I'm noticing that Polar is now promoting a three heart rate zone system.
Welcome to the party Polar!
I subbed this morning and saw the sign on the right displayed. At first I didn't give it any notice, but then I did a double take; they're showing the five zones grouped into three… very interesting.
When I got back to my office I did an image search to see what else I could find. I haven't paid much attention to Polar, so some of this could have been occurring and I'm only seeing it now.
Exercise zones are ranges between the lower and upper heart rate limits expressed as beats per minute (bpm) or as percentages of your maximum heart rate (HRmax). HRmax is the highest number of heartbeats per minute during maximum physical exertion.
Heart Rate Target Zones
Exercise can be divided into three different: intensity zones. Each of these intensity levels corresponds to various health and fitness improving mechanisms in your body.
Here's what I found.
ACE promotes a Two Threshold & Three Zone System. Polar's personal training area clearly reflects this in the chart above.
Ignoring the fact that all of this is based on the antiquated Max Heart Rate – instead of a being based on aerobic or anaerobic thresholds – I see this as very good news for any of us trying to cut through the confusion and complexity caused by branded 5 or more zone systems. Instead we promote the simple and effective 3 Heart Rate Zone system anchored by both aerobic or anaerobic thresholds.
It's great to have Polar aboard – except they have a long way to go… please forgive my rant here 🙁
It defies explanation, how a company as large as Polar, can be so utterly clueless. Make sure you've completely swallowed whatever you're drinking before reading their page about; Determining Maximum Heart Rate.
Your heart rate has an upper limit, or maximum rate, called HRmax. HRmax is not a good predictor of fitness level or performance (it's mostly genetic), but it is used to quantify levels of intensity (as a % of HRmax). If HRmax isn't good for anything, why are you using it? It's like saying; this scale is wildly inaccurate… so go ahead and weigh yourself with it and we'll base your weight loss program on it.
You can determine maximum heart rate a number of ways:
1. Have your HRmax measured in a laboratory during a stress test. In a laboratory? OK sure, I have one down the street.
2. Do a maximal effort and record the highest heart rate (not recommended for untrained individuals). This will give you a fairly accurate maximum heart rate, but is difficult to do properly. Remember that HRmax depends on the activity, so establish HRmax in the sports you do most often. Huh? What's your definition of the word “fairly”? So if I'm “untrained” what do you suggest I do?
3. HR max-p score predicts your individual maximum heart rate. This feature is included in several Polar computer models. I get it – marketing types wrote this nonsense.
4. Estimate your maximum heart rate based on the formula 220 – age. This will give you a rough estimate, but is not nearly as accurate as the other methods described above. That's it? Those are your only choices?
For most individuals, maximum heart rate declines with age and values are usually between 170-200 bpm. This has been disproven years ago – why do they continue to say it?
We've been proponents of the Two Thresholds /Three Heart Rate Zone system for years here at ICI/PRO. We're not alone. ACE ( the American Council for Exercise) recommends this system as the most appropriate for the typical participant we see in class.
This week's favorite track (Hey Ya by Outkast) can be used as a seated flat road or a climb. It's around 80 beats per minute, so depending on how much gear you're riding with, you can really take it either way. I especially like songs like this to do what I call ‘gear play'. With ‘gear play', we ride at the same RPM's the entire time, but we add and take off gear through the song. This song is around 4 minutes, so I would ask my riders to find a flat road gear at 80 rpm's for 30 seconds, then add gear so they feel like they are on a hill for 40 seconds. Repeat this sequence 4 times, keeping a smooth pedal stroke. I'm posting two versions of the song, one radio/club mix and the other instrumental:
I have a confession to make: Unlike John, I am terrible at using OPM (other people's music) or other people's playlists. See his post here. It just doesn't ever seem to feel right to me and I can't make it my own.
Enter Spotify…I have become a ‘creeper' as my kids call it. Every time I see certain people have been ‘listening' to something on Spotify I perk right up and research it. More often than not, I find some great treasures for my playlists.
The #1 person I ‘creep' on didn't let me down this week! (He would probably die if he knew I love what he listens to).
Rudimental's ‘Right Here” at 82 rpm at 5:37 is a very nice Tabata training tune and flat road all at the same time. I used this yesterday for 10 driving Tabata intervals. It's such a nice change from the normal “cheezie” Tabata music, which always seems to be 60-68 rpm's. And, the steel drums at the intro definitely help set the mood!
Premium Members can download this mix for free by following the links below:
[wlm_private ‘PRO-Platinum|PRO-Monthly|PRO-Gratis|PRO-Seasonal|Platinum-trial|Monthly-trial|PRO-Military|30-Days-of-PRO|90 Day PRO|Stages-Instructor|Schwinn-Instructor|Instructor-Bonus|28 Day Challenge']
Right Click on the blue underlined link
Select “Download Linked File As”
Select a download location
Once file is completely downloaded, find it in the location you selected
Drag the file into your iTunes or Spotify library OR
Right Click on the file and Select “Open With”
From the drop down menu select “iTunes” or “Spotify”
File should begin playing and is now part of your iTunes or Spotify library
To download the above media on a PC:
Right Click on the blue underlined link
Select “Save Link As”
Select a download location
Once file is completely downloaded, find it in the location you selected
Drag the file into your iTunes or Spotify library OR
Right Click on the file and Select “Open With”
From the drop down menu select “iTunes” or “Spotify”
File should begin playing and is now part of your iTunes or Spotify library Click here to watch a video on how to download media files from ICI/Pro.
