Heart rate training

[didge]

I was tossing up buying a heart rate monitor to focus on improving my running and cycling when I came across this:

[Disadvantages of a HRM]...The lack of scientific support - there is no evidence training with a HRM improve competitive performance.

From here.

Is there any truth to this?

[Ant.]

Missing the other half of the sentence? "if also training with power."

[Alex Simmons/RST]

Well I don't know that there is scientific evidence that using any device improves competitive performance. It is training that improves our performance.

HRMs and power meters are simply devices to aid us in this quest. Hammers don't punch nails on their own. They need a skilled operator to be effective.

In training, the most important element is the intensity at which you are riding. And a HRM can at least provide some guidance on that front. It isn't perfect by any measure as HR is influenced by many things other than how hard we a riding. Provided you understand its limitations*, the use of HR as a guide to training intensity is a sufficient aid to make good improvements in performance, provided you do the right sort of training of course.

Power is a far more precise and direct indicator of intensity. In that sense (used well), power meters are superior for a range of reasons.

Rate of Perceived Exertion is also a measure of intensity (e.g. if it feels hard, it is hard). Some riders have well tuned "RPE meters", whereas other really don't have a good sense of it and so a HRM or PM can really assist guide their training.


* e.g. a HRM doesn't measure fitness, whereas a power meter does.

[didge]

That confirms what I kinda suspected. Thank you for the reply Alex.

[Ant.]

There is plenty of evidence to suggest a RST training plan will improve your performance though