Heartrate Efficiency Worksheet

By Chris Kostman

Note: I present a three-hour interactive workshop based on this system.
Click here for the info or here for the accompanying article.

Maximum Heartrate

The heart is a muscle, and, like all other muscles, it has its point of maximum work output. This is your maximum heartrate (MHR), literally the fastest rate at which your heart can pump blood to the rest of the body. This is, at any given point in life, a fixed, specific number, depending on how one tests for it. (Tests done while running will usually obtain a higher number, while cycling tests will be slightly lower and swimming tests lower still. This is primarily a function of how much weight is being borne during the exercise.)

For today's purposes, we will derive and consider your MHR in three different manners. The primary reason for this exercise is to bring your attention to the gross inaccuracy of the common rules of thumb regarding heartrate. Once you see how inaccurate these rules of thumb are, and then extrapolate that inaccuracy across the range of potential heartrate training zones, you'll see how simple it is to be very far removed from your true target heartrate goals if you rely on the common rules of thumb. This makes clear the importance of knowing your true MHR in order to make any meaningful calculations relative to it.

Now as for those three different manners of deriving your MHR: First, we'll use the rule of thumb method, which works only reasonably well for the general population, but less well for trained athletes, especially those who have been committed athletes for many years. This is your theoretical MHR, derived by subtracting your age from 220 if you're male or 226 if you're female.

The second MHR we'll consider is your perceived MHR. For today's purposes, this will be the highest heartrate you've ever observed your heart attain, with two adjustments. One, subtract one beat for each year since you attained that heartrate (if it was three years ago, subtract three beats). Two, consider the context under which you attained that MHR, and then adjust that MHR using the following scale:

• If you were about to "drop dead," were "seeing stars," were "about to puke" (or did puke) or otherwise reached total physical collapse at the moment you reached that heartrate, there is NO necessary adjustment.
• If you were almost totally blown out, but were able to keep active at the exercise, add FIVE beats.
• If you felt strong and could have done more work, add TEN beats.

Finally, on some other occasion you can undergo a "Stress Test" or "VO2 Max Test" in a laboratory to find out your real maximum heartrate. Once that is done, you can compare this real MHR to the other two maximum heartrates you've considered. However, once you know your real maximum heartrate as a result of taking that test, then that is the figure with which you should do your training efficiency calculations

Calculating Your Maximum Heartrate

Theoretical MHR

 
Perceived MHR

 
Real MHR

Resting Heartrate

Your resting heartrate (RHR) is the reverse of your maximum heartrate. It is the lowest rate your heart can attain, usually while asleep, a few hours before waking. The easiest way to obtain your RHR is to check your heartrate upon waking, while stile prone. (Do this on a day when you will awaken well-rested and without using an alarm clock.)

Heartrate Reserve

Your heartrate reserve (HRR) is what you have to play with, the total "range of motion" for which your heart is currently capable. It is the result of subtracting your resting heartrate from your maximum heartrate.

Calculating your heartrate reserve (MHR - RHR = HRR)

Heartrate Zones

Now that you've obtained your MHR, RHR, and HRR, you can begin to construct a framework under which to consider your overall heartrate situation. As such, it is useful to consider your heartrate in terms of it being a percentage of your MHR. So, let's fill in a chart of various percentages of MHR, again using the three different MHR's you've obtained. Notice how widely these numbers vary, column to column, due to the relative accuracy or inaccuracy of how your MHR was derived.

Calculating your heartrate performance zones

A simple way of looking at these zones is to consider them a yardstick for how hard you are working. If you're a serious aerobic athlete, I might say:

Heartrate Efficiency Training

Where does your heartrate actually come from? For starters, it is not a random number which your heartrate just feels like running at. Instead, it is a precise result of the "Total Demands" being placed upon your heart At Any Given Moment. The fitter you are, the more quickly your heart will respond to the Total Demands. Eventually, your heart will be in the moment, responding instantaneously to the Total Demands. What are those demands? There are seven, and your heartrate at any given moment is a result of their sum total effect (Total Demand) upon your heart. (See the article, "The Seven Pillars of Athletic Performance" for details.)

• Overall level of fitness, fatigue, and state of being. This is just what is at any given moment, not changeable in the immediate sense, thus is not a useful factor during any given workout or competition. We will thus not consider it for the purposes of this exercise.

In no particular order, the six parameters which actively produce your heartrate at any given moment are the following:

• Breath (how much oxygen does your bloodstream contain?)
• Posture (are you wasting energy and creating energy blockages?)
• Intensity (what are you working "against?")
• Effort (how much are you really putting out?)
• Hydration (how thin is your blood?)
• Nutrition (what energy are you transporting in your blood, anyway?)

So, because no workshop is complete without at least one equation:

Current Heartrate = B + P + I + E + H + N

The value in considering heartrate in this manner is that ALL SIX of these parameters are within your control at any given moment, thus your heartrate is within your control at any given moment! By working with any one, any combination, or all of these parameters, you take control of your physical experience. In so doing, you become more fully aware of yourself, your body's finer workings, how you respond to your environment, and how your body's metabolic systems work and respond to the demand you place upon them.

Over time, by using this system, you begin to narrow down the range of heartrate in which you can achieve any particular workout. For example, try running an identical 10K running course in consistent conditions every Saturday for six weeks. Start already warmed up and then just go run it. Using this system, you'll discover all of the little, subtle nuances which influence your heartrate, and thus the overall taxation on your body. When you first begin using this system, you'll find that your heartrate will range widely during the run, perhaps a total variation of 50 beats (110-160 bpm, for example). Over time, though, you'll be able to narrow that range down to 5 beats or less during the run (121-125 bpm, for example). In so doing, you will have developed a sense of metabolic, cardiovascular, and kinesthetic awareness that is extremely rare, useful, and powerful. Welcome to the world of heartrate efficiency training!

Now step back and consider the application of this system to any and all sporting activities you can consider, from cycling to running to skiing to martial arts to weight training, and so on. By considering our equation:

Current Heartrate = B + P + I + E + H + N

at any give moment in the context of any specific sporting activity, you will find how breath, posture, intensity, effort, hydration, and nutrition play crucial, pivotal roles in determining the overall taxation placed upon you/your body during that activity. You're now on your way to becoming a "multisport savant," regardless of your previous background in any particular sport!

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