Heart Rate Testing

Can anyone point me in the direction of some good info on heart rates.
I have a reasonably low resting HR in the 40s.
I just don't seem to be able to get the rate over 150? on the bike even lower.
This seems too low?
Thoughts or suggestions greatly appreciated.

Phill it's not uncommon to have a low MHR, my old mate peterhorse who's around our age also has a low MHR as you do.From memory he's had it all checked out and there's nothing to worry about.
Personally I prefer the treadmill do a MHR test, once you get to the business end when the elevation is on 12% and your at 15km/h + for 3min there's no where to go, you have to keep pushing, bail out or get spat out the back.

Cheers

mgilla

Max HR rate is not relevant for training. Threshold HR is and is also more reliabel/repeatable. Joe Friel has an abundance of info on HR and it relationship to training. Check out his blog. The current vogue is power, but you can still go fast with HR training alone so get stuck in.

Books that reference HR training:

Going Long

Base Building for Cyclists (I really like this book)

High performance heart

The Maffetone method (The simplest method and so may have achieved great results with it)

Triathletes training bible.