How do you find your max heart rate?

You need to have a good level of fitness & form to be able to achieve your max heart rate - an untrained individual will probably either injure themselves or their legs (or other respective muscles doing the work) will give out before they achieve it

Assuming the above, some kind of a pyramid HIIT type workout and you have to be going absolutely *all* out at a very very high intensity (hence why one has to be actually quite well trained to even get close...!)

That rule is complete, utter cobblers. My max HR is 217 (chest measured and watch wasn't far off) and I'm ~30. I don't believe max HR has any bearing whatsoever on fitness etc (but yes for sure it's needed for zones etc)

Couple of ways to find "zones" and Running Zones and cycling zones are gen different.

If zone based on "max", warm up well, find a hill, go up hard then near the top sprint like hell!
Recover and do a couple of times
Should get you your max.

Most zones are based off FTP/ (latic) threshold data.
Running, warm up, then do 30 min as fast as you can, then look at last 20min and acg for that 20min is you running
threshold HR and base your zones of that.

Cycling, ftp test, Ramp or 20min, zwift etc will have them.

There are "lots" of type of Zones to work/train from 3 to 7 zones so choose one and gen stick to it.

More info links below

https://www.trainingpeaks.com/learn/articles/joe-friel-s-quick-guide-to-setting-zones/

https://help.trainingpeaks.com/hc/en-us/articles/360017420092-Zones-Calculator-Overview

Yeah, as above. Ignore that 'rule' as it's not correct for 98% of people. My max HR is 195 and I'm 41 - I hit that quite recently on a ramp test!

I think the only way is to push yourself. I'm in my mid forties and the highest heart rate I've got to in the last year is 190 BPM. I overdid it on that ride, felt really dodgy after hitting 190 and had to back off, didn't feel at all right after. I've set my Garmin to alarm when I hit 185 BPM, don't want to go through that again....

There are a bunch of formulae, eg.

220-Age

207 - 0.7 x Age

211 - 0.64 x Age

I think that the 220 one is for relatively untrained people and gives me a number that is a little too low.  I find the 211 one is usually closer for me as I've been riding a long time even though I'm not spectacularly fit.   I think the MTB-Rob way of setting zones is a bit safer than trying to find your max by pushing yourself.

Looking back mty max HR has declined from 220m to roughly 200 at the age of 59 as recorded in Garmin connect or Strava, I've forgotten which. Just as everyone else has said just go for a ride and really hammer up a hill that takes 15-30 minutes - I use thy legburner at Nant yr Arian. When I look it was shocking how many records of over 200 bpm I have so don't use 220 - your age as that is CB (complete B-------). I've done hard efforts when my vision has blurred due to the pulsing of blood vessels at the back of my eye! And there os the issue that if you have never really gone for it you seriously do not know how hard you can push it

I did this obout 12 years ago: Running not biking, 20 minutes warm up at comfortable/medium pace then flat out, everything you've got sprint for 30 seconds, 2 minutes recovery, repeat twice. It helps if you have a timer that makes a noise or someone with a stopwatch. And yes, blurred vision, wobbly legs and really struggling to get enough breath after. I don't feel any need to repeat it now,

I don't think you need to know your absolute max HR. Knowing the max average HR you can hold for 20 mins of leg-burn threshold, horrible redline-bumping turbo trainer effort or a 20MP power test (30 mins effort) seems more useful for bike training.

And yes, blurred vision, wobbly legs and really struggling to get enough breath after. I don’t feel any need to repeat it now,

I remember doing a hill rep max HR test in my late 20s and it felt horrible afterwards, I wouldn't want to go to that level in my late 40s without good reason. I'm fit enough not to worry too much that I'd keel over but I'm not sure it's a good thing to go that hard unless you've built up to it over a decent training period.

Warm up, most people say it’s impossible to hit your max hr within 20 mins of starting exercise. But also you can’t just go hammer and tongs at a climb, you need to ease into it so the heart adapts to the pace before you get nerfed by the lactate burden.
Find a long 5% drag.
Keep a comfortable cadence (90 rpm or whatever) in an easy ish gear.
Ride for 2 mins, change gear, keep the same cadence. Repeat until you’re out of the saddle, your lungs are bursting and your legs turn to jelly. If you can’t do any more, you’ve probably hit your max HR. You’ll collapse in a heap for a few mins if you’ve done it right.

Max HR is sport-specific; you may find you get different results cycling vs running, for example.

One I used for running. Warm up properly, arrive at the bottom of a largish hill, circa 2 to 3 mins long, not too steep. Run up as hard as you can.. jog/walk down. Repeat 2 more times. The intensity should be enough that on number 3 you can't do it, and fall to the ground in a heap... a few seconds after that you'll max--

Fitness has an impact and it's not unusual for max to rise as you get fitter, and able to push more

Not being anywhere near overtraining levels of exercise fatigue in recent days and possibly even weeks, will help your heart to reach more beats per minute.

Zwift Insider Tiny Races are brutal enough to potentially induce a decent ballpark max heart rate.

Thanks for the info and responses.

It’s mainly for running I want to workout my heart rate zones for. To make my training more efficient. I also like nerding-out on the data.

I may try the hill reps to see how high I can go hr wise.

Mine does not follow much of the standard rules, I just know that when it gets over 160 I feel pretty uncomfortable. But my resting can go as low as 35. I have to recalibrate my myzone belt to cater for this.

