Is your FTP ceiling linked to your heart rate

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MrCurrieinahurry
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by MrCurrieinahurry

Hey guys my heart rate is naturally quite high. Max is 205bpm and at threshold for an hour 181bpm.
Most of the guys and girls I see with massive ftps seem to have much lower HR values... So are they linked? Ie will my FTP always be a weak point for me?

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eucalyptus
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by eucalyptus

Lower heart rate just means the people on WW are old :mrgreen: :twinkle:

Which explains why everyone can afford S-works SL7 with Darimo and THM components
Last edited by eucalyptus on Tue Oct 25, 2022 11:48 am, edited 1 time in total.

MrRolandos
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by MrRolandos

Age is a thing ye same for the fatique you have build up. HR is much higher if you just had a rest week for example. My max HR is 194bpm and my TH HR is 180bpm.
Some people just have a natural low HR, I see guys my age (28) with HR's in de 140-150's. Wouldn't worry about it too much tbh.

TobinHatesYou
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by TobinHatesYou

No. Not at all. Heart rate by itself doesn’t tell you how much blood volume is being moved. Some people have larger hearts. Some people have smaller hearts. Some people have extremely powerful valve contractions resulting in large stroke volume. Some people don’t.

Furthermore the amount of blood circulation tells you nothing about red blood cell count / hematocrit / oxygenation levels. Untrained VO2max is a better predictor of potential endurance performance, and even that is nothing in isolation.

Elite athletes’ bodies aren’t in the top percentile for one performance predictor…they’re in the top percentile for many combined.

I am in my early 40s, my HRmax is maaaybe 174bpm. My LTHR is 161bpm. I sustain 4w/kg at 125-130bpm, which is technically my Z1 HR according to Friel. My RHR is in the low 30s. It not infrequently hits 30bpm overnight and if I hold my breath I can get it down to 27bpm. Despite this my FTP is only ~295W.

David12345
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by David12345

I imagine it's just because those people are older and have therefore been training for a longer time. In general I've found that road cycling tends to skew older, I'm 26 and I'm having a really hard time finding people my age to ride with, every time I go to a race or group rides it's a bunch of 40+ guys.

TobinHatesYou
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by TobinHatesYou

David12345 wrote:
Tue Oct 25, 2022 12:23 pm
I imagine it's just because those people are older and have therefore been training for a longer time. In general I've found that road cycling tends to skew older, I'm 26 and I'm having a really hard time finding people my age to ride with, every time I go to a race or group rides it's a bunch of 40+ guys.

I know 40+ year olds with max HRs approaching 200bpm who are much faster than me. HR is not a good predictor of anything. It’s not even a good predictor of your own performance if environmental conditions change, if you are overtrained, or if you are just suffering from overexcitement/anxiety/etc.

Lina
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by Lina

MrCurrieinahurry wrote:
Tue Oct 25, 2022 9:38 am
Hey guys my heart rate is naturally quite high. Max is 205bpm and at threshold for an hour 181bpm.
Most of the guys and girls I see with massive ftps seem to have much lower HR values... So are they linked? Ie will my FTP always be a weak point for me?

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I'm ~5 bpm under you and sitting at 5 W/kg. HR doesn't mean anything.

TobinHatesYou
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by TobinHatesYou

Lina wrote:
Tue Oct 25, 2022 5:27 pm

I'm ~5 bpm under you and sitting at 5 W/kg. HR doesn't mean anything.

161bpm at 5w/kg. I guess that means I can do >6w/kg at 181bpm right? Lol.

CarlosFerreiro
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by CarlosFerreiro

207 MHR at 52 yo. 300w-ish FTP which would be 4w/kg maximum, and a bit lower these days.
My poor low volume heart must be tiny and just about vibrating rather than beating ;-)

Andrew69
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by Andrew69

TobinHatesYou wrote:
Tue Oct 25, 2022 8:58 pm
Lina wrote:
Tue Oct 25, 2022 5:27 pm

I'm ~5 bpm under you and sitting at 5 W/kg. HR doesn't mean anything.

161bpm at 5w/kg. I guess that means I can do >6w/kg at 181bpm right? Lol.
I can do 14w/kg at 125 bpm....but its only for 5 seconds :mrgreen:

iamraymond
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by iamraymond

I had similar concerns with my HR thinking that it was much higher than my riding buddies who were the same age, fitness level and doing the same effort as me. I'm turning 37 this year, my max HR is 195 and RHR is around 64. For a 1hr SST (around 225w) I'll be around 181bpm where my partner would be at 164bpm.

I even tried a different HR strap, but the numbers are still the same.

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