Customer Reviews

The Heart Rate Monitor Book for Outdoor or Indoor Cyclists (Heart Zone Training Program Series)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I am a 33 yr old beginning recreational cyclist. I live in the Northeast and train indoors and outdoors. I use the cycle for fitness and weight maintenance.

I thought a heart rate monitor may help me to understand my training and bought one. After I learned to press all the buttons, I needed to understand the information.

I searched all over the place for a comprehensive book on the subject of cycling training and heart rate monitors. Sally Edward's book fit the bill; she describes how to use a heart rate monitor to achieve your specified cycling fitness goals. It is easy to comprehend and implement. I am thoroughly satisifed with this book and recommend it with 5 stars.

The only reason it lost a star is that the multitude of exercise regimes are haphazardly scattered throughout the book which I feel breaks up the flow of the text. I think the next edition should combine the exercises into a one neat chapter for ease of reference.

Great stuff - buy it, you won't regret it.

As heart rate monitors become more sophisticated in function, but less complicated (and less costly) for the user, the need for sport-specific expertise is needed. Sally Edwards and Sally Reed address this need in two fundamental ways, but miss it in a third. First, the authors do a superb job of defining terms and explaining the basics of heart rate training. Second, the indoor and outdoor workouts offer most cyclists variety designed to achieve goals, whether those are in terms of fitness or performance. So far, so good. Unfortunately, the sample CD-ROM did little for me. There was no associated manual or accessable on-line explanation. The spreadsheet format seemed more compatable to downloadable monitors, rather than manual entry. I finally gave up. Too much data, too little information. However, this was an extra (free) feature that should not detract from the overall quality of the book.

I have been working in the health and fitness field for almost 20 years. I have trained, educated and rode with many novice and competitive cyclist. All of these folks had ideas about training programs which in their minds was frequency and duration. How often and how long, but no one really seem to understand intensity: How hard. Which is really crucial for getting results and for anyone wanting to reach their goal, beginner or advanced rider. I am thrilled to reccomend this book to people who want to really understand how to monitor intensity and why a heart rate monitor is essential for doing that. The book also provides info on setting up your bike, skill and technique as well as suggested workouts for those who out there on their own. More often than not, people don't always have access to riding buddies let alone professiotional training advice. This book gives you ideas for creating your training program and motivation for staying on on your plan. There are also plenty of graphics and photos which make it a very comprehensive guide to success. "Goals are dreams with a deadline" this book will get you to your dreams...

If you are serious about reading and following this program, buy yourself a heart monitor for the cyclist with features for cadence, altitutde and Watt output (HAC4 from ciclosport was most price efficient for me with all the features) learn how to use it then read this book.

In this excellent publication she explains the 5 heart training zones and what each zone does for the heart. She stresses training a certain amount of time or percentage of the work out in each zone.

I have kept a diary as the author has highly recommended to every athelete and this has helped me plan my work out accordingly and effectively raising my preformance substantially.

Since I cycle to work every second day, I read the chapters about outdoor training first.Afterwards I read the chapters on indoor cylcing, which encourage me to go to spinning classes from time to time to alter my training routine. I found riding on a stationairy bicycle so booooring until I was in a spinning group.

You must be disciplined; It worked for me and I am sure it will work for you.

Finally! A great resource for cyclists. The Heart Rate Monitor Book for Indoor and Outdoor Cylists: A Heart Zone Training Program gives a comprehensive break down of how training with a heart monitor can be accomplished for cylists and those training in various programs of indoor cycling. With either of these activities it is so easy to overtrain - or never really see any fitness benefits over time. This book breaks down in 10 easy steps, the heart zones that are SPECIFIC to you to train in. AND the book provides the assessments and complete protocols for adminitstering the self tests to help you arrive at your specific and individual heart zones! PLUS - the workouts are descriptive both visually and written - letting you know how long you train in each heart zone. One thing that I like about the book is that any fitness level person can pick it up and begin using it. Whether you are a beginner or seasoned athlete -the book is clear with the material and is easy to follow. The Log book that is sold separately has also been useful to me - it is written to follow the principles of Heart Zone Training - so finally I have a log book that fits my training - no more shifting from one log book to another! For anyone who teaches indoor cycling - this is a must buy. It will help you to understand (especially if you are not a outdoor cyclist), how to train your students who are in winter training and give those outdoor cyclists who haven't yet discovered the benefits of "Spinning", to come give it a try. I have used all of these workouts in my Spinning classes and have even written some of my own (thanks to the motivation and guidance of the book!) My students love knowing what zones they are training in and if their training needs to be different they can manipulate their intensity accordingly. Simply put: This book helps you develop a PLAN that you can WORK.

There is definitely some useful information in this book. Since I haven't read any other books on training with an HR, I can't compare, but on it's own merits I would say this book is pretty mediocre. As others have mentioned, it is poorly edited and poorly arranged. Info on the various zones is very good. However there seems to be a whole lot less about how/when to use the various zones, other than very basic "weight management" vs. "fitness". One last gripe is that nearly all of the outdoor workouts require "flat to slight rolling" terrain. Well, if you live someplace that has a lot of hills, forget getting any useful info on how to train in that environment from this book.

The authors have done a great job of outlining the benefits of heart rate training, and specifically Heart Zone training. I've reaped more from my monitor since getting this book, than all my previous training. I do have a problem with the book editing. Workout lengths in the diagrams don't always match the text description, the workouts are scattered throughout the book, the workout chart in Appendix A is missing page numbers, etc. However, the content overcomes all of these flaws and the book will become a thumbworn addition to your fitness library.

Great for beginning or advanced cyclists who wish to introduce the advantages of training with a heart rate monitor. This book is premised on the world-reknowned Heart Zone Training methodology of Sally Edwards. These highly motivational authors provide guidance and instruction on all aspects of heart-rate cycling. A testament to these authors' extensive experience in training and coaching is their sensitivity to all types of readers - this book is friendly to people of all levels of fitness and training knowledge. The incredible variety of workouts keeps training exciting day after day. In addition, there are fascinating charts and graphs, like the calorie consumption chart that relates each training zone to the proportion of carbohydrates, fat, and protein in each calorie that is burned. For example, most people don't realize that the highest percentage of fat per calorie burned occurs in the easiest training zone. Wow! This book shows you how to train smart and have fun.

Everyone knows the best way to get fit is to use your heart. It makes sense to work out using a tool that can measure and improve fitness by "reading" this important organ. This book, which is well-written and organized, is especially good for someone who's tentative about getting on a bike or who wants to enjoy cycling while getting the maximum return for output. Simple steps, clear explanations, diagrams paired with workouts for all levels: the authors offer a flexible system for enhancing cycling workouts emphasizing health, fun and self esteem. Can you tell I liked it? Makes a great gift for reluctant couch potatoes who really want exercise but need a little help with a fresh start.

never again...will I train the same. This book has changed my cycling workouts. I picked up a copy a month ago and my rides are becoming incredible. I thought I was training for high performance before because I was using a heart rate monitor- but I realized I needed a reference guide so I could train smarter. I noticed this book was co-authored. I suspect this is one reason why it is appealing to both the high performance athlete and the beginning heart rate monitor user...input from various sources. Wonderful book all around! (it comes with a cd rom too- I've never seen a training book with a cd rom!)