Cardio Intensity / Zone
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Today’s cardio workout was a random 30 minute program on my Bowflex Spin Bike. My question is around intensity. While I FEEL like this workout was Moderate-high intensity that had hills and valleys, but it was definitely moderate to high intensity. I see the heart rate chart on the app and it definitely LOOKS like high intensity. 51% of the time was in my “red zone – Zone 5” and 32% in zone 4. My Zone 5 heart rate (according to my Garmin watch) has anything over 148bpm as zone 5; zone 4 is 133-148 bpm. I guess I have 2 questions. 1). By looking at these numbers, would you consider this workout “high intensity”? And my 2nd question is… How are workout intensity / Zones identified? I’m sure it’s all about age, weight, athletic condition, etc. Maybe I should look into updating my Zone settings? Thank you for your time.
Today’s cardio workout was a random 30 minute program on my Bowflex Spin Bike. My question is around intensity. While I FEEL like this workout was Moderate-high intensity that had hills and valleys, but it was definitely moderate to high intensity. I see the heart rate chart on the app and it definitely LOOKS like high intensity. 51% of the time was in my “red zone – Zone 5” and 32% in zone 4. My Zone 5 heart rate (according to my Garmin watch) has anything over 148bpm as zone 5; zone 4 is 133-148 bpm. I guess I have 2 questions. 1). By looking at these numbers, would you consider this workout “high intensity”? And my 2nd question is… How are workout intensity / Zones identified? I’m sure it’s all about age, weight, athletic condition, etc. Maybe I should look into updating my Zone settings? Thank you for your time.
Here’s a good way to view zones:
1- comfortable pace can do it for a long time (could have an entire conversation)
2- moderate but comfortable breathing (say a sentence, take a breath)
3-slightly difficult to breathe (couple of words and having to breath…hard to talk)
4-high and near maximal effort. for shorts bursts of intensity (don’t want to talk during this)
5-Very high unsustainable for long periods…more like sprints. (not talking lol)Your age, athletic ability does play a part. The above is more of like a talk test in a way….that way you can look down at your heart rate and relate it to how you feel as well. Does that help?
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