Low Heart Rate & Exercise

Gizziemoto

I am on high blood pressure meds and not allowed to get my heart rate over 140 as per doctors instructions. Am I getting any cardio benefit with keeping it low? I zumba and it only gets to 130. My resting rate average is 62.

Just wondering if anyone else has this issue.

__Di__

I am on high blood pressure meds and not allowed to get my heart rate over 140 as per doctors instructions. Am I getting any cardio benefit with keeping it low? I zumba and it only gets to 130. My resting rate average is 62.

Just wondering if anyone else has this issue.

I have the opposite problem in that my blood pressure is on the low side and my heart rate is on the speedy side during running outdoors. Resting HR for me is 65.

You are keeping fit and your HR is below what your doctor recommended, I would say you are doing just fine!

scottb81

Yes, you will get a benefit. Most people here are recommending a much higher exercise heart rate than is necessary for aerobic fitness.

mreeves261

I have no heart/blood pressure issues and a RHR of 62. I would say yes you are still getting a benefit from exercising at a lower HR. It's still exercising your heart which is the point of cardio. Who knows, it might even help you come off the meds and regulate your BP.

Gizziemoto

Thank you. Was beginning to feel like I was wasting my time.

I was informed that I will never be off the medication because I have chronic migraines too and this medication, inderal, is used to treat them too. Will just have to keep an eye on BP and heart rate so they do not get too low.

rassha01

I had the same issue and still lost weight with cardio. After getting my blood pressure in check I was able to stop taking the beta blockers and all is good! I was getting migraines once or 2x a week and after some lifestyle changes I have only had 1 in the last year, knock on wood.

__Di__

I have no heart/blood pressure issues and a RHR of 62. I would say yes you are still getting a benefit from exercising at a lower HR. It's still exercising your heart which is the point of cardio. Who knows, it might even help you come off the meds and regulate your BP.

Actually that is a good point, because doesn't exercise help in lowering BP?

scottb81

You only need to be above 60% max heartrate to get aerobic training benefits. If you don't know your max heartrate use MHR = 206.9 - (0.67 x age) as a reasonable approximation and multiply that by .6. That will be your lower limit. I expect it will be well below 140.

Gizziemoto

I had the same issue and still lost weight with cardio. After getting my blood pressure in check I was able to stop taking the beta blockers and all is good! I was getting migraines once or 2x a week and after some lifestyle changes I have only had 1 in the last year, knock on wood.

Congrats on getting yours under control. Mine appeared a year before the high blood pressure. It was a constant one every day and then would get severe for a few days then back to a 2-3 on scale of 1-10. Tried other things to get rid of the migraines first. Then the blood pressure went up and that is when they decided on the maintenance meds. Started at 20mg and three years later at 50mg. BP has been good, the headaches not so that was when I found out I will never be off them.

Yes, exercise does help lower BP and that is why I have to monitor mine monthly. The weight is hard to lose but I keep trying and praying.

Gizziemoto

You only need to be above 60% max heartrate to get aerobic training benefits. If you don't know your max heartrate use MHR = 206.9 - (0.67 x age) as a reasonable approximation and multiply that by .6. That will be your lower limit. I expect it will be well below 140.

You are correct. It came out to 106.05.

scottb81

You only need to be above 60% max heartrate to get aerobic training benefits. If you don't know your max heartrate use MHR = 206.9 - (0.67 x age) as a reasonable approximation and multiply that by .6. That will be your lower limit. I expect it will be well below 140.

You are correct. It came out to 106.05.

I am only several years older than you and do nearly all my running at a HR well below 140 and run marathons. If you keep your HR between 130 and 140 you will develop extremely high aerobic fitness over time.

mreeves261

I had the same issue and still lost weight with cardio. After getting my blood pressure in check I was able to stop taking the beta blockers and all is good! I was getting migraines once or 2x a week and after some lifestyle changes I have only had 1 in the last year, knock on wood.

Congrats on getting yours under control. Mine appeared a year before the high blood pressure. It was a constant one every day and then would get severe for a few days then back to a 2-3 on scale of 1-10. Tried other things to get rid of the migraines first. Then the blood pressure went up and that is when they decided on the maintenance meds. Started at 20mg and three years later at 50mg. BP has been good, the headaches not so that was when I found out I will never be off them.

Yes, exercise does help lower BP and that is why I have to monitor mine monthly. The weight is hard to lose but I keep trying and praying.

Weight loss is made in the kitchen. Depending on who you talk to losing weight is 80% what you eat and 20% exercise. I've seen 90/10 and 70/30 but either way, weight loss is more about what/how much you eat and less about exercise.

