Heart rate and training intensity

As this blog frequently talks about ‘high-intensity’, ‘moderate’ or ‘low-impact’ training, I would like to take this opportunity to explain what exactly is meant.

Training intensity can relate to two aspects:

  1. Intensity in terms of heart rate (HR): The higher the heart rate during training, the more intense it becomes. Let’s take a look at our Les Mills programmes:
    • Bodyattack is a high-intensity cardio workout in which the heart rate averages 80-90% of maximum HR over the 55 minutes and is even at or above maximum HR during the peaks. (As a reminder: Here you can see how the heart rate changes over the course of an Attack class – or almost anyway. 😉 )
    • Bodypump is located in zone 3 to 4: 70-90% of the maximum HR is reached depending on the height of the weight on the bar.
    • Core or Shapes, on the other hand, usually average 60-80% of maximum HR in heart rate zones 2 or 3, i.e. medium to moderate.
  2. Intensity in the sense of power or effectiveness of the training. Back to our Les Mills programmes:
    • Bodyattack is highly intensive in every respect and is definitely a 5 on a scale of 0 to 5.
    • The intensity of Bodypump is also on a level 5. The muscles are equally fatigued afterwards as with Attack, but our body (cardiopulmonary system, joints, tendons…) is significantly less stressed with Pump (if done with a correct technique).
    • Although the heart rate in Shapes remains in the moderate range, the programme is classified as level 4 in terms of intensity.

Ergo:

Heart rate zone and training intensity are only partially related.
Programmes in which the heart rate is very high are also always very intensive; conversely, however, workouts at a low heart rate are not necessarily of low intensity.

And how does this information help us in our training or in setting up our training plan?

First and foremost, training should be fun and you should feel good during and after it: You should feel exhausted (you should realise that you’ve done something), but not ‘destroyed’; you should still be able to move the next day. 😀 If you feel bad or don’t enjoy it, even the most sophisticated training plan is worth nothing, because sooner or later you will give it up.

When putting together a training plan and/or selecting courses and exercises, you can use three questions as a guide, whereby the heart rate can play a role in answering questions 2 and 3, particularly with regard to endurance training:

  1. Which kind of sports or exercises do I really enjoy?
  2. What is my training goal? Any health aspects should also be taken into account here. For example: Do I want to do something about my back pain? Do I want to lose weight? Do I want to build or define muscles? Do I want to prepare for a competition (of any kind)? Do I want to increase my endurance? …
  3. How do I feel with my programme/class/training plan? How do I feel during the training, the next morning and the day after?

There are plenty of tables on the five heart rate zones and the respective training benefits on the internet – and one more from now on 🙂 :

* There are several methods for determining the maximum heart rate, some of which are very complex. Both the resting heart rate and the maximum heart rate are specific to each individual and vary from person to person. For amateur athletes, however, the following formula is completely sufficient (for ~95% of people, their actual maximum heart rate is +/- 20 beats per minute to this formula):

220 minus age = maximum heart rate

… From this formula you can also see that with increasing age you should be more mindful of yourself and your heart rate during training. 😉

Picture: tammcd on Pixabay

0
Interested in our blog?
Then subscribe to our blog updates via the sidebar (in the mobile version via the + sign). If you also want to be able to comment on our posts, just register here.

Leave a Reply