Some mechanics when you mention torque mention doing it up until it strips and backing it off half a turn. Don't do that.

35?! Are you hibernating or something?

Sleeping usually. I used to think it was because I was so fit when younger but doctor says it may be too low.

Different sports definitely give me different max heart rates.
Swimming i have hit over 200, running it is normally about 170, and biking 180. Go hard in all of them to achieve that but swimming def hits harder

Wow. My RHR regularly drops to 44 and that seems low. 35 is scary!

Max, I still see 182 and I'm 65 this year, so that 220-age thing really is complete bollox.

How do you measure it swimming, as I swim most lunchtimes but my Garmin doesn't measure heart rate when swimming? I also reckon that's when I max out - apart from the mountain I went up today.

Wow. My RHR regularly drops to 44 and that seems low. 35 is scary

37 for March, 38 for April; so Google Fit tells me.

RHR of mid-low 40's is about right for me, when I'm at my fittest - I could get under 40 when awake if I tried. When sleeping its down to mid-high 30's.

It's genetic though, my mother is in her late 60's and her RHR was about 50 last time we checked.

Sleeping usually.

i don’t think that counts as resting heart rate. Mine was in the 20s when I had a 24 hr test in my mid thirties. Pauses of up to 2.5 seconds. My actual resting is more like 50.

I’ve only just started using my hrm chest strap but looking back at most of my hard efforts on Strava and at my hr from my watch, i hardly ever go over 178.

Do people spend much time in zone 5?

My garmin often complains of anaerobic shortage.

Ride up Hardknott

Do people spend much time in zone 5?

Nope - doubt it’s zone 5 if you can spend long in it.

My max HR is relatively low I think. Cycling struggle to get it over 170, can hit 180 running quick intervals. Quite low resting HR though. How to find out your max? Smash your tits off, basically.

@dander I thought I did smash my tits off today but nowhere near my max. Whatever that is.

I can achieve different max heart rates based on activity, with running higher than cycling. So bear that in mind if you do a test.

For running, I find running 4km at just over my best 5K pace will get my heart rate close to its limit. I pause for 1 minute, then resume at the same speed but with a 5% gradient for the last km. The test finishes when I fall off the treadmill.

It's got slightly easier since I had Covid last year because my max heart rate is now only 162 bpm.

I thought I did smash my tits off today but nowhere near my max. Whatever that is.

in that case 154 average is likely to be close to your current threshold for running - max sustainable for ~20 mins. That's the level you need to find for cycling, ideally done on a turbo trainer for ease (ha) of constant effort.

Max and resting HRs are things that seem to have very little if any relation to fitness or working effectively in training. Smashing it to find your max won't give you as accurate a figure to work at as finding that accurate figure (threshold) in the first place. Threshold can vary as you get fitter so it's a useful level to know. I'm no sports scientist though, just stuff I've found out wading through some of this.

https://www.heartzones.com/zone-4-the-threshold/ - I find varying versions or descriptions of zones can get a bit confusing but this seems to cover it. 2 zones I find useful to know for training/fitness are Z2, the talk test level that you can ride for hours at in winter (at or just below T1 in that article); and the threshold which is Z4/5 borderline, 20MP or T2, hard but manageable to stick at for 5 mins usually, grim if not impossible for me to hold for 20 mins unless a few weeks into a regular turbo plan. They mention 20-40 mins but personally I'd have to drop the intensity to keep going for 40 mins, don't have that kind of high revs fitness.

Even with a max figured out, I'm not convinced zones are very applicable. My max is 185 (age 40), on a recent sportif I averaged 166bpm (zone 4) over ~4 hours. Other riders of a similar pace and fitness were averaging under 140. Obviously to train we'd need to be doing different things

Even with a max figured out, I’m not convinced zones are very applicable. My max is 185 (age 40), on a recent sportif I averaged 166bpm (zone 4) over ~4 hours. Other riders of a similar pace and fitness were averaging under 140. Obviously to train we’d need to be doing different things

You'd all have different HR (or power) levels for your zones / thresholds I guess - at some point we all move between different metabolic systems so it's just a case of knowing where they are for an individual? Seems that's where the trad '% of max' zones become less helpful but threshold type zone is important.

https://intervals.icu/ (donate-ware, using for free will allow last 3 months history from Strava iirc) will notify you when it thinks your Lactate Threshold Heart Rate has increased, based on 98% of a 20min effort iirc.

It won't automatically adjust your LTHR for future activities, you need to do that yourself in settings, if you think the value is reasonable taking account of things you have done/taken. 😉

It also gives FTP estimates (eFTP) based on short duration power efforts, by default it uses 5mins iirc, but in settings you can change the minimum duration to something else in seconds. Lower evuluation periods risk overestimating your FTP, especially if you have a strong anaerobic ability. I usually used something in the 5-10mins range in the past, because most of the hills between Bishops Waltham and Liphook used to take me that long full gas before long covid.

Really useful site, I use it instead of Strava Premium these days.

I've been using intervals.icu for a wee while, feeding it from Garmin Connect. If you're not fully "into" those sort of fitness metrics then it's another subscription service of questionable value at the annual level, but I guess there's nothing to stop you paying according to your own perceived value every few months.

My main use of it is the Fitness chart as I think it gives a good longer term view.