An algorithm establishing a defined ergometric cardiovascular load

A computer-aided procedure is presented to regulate the workload on an ergometric bicycle to an individually fixed level of heart rate as the criterion, applying an integral controller algorithm. The workload is incremented in a few variable steps asymptotically to the target heart rate. A free parameter of the algorithm has been fixed empirically. In the empirical evaluation of the quality of this procedure, a strictly linear relationship of individual Watt increment and rise in heart rate was found in 27 subjects, with a median correlation of 0.95. The procedure is recommended for specific ergometric workload regulation in which an upper limit of rise in heart rate should not be surpassed, e.g. in cardiac rehabilitation. The procedure can also be generalized to comparable regulation tasks, e.g. in the management of blood pressure to avoid an hypertensive crisis.