Heart rate over 200

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Tjs8819
Tjs8819 Posts: 33 Member
edited May 2017 in Fitness and Exercise
So today I was on the elliptical. I was doing really good far as energy ( usually I'm barely making it) but my heart rate was on the 190s an went up to 203 then the machine automatically brought the resistance down. Is it bad to have a HR that high? Usually it's in the 160-170s range but today I was going harder than usual. I didn't feel weird but once I saw the number i felt like I was having pain in my chest( probably in my head ) and I slowed down... my question is do I not go as hard exercising in order to maintain a lower HR?

Im 29
5'5
CW 161

Replies

  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,754 Member
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    Did you check your own pulse rate with your fingers? Those cardio machines can be very wrong.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
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    It's not unheard of for a person's HR to be that high during intense exercise, but it's not very common, either. First, I would double check whatever you're using to measure it. If it's a Fitbit, the number is almost certainly wrong, if it's part of the elliptical machine I'd doubt it, too.

    From your description you weren't in serious distress so it's not a problem.

    Did you take it pretty easy the last few days? Sometimes that feeling that you're doing really good, when exercise doesn't seem very difficult but you're putting out big numbers, that can come from being well rested and having no fatigue, in other words being able to give everything you've got.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
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    It's not necessarily bad.

    You may be in the small percentage of people with a naturally high max HR, but you'd have to test it to find out. The HR monitor may have had a glitch which is not uncommon. There may have been other things affecting your HR as well. Caffeine increases HR, as does dehydration, stress, some drugs (even OTC) etc.

    On the other hand, it could be an indication of a problem. Personally, I wouldn't think so unless there were other questionable symptoms.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
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    NorthCascades wrote: »
    It's not unheard of for a person's HR to be that high during intense exercise, but it's not very common, either. First, I would double check whatever you're using to measure it. If it's a Fitbit, the number is almost certainly wrong, if it's part of the elliptical machine I'd doubt it, too.

    From your description you weren't in serious distress so it's not a problem.

    Did you take it pretty easy the last few days? Sometimes that feeling that you're doing really good, when exercise doesn't seem very difficult but you're putting out big numbers, that can come from being well rested and having no fatigue, in other words being able to give everything you've got.

    I got to a max HR of 192 at age 52, where in theory my max should have been 220-52= 168 and didn't blow up. This was at a university Exercise Science lab so I'm assuming their measurement methodology was pretty good.

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