change your life' thing).

Here's how it works. You tell me the highest HR number you've ever seen on a HR monitor during what you call your most intense, ridiculous over-the-top effort. I ask you if you felt like your heart was going to explode out of your chest and you were going to throw up. I add 5 bpm to that, perhaps a few beats more if you tell me that you didn't feel like you were seriously going to be sick. That imagery is *fantastic* to recall that feeling of feeling utterly maxed out. We don't do that in spin classes – we don't go higher than 92% in our classes. That's why I add a few points higher. I've been there. For me, it's 198 bpm and I've had it on psychotic explosive runs (when someone else is teaching, of course. I never run at max effort with you guys… I can't talk at 198 bpm!).


We call that your max HR. We then find that number on the standard reference chart, regardless of what age that number is associated with, and read off the other pre-calculated numbers. Starting tomorrow, I am bringing these charts with me to every single class I teach.

If you have a HR monitor and need help calculating (or re-calculating) your heart rate percentages per this estimated max HR, PLEASE COME TALK TO ME. I'm seriously so excited to do this for all of you. I'll spit out your numbers to have in front of you, and it'll be fantastic.



REMINDER: 'ONLY ABOVE 85% ONCE PER WEEK'
From my previous posting from Dec 16th:
Overtraining is NOT reflective of frequency of exercise - it's reflective of intensity. The Spinning program was actually designed to be done 7 days a week... but properly distributed by hr range:
1-3 days Endurance: 65-80% max hr
1-2 days Strength 75-85% mhr
1 day Interval: 65-92% mhr
1 day Recovery (or completely off): 55-65% mhr

See that? One day a week when you're going 'all out' - that's it! For many of you, you're doing 92% far more often than that. Overtraining is totally counterproductive. I did it for years, prior to commencing training with a hr monitor. So let's just... not. Here are some warning signs that you may be overtraining:
1) Constant fatigue
2) Changes in sleep patterns
3) Irritability
4) Frequent illness/infection
5) Sugar cravings
6) Elevated resting heart rate

If you train particularly hard on a given day (see also: ANYONE who took my class at 41st/3rd this morning…), active recovery rides (nice and easy, low HR, work on form, smoothness of pedal strokes, relaxation) or passive (completely off from exercise) recovery days should follow the day after.

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Posted by Mici n KC

Someone please explain this to me. When I do cardio on the machines that check your heartrate, my HR is always above what is listed as ideal for my age. How does this affect me losing weight or burning fat? Is going higher less effective or is it fine? I feel perfectly fine when I'm working out.

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I feel fortunate to have a gym that actually calibrates their machines quarterly. Heart Rate monitors are almost always OFF.

I try to keep my heart rate elevated for at least 30 minutes per cardio to ensure a proper workout.

The faster your heart beats the more blood you pump and its better for you, ultimately vascularly.
I saw someone posted AHA guidelines............