Why is my Polar HRM telling me, I am working too hard?

Thimbelinda

I am 42, which makes my Max Heart Rate 178. The Polar HRM has 3 levels of intensity, Zone 1 = 107-125, Zone 2 = 126-141, Zone 3 = 142+

When doing cardio I spend a lot of time in Zone 3, with my HR in the 150's-160's. It burns the most calories and I feel comfortable in this zone. When doing weights I am usually in Zone 2. I spend very little time in Zone 1. It feels like I am not even working when in the lower zones.

After months of intense cardio my resting HR dropped significantly so why is it so wrong to spend time closer to my Max HR?

iRun_Butterfly

I'm no expert, however depending on your training goals, whether your working toward endurance or to burn fat, it is better to be in different zones. The lower zones are more sustainable for longer times so I believe you burn more fat, higher zones are more for building your over all endurance. At least that's how I understand it. I used to use a Polar HRM and always found I had a higher percentage of fat burned while I stayed below 130 BPM. Anymore, I try to mix it up a little during my workouts. I hope someone can explain it better than I can.

jmp1958

The age-based maximum heart rate is only an estimation. As you get more fit, your maximum heart rate goes up. You can/should adjust your settings or you can go by your perceived exertion. Although your weight lifting burns fewer calories during workout compared to cardio, you continue to burn more calories after.

katyanne15

I am same way. I am almost exclusively in level 3. I do insanity, t25, turbos icky type hiit excercises and love the intensity. I really feel like I got a great workout. My hrm tells me to stop. I'm like no!!!!! Bit it's true you need variety so your body doesn't adapt to,those levels and stop giving you results. I was in a 3 moth plateau and didn't lose a single lb even though I was doing hiit training everyday. I started p90x3 4 weeks ago which uped my weight training and lowered my high intensity cardio and I've actually started losing weight again. I'm in the level 2 stage a lot more and some in level one with yoga and Pilates. Workouts feel very easy compared to what I'm used to but I will stick with the program and see it through and helpfully get great results. Good luck and keep in touch.

BokBagok

The zones do different things and affect your body in different ways.

Check out this link
http://www.runningforfitness.org/calc/heart-rate-calculators/hrzone

and this link
http://www.brianmac.co.uk/hrm1.htm

for more info.

erickirb

I don't and wouldn't pay much attention to zones, unless you are training for something in particular which requires you too. And if that is the case it would be much better to have a "real" max HR test completed instead of the generic 220-age, which is an approximation, but is better for men than for women and is only good if the are close to the "norm".

I have a friend that at 32 had you max hr tested and came out at 205bpm, the calculation had her's at 188, so she thought she was working at a high % HR when working out, but after being tested the % of max was quite a bit lower than she thought.

does your HRM allow you to change your max HR? The best HRMs are ones that allow you to manually change max HR, and V02 Max calculations, otherwise the estimate of cals burned assumes you are at the "norm"

alasin1derland

I am no expert but your numbers sound normal to me. My max's are much higher than the numbers you posted but my averages are similar. My workouts include insanity, extreme shed and shred, t 25, treadmill. For myself I am not at max 100% of the workout. I am only in zone 1 if I am not exercising. As I start exercising I immediately go to zone 2 or 3.

The_Enginerd

Yep, the zones are just estimates. There is quite a bit of variance between people. If you feel fine, don't worry about it.

endoftheside

In your situation, I would strongly consider doing testing to determine your actual max HR. You are not supposed to feel comfortable and able to spend a lot of time in zone 3, if you do my guess is that it is not actually zone 3, for you. The 220-age approximation is off by a lot for some people. Being in the right zone really only matters if you are trying to hit various training goals in different zones, but it would bug me if I was trying to use my Polar in that way and it had incorrect information.

MakePeasNotWar

I agree that the max HR could be off. My theoretical max is 182. I hit mid 190's sprinting, and 170 is a tough but sustainable pace for me. If I tried to stay under 80% of that estimate, I wouldn't be able to do much more than jog.