Scarily High HR?

AnnPT77

westrich20940 wrote: »

As others have said --- what's your heart rate do when you stop working out...does it take forever to get back down to normal or does it do that fairly quickly?

The standard equation for what your 'max heart rate' is is just a guide and it's likely that your own person max heart rate could be higher than that....so you're really not 'too high' IMO. It's surely something you might ask your doctor about especially if you are worried about cardiac issues...but I think it's likely fine.

There isn't really any way to know your own person max heart rate in reality unless you have a stress-test type thing done to actually figure it out (which takes into account your VO2 Max as well).

It's absolutely on point that you're bringing up the fact that common methods of estimating HRmax are pretty approximate, i.e., lots of variation in the general population from the averages. It can be very useful to be tested, or test oneself, to figure out actual HRmax (or at least get a more personalized estimate from a sub-maximal test).

One thing I'd clarify: A medical stress test for cardiovascular health purposes may not actually provide this answer. A sports lab would be the place to go for professional testing.

Repeating myself, I know, but I had a medical stress test myself, and did a coach-administered step test to reach actual HRmax. The medical test was stopped well before I got to my actual HRmax, once they had enough data for the health-related analysis, and as I approached age-estimated HRmax. (My actual max is quite a bit higher.) When the cardiology techs said we were going to stop the test, I still had enough breath to argue with them in actual sentences. That's a pretty clear indication that I wasn't exercising at or even near actual HRmax.

Someone who's new(-ish) to exercise, or resuming activity after a low/no exercise time period, should not be trying to perform a test for actual max, especially not in a non-medical setting (sports labs have medical staff, typically). It could be risky medically (depending on circumstances) to try for max with a low fitness base, and is less likely to provide a valid result anyway (the person may not be able to exercise at a high enough intensity for a long enough duration to reach HRmax).

BTW, OP also updated to say that she was experiencing chest pain during this exercise, and feeling a strong heartbeat in her head. Those are things that mean she should worry, and thankfully she's following up on that appropriate with doctor and cardiologist.