Azdak

You only need to be above 60% max heartrate to get aerobic training benefits. If you don't know your max heartrate use MHR = 206.9 - (0.67 x age) as a reasonable approximation and multiply that by .6. That will be your lower limit. I expect it will be well below 140.

Except that OP mentioned she was on Inderal which is a beta blocker--and an "old school" one at that. So all HR formulas are no longer valid.

scottb81

You only need to be above 60% max heartrate to get aerobic training benefits. If you don't know your max heartrate use MHR = 206.9 - (0.67 x age) as a reasonable approximation and multiply that by .6. That will be your lower limit. I expect it will be well below 140.

Except that OP mentioned she was on Inderal which is a beta blocker--and an "old school" one at that. So all HR formulas are no longer valid.

I didn't know that. Still, if the Dr. said not to exceed 140 isn't that still plenty high (with the meds) to develop the aerobic system well? Our ages are similar and although I am not on meds I rarely exceed 140 except on specific speed days or in races.

I am only looking to learn something here..

jzammetti

My resting heart rate is 45. It makes the doctor nervous for some reason, but I insist it is just because i am fit. lol

I have no Blood pressure issues (other than it also being low) but your heart rate, OP, sounds great for cardio training. WHen i started running it was almost impossible to keep mine at 140 - it was more like 180 so I had to slow myself down and get stronger first. I basically walked really fast for the first three months and it was good cardio training (I thought it wouldn't be) because now my heart rate rebounds really fast and doesn't go quite so high when I run.

Gizziemoto

You only need to be above 60% max heartrate to get aerobic training benefits. If you don't know your max heartrate use MHR = 206.9 - (0.67 x age) as a reasonable approximation and multiply that by .6. That will be your lower limit. I expect it will be well below 140.

Except that OP mentioned she was on Inderal which is a beta blocker--and an "old school" one at that. So all HR formulas are no longer valid.

I didn't know that. Still, if the Dr. said not to exceed 140 isn't that still plenty high (with the meds) to develop the aerobic system well? Our ages are similar and although I am not on meds I rarely exceed 140 except on specific speed days or in races.

I am only looking to learn something here..

Bumping to see if anyone else is able to answer or give ideas.

Azdak

You only need to be above 60% max heartrate to get aerobic training benefits. If you don't know your max heartrate use MHR = 206.9 - (0.67 x age) as a reasonable approximation and multiply that by .6. That will be your lower limit. I expect it will be well below 140.

Except that OP mentioned she was on Inderal which is a beta blocker--and an "old school" one at that. So all HR formulas are no longer valid.

I didn't know that. Still, if the Dr. said not to exceed 140 isn't that still plenty high (with the meds) to develop the aerobic system well? Our ages are similar and although I am not on meds I rarely exceed 140 except on specific speed days or in races.

I am only looking to learn something here..

That whole statement was confusing. In my experience, it is unlikely that one's heart rate would exceed 140 when taking inderal, even on a max stress test. Then again, my experience has been with older people and it sounded like the OP was taking inderal for migraines--maybe with the dosage and her age, the blunting effect is not as great.

In any case, if overall heart rate response is blunted by medication, then lack of normal increase in heart rate will not affect the ability to achieve a training effect. The person just has a new "scale" of heart rate values.

A 70% effort will still be a 70% effort. It's just that now that effort will only result in a heart rate of, say, 110, whereas before it elicited a heart rate of 140. The aerobic system is still being worked to the same degree--it's just that now it is occurring at a lower heart rate. The only tissue that is being worked LESS is the myocardial tissue, due to the decrease rate/pressure product. But that's the whole point taking the beta blocker in the first place--to reduce the metabolic demands on myocardial tissue.

Gizziemoto

I know we have emailed about this but will clarify for anyone else who reads this. It started out as chronic migraines (pain every day of varying pain levels, no medication issued tried to just get by). After a year of doing nothing my blood pressure went up and after 6 months the doctor decided to start me on the beta blocker for both migraines and high blood pressure.

I am labeled as an extremely sensitive system both in medication reaction and the way my body behaves. I react very quickly and severely to medications. My heart rate sitting was 58, I walked across the exam room and it was 87 and my BP had jumped up to 144/93. I am 45 years old and take 50mg per day. The recommend dosage for an adult with both issues is 80-120mg per day. 80mg per day end up with me being raced to the doctor. Pale, dizzy, unable to walk. I was getting over dosed. Dropped me down to 30 and just last year managed to get to 50mg.

When I used to do Zumba, I gave it all and would get my heart rate over 140 which caused me to get chest pains. I stopped and had my annual coming up so discontinued until I saw doctor. That is where I was informed that my heart rate should never get that high and I was in danger of hurting myself.

Now if my rate is getting near 130, I slow myself down until I stay in the 120's or lower.

Also learned that the key is endurance. Long walks at a steady pace are good for you too.