Being able to hold your max heart rate for longer and longer sessions is what’s key. In reality, it’s not your max heart rate that determines your fitness level. Regular training and good nutrition will affect performance more than the fact that your max heart rate is now slightly lower than it was three years ago. It’s good to remember that everyone’s max heart rate does drop as they age-but again, that doesn’t mean you’re losing fitness. “If your max is 200, and someone else’s is 190, it doesn’t mean one of you is the better athlete.” In fact, Golich has worked with numerous talented athletes at both ends of the spectrum. No matter which way you calculate it, your max heart rate is not an indication of performance, Golich says. That said, The American College of Sports Medicine suggests age-based formulas with a lower standard deviation, for example, the Gelish equation: 207 minus (0.7 x age) or Tanaka: 208 minus (0.7 x age). Max heart rate is largely untrainable and determined by genetics-some of us have hearts tuned like humming birds’ while others have the slow-and-steady type.Īlthough not perfectly accurate, age-based formulas give athletes an easy and accessible way to find a rough baseline of their max without undergoing rigorous (or sometimes dangerous, in the case of a sedentary person) testing. The old-school formulas assume that it is the same, but Golich says it’s much more nuanced than that. Max Heart Rate Myth #2: It’s the Same for Everyone Your Age High Cardio Fitness Lowers Risk of Heart Disease. Here, we debunk some of the most common so you can get to know your heart, so you train efficiently. Like the 220-minus-age rule, there are a lot of other myths surrounding max heart rate. “It’s been the standard for years, but there are a lot of variables that can throw off your max heart rate.” She adds that how fit you are, how hot it is, and how much stress you’re under can all affect your max heart rate at any given time. However, it’s still a rudimentary system-like, “might as well use an abacus as a bike computer” rudimentary, says Cherie Miner, M.D., a sports medicine specialist in Birmingham, Alabama. Over the years, researchers have found other, slightly more accurate max heart rate calculations, like the Tanaka equation: 208 minus (0.7 x age). This simply formula is meant to estimate max heart rate and from that number, you could, in theory, calculate light, moderate, and hard efforts or zones like recovery, endurance, and lactate threshold. And that max heart rate number often comes from the commonly used equation of 220 minus your age. Max heart rate has long been a key stat for cyclists to have at the ready, helping to inform your training and intensity efforts.
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