That appears to be incorrect for most people: How Does your Max Heart Rate Increase - Cycling-Inform
Thanks for sharing. I’ve read that max HR varies by activity as well so I’m curious if you running had any impact on your cycling max. Being able to hold your old max for 10 minutes is pretty mind blowing.
Yea this seems to be the most common and likely answer. My old max lied to me!
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Going on 34 myself so I will cherish these minor increases before the slow decline begins!
Thats a pretty stark increase in the max you are able to hold in only 6 months! Kudos.
Those saying you hit your maxHR on ‘the’ ramp test are mistaking maxHR with the highest HR they have seen, there is a significant difference. There is no way you are going to hit your maximum HR during the TR ramp test. A VO2Max test and sprint like hell out of the saddle just before you go pop at the end might get you there. IMO an outdoor sprint, after going really hard leading into the sprint and a sprint using your legs, core, arms is going to get you a few beats higher than on the trainer and a better chance to see your true bike HR max.
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You’re probably right: although during final push my legs refusing to go and I can’t suck enough air, stopping times are usually some nice round numbers (ending with x0 seconds) i.e. it is actually mind that gives up.
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2 - 3 bpm decrease in the last 5 years for me, around 184 - 185.
Used to be somewhere around 187 - 188, this would typically be after a long steady increase in pace and an all out sprint, normal up a hill to the point of tunnel vision, and nearly passing out. Not been all-out in the last year, I don’t think it is generally wise to near pass out on the bike. lol.
Rowing over a decade ago I was younger, but also using more muscle mass in rowing, so I would regularly see HRs in the 190s
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Great points. It was on an outdoor ride and uphill sprint that I hit this new “true” HR max.
My old max was on outside ride up a short steep hill, I’m one of the few people who are able to perform better on a trainer.
I think being locked in on ERG and following a plan with workouts you should complete means I force myself to finish them. Don’t want to be worse than average eh.
My observered HR max for running/cycling is 194
I looked at my data and I’ve managed to hold my “old HRmax” for 7 mins in the last month, whereas when running I can do this for much longer in the dataset there is 12 minutes. I think my HR max for running is probably closer to 200, I’m just not pushing myself as hard.
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Interesting points as well. I saw my highest HR ever while riding my MTB on a steep climb, trying to keep up with a group. Then on my last ramp ramp test I was 2-3 bpm higher. I use this ‘max’ HR now as a gauge on the ramp test to see if I truly emptied the tank. VO2max intervals in TR workouts, I can get up into the mid 170’s, I’m 48 yr, by the way.
What’s the difference? Are you saying that you are supposed to shut down the ramp test before actually getting to max HR/VO2?
No, I am saying that a seated ramp test with short intervals won’t get you to HRmax. You might / will see a high number but I am willing to beat using more muscle mass (outdoor sprinting using arms and upper body) and sprinting for your life will give you a ‘true’ higher number. Your legs can only do so much work and tax your heart so much.
I’ve had my VO2max tested a few times, and was never allowed to stand at the end. I still hit the same max HR as when racing outdoors.
Then again, I’d been racing bikes a few years before I was ever tested in a lab, so my legs weren’t really the limiting factor.
Fair enough, being able to go very deep is part of it.
I just checked a few peoples data to make sure I wasn’t totally wrong. It showed using WKO5 that a ramp test resulted in finishing the test with a calculated (not measured) VO2max of 105 - 107% and a HR of 95% of max. Basically VO2Max is reached but HRmax wasn’t. I therefore stand by my previous comments, although I am willing to accept that there are exceptions.
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“Structured aging” 
Nice!
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I thought WKO estimated VO2 demand, not actual VO2 uptake?
In any case, if people quit when their HR was only 95% of max, they gave up early.
I started structured interval training at a kid and have been paying attention to my HR for a long time. The max HR I remember from back in the day was 210. Fast forward 45 years and my current max is now in the high 160’s. I’m still in decent shape but age related decline in max HR is definitely real.
On the resting rate side, my resting heart rate in my late teens/early 20’s was 36. It would get down into the 40’s when rested until i hit about 50 years old but now Its in the low to mid 50’s. IMHO the max decline is age related, the resting increase is part age and part just not being as fit as I was when younger.
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It was always accepted that 1 bpm per year of aging is about right. Mine has been tracking that, though I am finding it harder to get max as I get older.
I’m 63 in a couple of weeks with resting yesterday at 44 and max this year of 181. Two years ago it was 183, and a couple of years before that it was at 186.
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I’m probably at a slight disadvantage to most TR users and possibly cyclists in general as I smoked for 19 years. Thankfully those years are behind me but the damage will be with me for life.