Heart rate stuff

WanderLaura30
WanderLaura30 Posts: 8 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey!
My heart rate stays high when I'm exercising. It's usually around 165-185 and stays there for the whole hour. Is this ok?

Replies

  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,753 Member
    How long have you been exercising? When is the last time you have had a check up with your doctor?
  • boopster99
    boopster99 Posts: 48 Member
    I run into that a lot. I'm 52 and anytime I push on a cardio machine the "warning - heart rate is high" comes up. Ditto for any activity where I'm really pushing hard (based on my heart rate monitor). When I'm really going it can easily be over 170/180 and yet I can still keep going. I've asked my own physician and what I've been told is that so long as it comes down once you stop pushing in a reasonable amount of time, it's fine. And that you're not dizzy or weak (though who isn't a little dizzy/weak pushing that hard!!). Might be worth a consult with your doc, but from my own experience, not abnormal.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    Without knowing more about you I don't know. But there are a lot of people who exercise with their heart rate in that range. Baring any heart problems, as long as you don't feel like you are pushing yourself too hard, I would think that rate is fine. If you keep exercising you may see a decline over time.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,131 Member
    You're asking for medical advice from random people on the internet? ;)

    But if you're not having any negative symptoms (pain, shortness of breath beyond the manageable, faintness, etc.), you're probably fine. If you're sustaining that level for an hour, that's reassuring in the sense that if it were "too high", you wouldn't be able to continue. Those age-based formulas for maximum heart rate are notoriously inaccurate.

    Once one reaches heart rate X by working at a given intensity in a workout, it will tend to stay more-or-less around there if you maintain the same intensity (though it can gradually drift upward or downward). Absent health problems, and for someone who's reasonably fit, working at "too high" an intensity will result in inability to sustain that intensity - it's self-limiting. (That's why true high-intensity interval training is short; if it's long, the intensity wasn't truly high.)

    Absent symptoms, ask your doctor about any concerns, next time you see him/her for something else. If you have worrisome symptoms, go sooner.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,316 Member
    I want to be clear here. You are saying while you are exercising your HR is higher right? Does it drop back to normal when you stop exercising? HR is supposed to go up when you exercise, mine stays up around where you said yours is while exercising. Once I stop it starts going down, and eventually gets back to where it normally sits.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    WanderLaura30 wrote: »
    Hey!
    My heart rate stays high when I'm exercising. It's usually around 165-185 and stays there for the whole hour. Is this ok?

    Unless there is some underlying health reason to be worried then that's not an unrealistic HR for your age. As long as you're not feeling ill effects I wouldn't worry about it.

    The main thing to think about is how quickly it returns to normal when you stop.

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