One of the first things you need to do to begin training is determine your training zones. This handy calculator is the perfect place to start. But first, a very special thanks to Uphill Athlete, Simon, for creating this very cool heart rate calculator tool.
Uphill Athlete Training Zones
Top Relevant Links
- Our Mountaineering Training Page
- Aerobic Deficiency Syndrome (ADS)
- Aerobic Self-Assessment for Mountain Athletes
- The Heart Rate Drift Test: A Functional Measure of Fitness
- When and How to Add High-Intensity Training: The 10 Percent Test
- Making the Most of Your Uphill Athlete Training Plan
Note that we after many decades of training and coaching mountain athletes using heart rate zones as a guide we have settled on this very simple 4-zone system.
Defining the Heart Rate Zones
By anchoring this system to two important metabolic markers (AeT and AnT/LT), this simple 4-zone system does a good job of personalizing intensities to your unique metabolic response.
Zone 1
Heart Rate: AeT-20% to AeT-10%
Perceived Effort: Very easy to easy
Training Effect/Purpose: Aerobic conditioning
Metabolism: Aerobic-fat
Muscle Fiber Recruitment: ST
Training Method: Continuous 30 min to several hoursZone 2
Heart Rate: AeT-10% to AeT
Perceived Effort: Moderate for those with high AeT, easy for those with low AeT
Training Effect/Purpose: Aerobic capacity, economy
Metabolism: Aerobic-fat dominates, maximum fat utilization
Muscle Fiber Recruitment: Most ST
Training Method: Continuous 30–90 minZone 3
Heart Rate: AeT to Lactate Threshold
Perceived Effort: Medium, fun-hard not exhausting
Training Effect/Purpose: Aerobic capacity, anaerobic capacity, lactate shuttle, economy
Metabolism: Glycolytic/anaerobic begins to dominate
Muscle Fiber Recruitment: All ST + some FT
Training Method: Interval 10–20 min, continuous to 60 minZone 4
Heart Rate: Lactate Threshold to LT to maxHR
Perceived Effort: Hard, max sustainable
Training Effect/Purpose: Maximal aerobic power, strength/speed endurance, economy, technique
Metabolism: Both aerobic and anaerobic capacities maxed out
Muscle Fiber Recruitment: All ST + most FT
Training Method: Interval 30 sec–8 min