Best way to find HR zones

I’m super impressed how this corner of the internet seems to be polite, respectful and knowledgable. I know HR zones are very person specific (not 220-age) but how is the best way to find yours? I’m looking into LT testing but can I just take my max heart rate from a FTP test and use that? Thanks in advance!

Depending on the ftp test it may not give a good estimate. However it should tell you a rough range. I know mine is about 160 on the bike and 165 running but some of the people i follow on strava are like around 180-185. The events i do are usually 2 hours plus so i am not pushing my limits enough to really find out my max hr but it appears to be close to the 185 that would put my fthr where the are.

Best way is the 30 minute time trial, take average hr for last 20 minutes. Fthr hr measured.

This is the test for LTHR that British Cycling use, and my preferred method for LTHR although I use power 95%+ of the time these days.

My max HR is 10-15 bpm higher than what I hit during an FTP test. I actually found my max during a Zwift race. I knew my resting HR after months of measuring heart rate and blood pressure in the morning. With those two values I used the “Karvonen modified” calculation from this page to get my zones. They seem quite accurate for me, and match up well with an earlier indoor TT I’ve done. Joe Friel also recommends the 30 minute TT method to find FTHR, but I just can’t be bothered doing one :smile:

2 Likes

Meh, I just do the ramp test. What was mt highest heart rate? Ok, got it.

Then later I go lay on the couch feet up with my heart rate monitor on. I use the Wahoo Fitness app and measure my Resting Rate.

I then enter those 2 values in to my ELEMNT app and hit Auto Calculate.

Since I got a power meter though, I basically don’t care about my heart rate anymore. That is to say I just look at it to see if it’s dropping once I’ve finished a pull on the group rides and once it hits a “zone” that I unscientificly figured out on experience, then I know I’m good for another good pull.