Higher HR when exercising
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The whole heart rate range for your age and gender is by no means an absolute. Females typically have a higher heart rate to begin with. I have a similar situation. My heart rate average on an easy run is in the mid 150s. Unless it's hot outside, I probably wouldn't break a sweat until sometime after 3 miles. In a race, my heart rate average is in the high 180s and will reach mid 190s.
I'm an avid runner, female, in my early 40s, and exercise 6 days a week. I've been doing so for over a year. Last summer I had a physical which included an EKG. It was abnormal, showing what someone in the middle of a heart attack. I obviously wasn't having a heart attack so i was referred to a cardiologist. The cardiologist did their own, which again showed the same thing. They repositioned the electrodes and it came out different enough that the doctor determined that my irregular EKG was because athletes who are very fit often have these abnormalities too.
Now, that was done while resting and probably has nothing to do with your situation, but I am a healthy person who has been cleared by a cardiologist who has a heart rates that don't fall into those standard charts.
If you are concerned, i would definitely see a doctor, but just because you have a high heart rate when exercising doesn't mean you necessarily have a serious heart condition.1 -
feetjustgo wrote: »I'm in my late twenties and my HR also shoots up while exercising (similar to what you've reported, but I go even higher when running). It really freaked me out when I first started using a HR monitor, especially since it seemed impossible to work out in the "right" range. I got the same advice that others have shared--not to worry about it unless other troubling symptoms popped up. My doctor at the time didn't even order any testing, although I've done full blood work and an EKG since then and everything was fine. I still like the idea of using a HR monitor, but I eventually ditched mine to focus on perceived intensity. I don't think the traditional "zones" necessarily apply to us. Plus, as someone else mentioned, the calorie count is way off for us high HR folks.
If one knows one's actual (tested) max heart rate and resting heart rate, and uses those to calculate training ranges, the normal way of calculating ranges ought to work for training purposes at least as well as RPE. Better, maybe, if the HRM uses VO2max estimates.
I don't know whether (given a HR monitor that lets you control enough variables) the calorie level would be as accurate as it is for more typical HR folks, or not . . . although I ate back pretty much all my HRM calories while losing successfully at a predictable rate, and my HR max is around 20 beats above several standard estimates (220-age and others). (This was with a HRM that uses actual resting/max rates, not just age-predicted.) Just n=1, though.
I'm no expert, though - if anyone is, I hope they'll speak up.
If you had an HRM that allowed manual entry of HRmax and HRrest, then yes, it should calculate appropriate training zones and calorie count accuracy would be improved.
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BeeerRunner wrote: »The whole heart rate range for your age and gender is by no means an absolute. Females typically have a higher heart rate to begin with. I have a similar situation. My heart rate average on an easy run is in the mid 150s. Unless it's hot outside, I probably wouldn't break a sweat until sometime after 3 miles. In a race, my heart rate average is in the high 180s and will reach mid 190s.
I'm an avid runner, female, in my early 40s, and exercise 6 days a week. I've been doing so for over a year. Last summer I had a physical which included an EKG. It was abnormal, showing what someone in the middle of a heart attack. I obviously wasn't having a heart attack so i was referred to a cardiologist. The cardiologist did their own, which again showed the same thing. They repositioned the electrodes and it came out different enough that the doctor determined that my irregular EKG was because athletes who are very fit often have these abnormalities too.
Now, that was done while resting and probably has nothing to do with your situation, but I am a healthy person who has been cleared by a cardiologist who has a heart rates that don't fall into those standard charts.
If you are concerned, i would definitely see a doctor, but just because you have a high heart rate when exercising doesn't mean you necessarily have a serious heart condition.
The flipped t waves are not uncommon with endurance athletes.
I have the same issue. Because of that I keep copies of my ECG from when I was 30 to show when necessary. I was scheduled for a (dental, not penile) implant a few years ago. Because I am old and was going to be under sedation, they required an ECG. I got a frantic call the day before the surgery that they needed to postpone until I had a stress test because it was abnormal. So I ran over to the office with my ECG and everything was fine.1 -
BeeerRunner wrote: »The whole heart rate range for your age and gender is by no means an absolute. Females typically have a higher heart rate to begin with. I have a similar situation. My heart rate average on an easy run is in the mid 150s. Unless it's hot outside, I probably wouldn't break a sweat until sometime after 3 miles. In a race, my heart rate average is in the high 180s and will reach mid 190s.
