Predicted Maximum Heart Rate (HRmax-p)
The HRmax-p definition is carried out simultaneously with the Polar Fitness Test.
The HRmax-p score predicts your individual maximum heart rate value more accurately than the age-based formula (220-age). The age-based method provides a rough estimation and may not be very accurate, especially for people who have been fit for many years or for older people. The most accurate way of determining your individual maximum heart rate is to have it clinically measured (in maximal treadmill or bicycle stress test) by a cardiologist or an exercise physiologist.
Your maximum heart rate changes to some extent in relation to your fitness. Regular endurance exercise tends to decrease HRmax. There may also be some variation according to the sport you participate in. For example, running HRmax > cycling HRmax > swimming HRmax.
HRmax-p gives the possibility of defining training intensities as percentages of maximum heart rate and of following maximum heart rate changes due to training, without an exhaustive maximal stress test. HRmax-p is based on resting heart rate, heart rate variability at rest, age, gender, height, body weight and maximal oxygen uptake, VO2max (measured or predicted). The most accurate HRmax-p is obtained by entering your clinically measured VO2max into the wrist receiver.
