Customer Reviews

The Heart Rate Monitor Book for Cyclists: A Heart Zones Training Program

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a book one just wants to hate. The two authors waste pages writing praise for one another. They give their workout recipes (over 60) cutesy-poo names like "Saturday Night Fever" and "Snookie". Much of the book amounts to promotional messages for the programs by Heart Zones, of which one of the authors just happens to be CEO. Most disturbing, perhaps, the authors do not appear to have any medical or scientific credentials to backup their position as authorities.

Nevertheless, as a beginner, I found the book quite useful. If you can read past all the junk, the authors have some very simple, down-to-earth approaches to exercise and training with a heart monitor. And they appear to have adequate scientific backup. They define heart rate zones somewhat differently from most other writers, but their approach is easier to follow from a practical point-of-view. Their detailed workout recipes are easy to understand. (There is a neat graphical representation.) Even if you never do a single one of their workouts, you will get a lot of useful ideas for your own. Their formula for estimating maximum heart rate was far more accurate for me than the traditional one (220-age) which others recommend. Their Delta (Orthostatic) Heart Rate test provides an easy check for overtraining, an issue which had concerned me.

The book definitely was worth the price and more-or-less worth the time.

Several people who work for Sally Edwards wrote glowing reviews of theis book. I think their are some ethical issues in reviewing a book written by your employer or business partner.
Check HEARTZONE.COM for the people who work for Sally.

this book has so many tables of information, and it's laid out so scientifically, it's impressive. but when you start looking at the information you find so many contradictions that you lose sight of the truth, you just don't know to which table to believe. it's as if someone filled in tables with arbitrary numbers an information.
for example, i was looking at calories burn rate in different heart rate zones. this is discussed in at least 3 different places in the
book, and in each place it gives different numbers. this, in my opinion, makes the book bogus, makes it lose all credibility, and sheds a doubt on anything else in the book.

for example, if we look at the tables that shows the % of carbs out of the total calories burned in the different hr zones
we see information in pages 16-19 and on another table on page 110. see if think the columns are the same:

%carbs according to
-------------------
zone pg 16-19 pg. 110
---- --------- --------
5 ...... 90 ...... 85-90
4 .... 80-90 .... 80-90 ... * this is the only consistent entry
3 ...... 55 ...... 50-85
2 ...... 15 ...... 25-50 ... ** completely inconsistent
1 ...... 10 ...... 10-25

the point is, that even if the author removes one of these tables in a later publication, i do not trust them anymore
to provide the right information.
i would not feel confident that they removed the 'wrong' table. i would think they just removed one of them arbitrarily

i'm sorry i bought this book. don't make the same mistake

This book is laid out very well and also written in an easy to read format. Tons of information and everything is explained without technical jargon. This book will definately help with your cycling training goals. For instance, who new that there are 5 different heart rate zones, each having it's own benefits and physiological differences? A very good and highly recommended read.

As a recreational Mountain Biker, i found this book motivating. However, it's not a "training guide" for cyclists. Everyone that has never trained should consider buying this book, since it explains the principles involved in heart zone training. You will also find very interesting indoor workouts in the book. It's not the book for the intermediate cyclist.