I'm an avid runner, female, in my early 40s, and exercise 6 days a week. I've been doing so for over a year. Last summer I had a physical which included an EKG. It was abnormal, showing what someone in the middle of a heart attack. I obviously wasn't having a heart attack so i was referred to a cardiologist. The cardiologist did their own, which again showed the same thing. They repositioned the electrodes and it came out different enough that the doctor determined that my irregular EKG was because athletes who are very fit often have these abnormalities too.
Now, that was done while resting and probably has nothing to do with your situation, but I am a healthy person who has been cleared by a cardiologist who has a heart rates that don't fall into those standard charts.
If you are concerned, i would definitely see a doctor, but just because you have a high heart rate when exercising doesn't mean you necessarily have a serious heart condition.
The flipped t waves are not uncommon with endurance athletes.
I have the same issue. Because of that I keep copies of my ECG from when I was 30 to show when necessary. I was scheduled for a (dental, not penile) implant a few years ago. Because I am old and was going to be under sedation, they required an ECG. I got a frantic call the day before the surgery that they needed to postpone until I had a stress test because it was abnormal. So I ran over to the office with my ECG and everything was fine.
@Azdak omg...you cracked me up clarifying the implant type!! Lol!
Yeah, I went to work in Afghanistan for a few weeks in August/Sept. Thank goodness I already had been to the cardiologist and could get a note because they did an ECG and of course it was out of whack. Otherwise, I probably couldn't have gone. It sounds weird, but there aren't many chances to go over to Afghanistan for such a short duration and I really wanted to go. I was on base the entire time, but they had an area with soccer field, basketball court, etc... with a track around it all. It was cool that I got to run over there.
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BeeerRunner wrote: »It sounds weird, but there aren't many chances to go over to Afghanistan for such a short duration and I really wanted to go. I was on base the entire time, but they had an area with soccer field, basketball court, etc... with a track around it all. It was cool that I got to run over there.
Lucky. The running route in my location was less than a kilometre, so it got very dull, but at least it meant there wasn't far to go when we got IDFd.
When I got the opportunity to go into Badakhshan and Nuristan it was stunning.
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Whether I am on the elliptical, the treadmill or on the bike, my HR is between 170-175 for light excercise (can talk with someone without being out of breath) and a whopping 180-185 when I am too out of breath to maintain a discussion but well enough to keep the pace for 25-30 mins without feeling dizzy or having trouble keeping up or breathing.
I wouldn't see those figures as particularly outlandish, certainly not worth worrying about as you're not noticing any other symptoms.
The 220-age aspect is meaningless for most practical purposes.
Since you're talking about a total range of 15bpm you're in the noise. At 20 years older than you I'll comfortably sustain 175bpm for well over an hour, 185 is something I can hold for about 30-40 minutes. Much beyond that and I'm getting into my anaerobic range so unable to sustain for long at all. At your age you should do better, although that'll take time before you've established an aerobic base.
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I have the opposite problem. I suffer from Sinus Bradycardia (abnormally slow HR), The highest I can push my HR to is 165 and then I feel like I'm dying lol My resting HR is between 41-48bpm.
Go see a cardiologist. Your heart is not something you mess with.
My resting is a little higher but I am in a similar boat. Before I started to intensify my workouts I had my heart checked out and to get a baseline. Took a lot of concern and potential anxiety away. I know now that my heart is fine and all I have to worry about are my irritable lungs and allergy0 -
puttputt24 wrote: »220-age is easy standard for finding out what your max HR should be around. So that would be 195. Approaching that just means you are working at a difficult intensity.
Is there a specific reason why you want your HR to be at 160??
Hi, thank you for replying. No reason at all actually, it just that some people have shared their worries concerning my higher HR saying that my training zone ''should'' be around that, however it is not how I ''feel it in my body''? I know this is very vague for an explanation, I was curious to see if other people were comfortable working out cardio for 40-50mins at 180-185 like me or if it was indeed worrying.
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Rule of thumb. If you can breathe reasonably while doing cardio and have had no heart issues or health issues, then just do it at that level. Gasping for air (unless you're doing HIIT) would be too high of an intensity for you.
Thank you for your reply, I usually get it on the machines, but I started using the monitors of the gym's trainers when I noticed that the numbers were high and I got ''approximatively +/- 5'' on all monitors.
You said that gasping for air was too much unless you are doing HIIT, I am currently starting to try this technique, I have 50 seconds intervals on the treadmill going from 3.7miles/h to 6.5 miles/h for 15 to 20 minutes. Would you consider it an HIIT training? Usually I do it after 25 elliptical or running with no gradient at around 5 miles/h.
