Cycle Training Program

This article is about heart rate training cycling. You will learn what it is, and how to do it effectively. Heart rate training cycling is a type of training where you use a heart rate monitor (HRM) to measure effort. There is no need to get any fancy equipment that costs thousands of dollars; a simple HRM for around $40-$50 will suffice.

Before you start heart rate training cycling, there are three measurements which you need: resting, lactate threshold, and maximum heart rates. RHR, LT and MHR respectively.

You can go to some labs or training centres and pay to have these measured accurately, however, if you aren’t a professional, you will not need this type of accuracy. Below I will describe how get each of the above measurements. The more accurate the measurements, the more effective your heart rate training cycling will be.

The most accurate way of measuring your resting HR is to measure it first thing in the morning, as soon as you wake up, and before you get out of bed. The best time is on a weekend where you can wake up naturally, since you will be in an extremely relaxed state. Simply have a clock or watch which you can see, and count the number of beats in 60 seconds. This is your RHR.

Your lactate threshold is the most awkward measurement to take for heart rate training cycling, since it improves as you get fitter. You can do this test either on a turbo trainer or on the road, it is much easier on a turbo trainer.

Warm up with 15-20 minutes of easy spinning and stretches, and then go as hard as you can for 30 minutes. Your average HR over the last 20 minutes will be close to your LT. You will need to reset your HRM before the last 20 minutes in order to calculate the average; this is why I highly recommend you do it on an indoor trainer.

MHR is the simplest, but hardest measurement to take in order to do heart rate training cycling. It is simple since it is just the fastest rate your heart beats, but it is the hardest since you will have to go all-out, in order to get this measured accurately. Before measuring your MHR, you should see your doctor first, I don’t want to get sued if you die or something happens as a result of you reading this article!

You can do this on the turbo or on the road uphill, it isn’t too important which one you choose. Warm up as described above, and then go all out on the turbo, or up hill, as hard as you can for 60-90 seconds, have 30 seconds recovery, by either spinning gently on the turbo, or coasting down hill. After your 30 seconds recovery, go all out again as described above. Repeat this until you feel like you can go any longer or harder, count the number of beats in 1 minute; that is your maximum heart rate.

Those are the essential things you must do before start heart rate training cycling, keep a watch on my lens (link below), I will update it when I write my next article which will go more in-depth.

My lens on road bike training — I will update this as I write more articles, bookmark it! I also have a hub on road bike training.