Fitness level - exercise cycle

Associate
Joined
2 Dec 2005
Posts
1,614
Well I have spent the last 5 years or so spending a lot of my time in front of the computer and so I though the time had come to try to increase my fitness. I decided to buy a exercise cycle, although have no idea what my results mean. So any information would be helpfull.

Basically I did a short 2km cycle. At rest my heart was between 65-75 beats per min. And after around 0.5km was still around the 65-70 mark. Then increased to around 105 max for the rest of the 2k. Then the fitness test at the end said I was F4 , no idea what that means but for the 1 min that it ran my heart didnt drop below 90 bpm.

So let my sister have ago. Her heart went up to 182 max and in the 1 min recovery test droped to 140 bpm. Although this said her fitness was F2.

So basically higher the F number the better or is lower better?
 
Sounds like you need to read the instruction manual. I'm rather surprised that your maxHR only went up to 105... unless you're 115 years old :p
 
Been right through the manual and it didnt say, i guess an online search is needed. And yes im suprised it didnt go up more , im only 20.
 
Not sure if you were doing this but if you pedal too fast then the cycle will go into free spin, meaning you're not actually doing very much.
 
Seems to me like your sister got things right. You probably did the fitness test incorrectly OR you are some genetic freak of nature (which is possible).

My money would be on your heart rate being read incorrectly or you just didnt push hard enough or you were knackered before you took the fitness test.

Were you seriously out of breath when doing the test?
 
as said something aint right there some where.
I get on my turbo trainer and my heart sits around 100bpm before i do anything(aint nerves wonderfull), but i generally tend to work in the 132-157bpm for my interval training.
 
Seems to me like your sister got things right. You probably did the fitness test incorrectly OR you are some genetic freak of nature (which is possible).

My money would be on your heart rate being read incorrectly or you just didnt push hard enough or you were knackered before you took the fitness test.

Were you seriously out of breath when doing the test?

No not seriously out of breath, just abit out of breath and not knackered before i started. Did some slightly longer rides of around 10km and still my heart reads at staying round the hundred mark for most of the time. Not sure if it is reading it incorrectly or not as im doing exactly the same as my sister. Pretty weird tbh and carnt say too much more as i know medical stuff is against the rules on here if im correct.
 
Hmm. My resting heart rate is 55bpm, but my gental jogging heart rate (so I can still hold a normal conversation with no breathlessness) is around 140bpm.

I'd get your heart rate tested independently just to amke sure there is nothing wrong with your exercise bike.
 
How are you measuring your heart rate?

Via the exercise bike which has pads built into the handle, where by you put your hands over the pads when cycling and so gives a reading of your heart rate. Not sure how accurate this is but i wouldnt imagine it would be miles off.
 
My thinking is that perhaps the heart rate measurement reading is incorrect.

Do you have access to a heart rate monitor at all? If not, you can actually take your heart rate reading the old fashioned way (while riding the bike, check your pulse, time yourself for 10 secs, while counting the beats then multiply by 6).

It is possible (though unlikely) that you are freak of nature and have a super low heart rate, though your resting heart rate would not suggest this.

As a guide, when I woke in the morning and was at the peak of my cycling powers, my lowest measured heart rate was about 36bpm. When I pushed myself as hard as I could, I could hit and maintain (for a few seconds at a time) a heart rate of around 192bpm. This was at the age of around 25 (considering that as you age, your maximum heart rate falls).
 
Back
Top Bottom