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Raising you my cup of tea (also, if you look closely to the size of that mug, you might also find out why the high HR).
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No that would be interval training. HIIT training you're literally gasping for air and need to slow down quite a bit to recover. Most HIIT will only be 15-30 seconds max in duration.Rule of thumb. If you can breathe reasonably while doing cardio and have had no heart issues or health issues, then just do it at that level. Gasping for air (unless you're doing HIIT) would be too high of an intensity for you.
Thank you for your reply, I usually get it on the machines, but I started using the monitors of the gym's trainers when I noticed that the numbers were high and I got ''approximatively +/- 5'' on all monitors.
You said that gasping for air was too much unless you are doing HIIT, I am currently starting to try this technique, I have 50 seconds intervals on the treadmill going from 3.7miles/h to 6.5 miles/h for 15 to 20 minutes. Would you consider it an HIIT training? Usually I do it after 25 elliptical or running with no gradient at around 5 miles/h.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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No that would be interval training. HIIT training you're literally gasping for air and need to slow down quite a bit to recover. Most HIIT will only be 15-30 seconds max in duration.Rule of thumb. If you can breathe reasonably while doing cardio and have had no heart issues or health issues, then just do it at that level. Gasping for air (unless you're doing HIIT) would be too high of an intensity for you.
Thank you for your reply, I usually get it on the machines, but I started using the monitors of the gym's trainers when I noticed that the numbers were high and I got ''approximatively +/- 5'' on all monitors.
You said that gasping for air was too much unless you are doing HIIT, I am currently starting to try this technique, I have 50 seconds intervals on the treadmill going from 3.7miles/h to 6.5 miles/h for 15 to 20 minutes. Would you consider it an HIIT training? Usually I do it after 25 elliptical or running with no gradient at around 5 miles/h.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
To make it even simpler - once you're assured you have no heart issues - think of HIIT as max effort on the work intervals, and don't worry about heart rate per se.
We tend to have some HR variation as the activity changes, for a variety of reasons.
I can pretty easily** max my heart rate doing classic Tabata intervals* on the rowing machine, but only get to maybe 20ish beats below max when doing them on a spin bike.
--
* Tabata intervals: 8 x (20 seconds max effort, 10 seconds easy) . . . after a warm-up, before a cool-down, please!
** For some values of "easy". 1 -
feetjustgo wrote: »I'm in my late twenties and my HR also shoots up while exercising (similar to what you've reported, but I go even higher when running). It really freaked me out when I first started using a HR monitor, especially since it seemed impossible to work out in the "right" range. I got the same advice that others have shared--not to worry about it unless other troubling symptoms popped up. My doctor at the time didn't even order any testing, although I've done full blood work and an EKG since then and everything was fine. I still like the idea of using a HR monitor, but I eventually ditched mine to focus on perceived intensity. I don't think the traditional "zones" necessarily apply to us. Plus, as someone else mentioned, the calorie count is way off for us high HR folks.
If one knows one's actual (tested) max heart rate and resting heart rate, and uses those to calculate training ranges, the normal way of calculating ranges ought to work for training purposes at least as well as RPE. Better, maybe, if the HRM uses VO2max estimates.
I don't know whether (given a HR monitor that lets you control enough variables) the calorie level would be as accurate as it is for more typical HR folks, or not . . . although I ate back pretty much all my HRM calories while losing successfully at a predictable rate, and my HR max is around 20 beats above several standard estimates (220-age and others). (This was with a HRM that uses actual resting/max rates, not just age-predicted.) Just n=1, though.
I'm no expert, though - if anyone is, I hope they'll speak up.
If you had an HRM that allowed manual entry of HRmax and HRrest, then yes, it should calculate appropriate training zones and calorie count accuracy would be improved.
One of the things I love about MFP is that there are resident experts who are willing to help us keep on a rational track. Thank you, @Azdak - I'm more than capable of speculating myself out into the wilderness, so I'm glad of your knowledgeable input, to know I'm not too far afield.0 -
You should get a stress test to determine your true max heart rate. Also, you should use an accurate heart rate monitor while you are working out. Chest strap monitors are best.
You should also train at percentage of your max heart rate rather than beats per minute. 70 to 90 percent will give you a good cardio, but you must know your actual max heart rate. The 220 - age formula does not work for all people, and I am guessing yours is higher.1
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