HOW AND WHY: MONITORING HEART RATE IN CYCLING
By Sebastian Rebollo
Master in physical Activity
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Heart rate monitoring devices should be one of the most important things that we invest in. Lucky for all of us, there is a large variety of heart rate monitors available for any kind of budget.
Sometimes we start training at our own pace following a program we saw online or asking a friend for some tips. We’ll then do the same things and follow those instructions exactly without seeing any progress. One of the main reasons for this is because we don’t train at the correct heart rate for that particular activity. Training at the exact intensity zone is vital to achieve performance (you can see our article of intensity training zones for more information).
Monitoring our heart rate is very easy thing to do without buying any gadget. We can check our heart rate (HR) by pressing gently with the tips of our fingers at the carotid artery or at the radial artery.
The problem is that we cannot check our pulse using this method when we are on the bicycle as it is dangerous and we need to keep our total concentration on the road.
Heart rate monitors are the perfect solution for this. We can train or compete with them, check our HR with very high precision (depends on the quality of the devise) and record the data to analyze the information after training. In addition to this, some devices can track our velocity, distance, metabolic rate, etc. making our training more efficient and helping us to achieve our goals.
Here are some examples of devises that can help us.
Technology is here and its our duty to adapt and use it in our benefit.
Disclaimer: No training program can or will protect you from injury. All athletic sports carry with them an element of danger. In the case of a fall, collision or other accident, you may be injured or killed, regardless of the type of athletic training you may have participated in. A training program itself could even result in an injury in certain situations. The only way to certainly avoid being injured while training or participating in a sporting activity, is to not participate in any sports or training activity.