Fitness

[sisson]

Have ridden a bike for years but also did other things for a good workout like run, swim, etc. Need to save the joints now so have really turned again to biking. Does anyone know how many miles or how long one needs to ride to get a really good cardio workout? I live in an area with fairly steep rolling hills so when using my polar heart pacer found it really accomplished an interval-like workout. I usually ride about an hour pretty fast without killing myself going up hills. Thanks

[AutumnBreez]

I think that as long as you stay in your target range for at least 30min. you are at a good start, which ever way you get in that target range really does not matter, but hills will help other aspects as long as your not grinding your knees. Keeping at a higher cadence is best.

Heart rate advice and calculator:
http://www.nutrawize.com/heartmonitor.htm

Hope this helps- AutumnBreez

[Grog]

I find hills to be a good "natural" intervals training, too.

However, what is a good workout depends on you. I rode 50 km with a friend who's quite untrained yesterday at a very slow pace yesterday and when I told her I was going to do some real-training today, she said "What? I thought THIS was quite a training!! What do you call a training session?" The answer is: an hour an a half with warmup and a few periods of intervals, with some racing against myself on the Grand Prix course (perfect pavement).

[doc]

That old "subtract your age from 220..." is not correct. It is based on no research at all and is really just lore at this point. If you want to truly know your maximum heart rate and aerobic zones, get VO2 testing done. That is expensive and most don't want to do it. It has been shown through research that if you can talk, you are still aerobic, and if you can't, you're anaerobic. So you should do intervals where you are breathless, and then back off to a level where you are working hard, but can speak (aerobic zone). Also, many polar watches will do a cheap and dirty VO2 test. 30-60 minutes of aerobic workout regardless of the type is all you need for basic fitness.
Remember to have fun!