How to Use a Heart Rate Monitor for Interval Training

by Dr. Alinda Perrine

Franz Stampfl, an Austrian born in 1913, is recognized as the first and premier coach of interval training as we know it today. A refugee from Hitler’s “Greater Germany,” Stampfl was deported to an internment camp in Canada. The ocean liner he traveled aboard was torpedoed, and he managed to survive the icy, oily waters of the North Atlantic. Stampfl credited these harsh experiences with a life lesson: the human body is capable of far more than we believe. He asserted that interval training builds mental toughness, and that properly trained athletes are capable of extending themselves beyond their own perceptions of their abilities.

Taking inspiration from Stampfl’s life and philosophy, this article will focus on interval work as timed periods of exercise at a heart rate that is challenging and demanding of your body.

Why are such intervals important for your training?
Simply stated, a workout interval is a period of hard exercise followed by a period of easy exercise or recovery. Intervals can improve your training because they:

• Create mental toughness
• Provide confidence
• Train speed
• Reset the central brain governor allowing greater skeletal muscle recruitments during maximum exercise (see Lore of Running by Timothy Noakes, MD)
• Enhance the muscular activity of Type II muscle fibers to make you faster

What do you need to know or do before you start incorporating intervals in your workout?

• Build a very large base of endurance in your specific sport. Depending on the fitness level, 8-12 weeks of training is often recommended before starting hard intervals.
• Don’t add the intervals until you are willing to work very hard. Intervals vary from 30 seconds to 5 minutes in duration. The amount of time for the interval is determined by your fitness level and the type of event you plan to perform.
• Allow sufficient time to recover before you perform the next interval.
• Each interval should be performed as well as or better than the previous interval.
• Time the work and recovery portions of each interval set.
• Execute intervals in sets. For example, if you are a first time interval user, implement two sets of intervals in your first interval workout. Perform this workout once per week for 3 weeks. At week 4, add another set.
• Initially, perform hard interval workouts once per week. As you get fitter, you can increase the amount of intervals in a workout or add intervals to other workouts. For hard interval work, keep your sessions to no more than 10-20% (maximum) of your total weekly workout time.
• The day after the interval day should be a light exercise day or total recovery.

Intervals are measured periods of time, which can and should also be measured using intensity. As a coach, I prefer using two intensity measurements: heart rate and power. Heart rate is the simplest because a heart rate monitor is affordable, easy to use, adaptable for many sports, and responds quickly to your work efforts. Power, although more accurate for the exact amount of work performed (wattage), requires more expensive equipment and is not readily available for multiple types of sport activities. Optimum data collection includes both heart rate and power, but collecting both sets of this data at the present time with the current technology, may be impractical for the masses. For the purposes of this article, heart rate measurement is the focus.

How do you use your heart rate monitor for interval workouts?
As a coach, I like to divide the workout into four parts or zones. Zone 1 is the Start Zone. Zone 2 is the “Setting Zone.” Zone 3 is the “Interval Zone.” Zone 4 is the “Cool Down Zone.” To better understand how to use your heart rate monitor (HRM), athlete Jane will accompany the description. Jane’s heart rate numbers (beats per minute) are her numbers. Do not try to replicate her numbers. You will observe your individual heart rate as you perform the exercise. You should use only those heart rate values that you obtain by performing the activity.

Zone 1, the Starting Zone, consists of approximately 20 minutes of warming up. Jane’s breathing becomes rhythmic, and her body becomes actively relaxed. After the first 10 to 15 minutes in Zone 1, Jane looks at her heart rate monitor and notes that her heart rate, measured in beats per minute (bpm), has increased to 145 bpm. She is consistently holding her heart rate within 5 beats per minute or a range of 140-150 bpm. Jane continues the warm-up for another 5 minutes and notes any increase in consistent heart rate response.

Zone 2 is the “Setting Zone.” Jane increases her work effort and her heart rate to a number that she can hold for 3-4 minutes. For Jane, the value is 165 bpm. Then Jane recovers to her lower Zone 1 value of 140 bpm or lower. Jane is ready to “set” her interval range. Jane is new to interval training so her intervals will be 1 minute in duration. Her heart rate goal is created by selecting a number slightly higher than the value she could hold for 3-4 minutes (in this case, a value higher than 165 bpm). Jane selects 170 bpm, termed the “interval bpm goal.”

Zone 3 is the “Interval Zone.” Jane will perform two sets of three intervals based on her work in Zone 2. Each interval is divided into a two components: a work component and a recovery component. The work component heart rate is the “interval bpm goal” value and the recovery component value will be a value selected from the Zone 1. For Jane, the Interval Zone will include a Work Component heart rate of 170 bpm and a Recovery Component heart rate of 145 bpm for an interval range is 170-145 bpm. Between the two sets of intervals, there is an intermission, a period to assure that the heart rate has recovered to at least 145 beats or lower. During intermission, you should move at a slower pace, but continue to keep the body warm. Your focus is to lower your heart rate.

The interval session below is 15 minutes in length.

Zone 4 is the “Cool Down Zone.” After completing Set #2, significantly decrease your heart rate, typically to values of 100 bpm or less. Use this time to mentally decompress from the hard work. Slow your activity and remember to stretch. The motto of Zone 4 is: How low can you go? Cool downs are important to both your physical and mental training. For Jane, her cool down heart rate was 99 bpm.

Let’s summarize the interval workout. The total workout is approximately 45 minutes in duration.

• Zone 1, the Starting Zone warms the body and provides the heart rate value used in the Recovery Component.
• Zone 2, the Setting Zone sets the “interval BPM goal” which is the heart rate number that will be used for the Work Component.
• Zone 3, the Interval Zone, is the work performed according to your interval heart rate range, the Work Component value and the Recovery Component value.
• Zone 4 is the Cool Down Zone promoting heart rate, physical, and mental recovery.

As you accept the invitation to train using intervals, you will make adjustments according to your physiology and training needs. If your training is ready for a challenge, try the intervals. If you are already performing intervals but need a protocol, use these guidelines. If you are incorporating intervals in your training, but have never used a heart rate monitor, get the heart rate monitor. You are in for a shock. If you aren’t ready for the big interval challenge yet, keep training and set a goal date to accept an invitation to intervals. Regardless of where you are in your training plan, use your heart rate monitor and gain insight on how you can train better.

Special note: Before starting any exercise program, consult your physician and make sure you are healthy and physically ready to exercise.

Click here to check out the NuMetrex line of heart rate monitoring fitness apparel.

© 2007 ZoneX™ Sensible Heart Rate Training

1. Great article. I work a lot with heart rate monitors in the education setting. Any advice for interval training with youth 10-11yrs. 12-14yrs. or 15-18yrs?

   Sharon Warren ~ Nov 10, 10:05 PM

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