I'm probably older than most of the ICI/PRO members – and there isn't much I can do about that.
When I was in High School there were two bands / rock stars that I couldn't get enough of; David Bowie and Jethro Tull. I had the privilege of seeing Tull in concert twice, but never Bowie. Actually, as it turned out, I would have been disappointed by Bowie's change of style as I lost him beyond the The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
Jethro remained consistent in their music and as such, gathered many fans into the 80's – so why not serve those fans in your class a track to bring them back to their High School or College days?
Jethro Tull‘s anthem was Aqualung – an awesome track that communicates a powerful climb at 62 RPM, with a nice easy section in the middle @ 2:14 (and one near the end) before the cadence accelerates to 92 RPM where you hammer and really let the “dogs out” and all the old fogies in your class can relive their early days. They'll know that they'll get a break at 4:35 as the song transitions. It's at this point where you have everyone TURN IT UP for the big finish. All hell breaks loose and you let your riders go where they need to go until the end 🙂 Be sure you know the end so you can cue it with all it's awesomeness!
My article about teaching a Cycle Sculpt class, that included using weights on the cycle, brought out a lot of strong comments on my Facebook. Understandably many of the commentators expressed concerns about safety:
I think the rub for me John is safety. Weights on a bike is an accident waiting to happen. I don't think it is responsible for me to put anyone in my club in a position where I can't keep them safe.
… but I do it safely & never use weights on the bike.
Strength train OR spin. Never both together. Lifting weights on a spinner is unsafe.
All perfectly valid concerns based on each person's perspective of what's safe and what is not safe, in an Indoor Cycling class.
We all don't have the same perspective of safety.
There's a couple in their middle 50's who've taken mine and Amy's classes for years – I will call them Doug and Linda.
Doug enjoys riding outdoors and he often joins us on group rides. He's a reasonably strong rider, with good cycling skills and I enjoy riding with him.
Although she has the fitness, Linda refuses to ride on the road – “too dangerous” she'd tell you. She'll ride in the neighborhoods and sometimes venture out on one of the many biking trails we have here. But that's it. No riding on the road for her.
So who's right here? Doug? or Linda?
A valid argument can easily be made by both. Doug may site thousands of incident free miles – does that make him right? Or if he crashed on his way down of the driveway tomorrow, would that have Linda correctly telling him “I told you cycling is dangerous”?
Is the perception of safety based on the potential of injury?
Crashing a bicycle hurts… a lot. Trust me when I say; I know exactly what it feels like to roll across the pavement at 20 miles per hour, wearing nothing but a helmet, a nylon jersey and Lycra bike shorts. There's a very real potential for serious injury every time I go on a ride. I have had friends hit (and yes unfortunately even killed) by cars/trucks and other cyclists while riding on the road.
Having intimate knowledge of the potential for getting hurt, I still head out on my road bike without a second thought. It's even worse for Amy on our tandem. She has absolutely zero control from her place as Stoker. She has to sit behind me and trust completely that I'll bring us to the finish safely. Amy has seen first hand what can happen riding with a fast group – when things go terribly wrong and next she's dialing 911 – 3 times to date. She's also the first person to ask; “are we riding tomorrow”? Oh, and Amy likes it when insists that we're leading the fastest group on the road, during any charity ride we're on.
Linda's position would be that Amy and I should stay home and take up gardening – or some other safe activity. Our response would be; while we recognise the possibility that we could get hurt, we still choose to ride outdoors. Basically we accept the potential risk and believe in our own abilities as cyclists to participate safely, in an activity that others would view as too dangerous.
But the comments weren't about your safety John, their concerns were for the safety of the participants in the class.
I've been a sort of evangelist for cycling outdoors, for years. I talk frequently in my classes about how enjoyable it is to get out and ride. I show videos of beautiful cycling destinations in almost every class. I've lead group rides consistently since the late 90s. Dozens of cyclists have been personally mentored by me, as they learned to ride properly in a group. Amy's no different. Give her the chance and she'll tell you endless stories about how much she enjoys riding our tandem with our cycling group.
Based on her perception that outdoor cycling as unsafe, couldn't Linda easily say that Amy and I (and maybe you) are promoting an unsafe activity?
As you can guess, my answer would be a firm NO!
I don't share Linda's perspective that cycling is inherently unsafe for myself, Amy or others who I encourage to take up the sport. Why? Because I have years of direct experience that cycling on the road can be safe, if done safely. Is there crazy, stupid stuff that you can do to make cycling unsafe? Of course there is – I choose not to do them, instruct those who I ride with not to do it and am the first (or second as Amy is pretty quick to voice concerns) to reprimand someone who's behavior is endangering themselves or others.
