Safe Heart Rate

MiekeJ

Hello,

I'm after some answers from anyone that knows a bit about heart rates.

Is there a 'unsafe' heart rate range while exercising? I noticed in a few things I read lately about hitting 160-165bpm while exercising, but I usually sit anywhere around 180bpm to a max of 205bpm when I'm really getting into it!! Is this bad? Is this too much stress on my heart? OR am I just reeeeeally unfit?

This isn't a new thing for me. I've hit the same range with other heart rate reading devices too. I just thought it was normal.... Now I'm not so sure.

Any feedback would be great!

Thanks.

brianpperkins

Your body will let you know when you get into unsafe and unsustainable ranges ... usually by feeling sick or dizzy which makes you slow down. 205 is a bit high by most training guides and I bet you can't sustain that level long. It is possible to push beyond aerobic threshold into anaerobic training.

http://running.competitor.com/2013/04/training/running-101-running-with-a-heart-rate-monitor_22482

BrianSharpe

+1 on your body letting you know if it's too high. You'd be gasping for breath and, quite probably, feeling dizzy or faint in fairly short order.

The old rule of thumb (and it's not terribly reliable) for estimating maximum heart rate is 220-your age which would give you a suggested maxHR of 194. Given that you've exceed that without ill effect shows you why it's only a very loose guideline (interestingly many HRMs use this when determining your "zones" - a good reason to rely on perceived effort)

You can get a stress test to accurately pinpoint what your maxHR should be or you can just go by perceived effort.

rassha01

Not everyone has the same maximum heart rate or ranges to work in. Agree with the above that your body will let you know if it is not good.

FatFreeFrolicking

Hello,

I'm after some answers from anyone that knows a bit about heart rates.

Is there a 'unsafe' heart rate range while exercising? I noticed in a few things I read lately about hitting 160-165bpm while exercising, but I usually sit anywhere around 180bpm to a max of 205bpm when I'm really getting into it!! Is this bad? Is this too much stress on my heart? OR am I just reeeeeally unfit?

This isn't a new thing for me. I've hit the same range with other heart rate reading devices too. I just thought it was normal.... Now I'm not so sure.

Any feedback would be great!

Thanks.

I agree with the above posts. I have tachycardia so I have a high resting heart rate. When I exercise (or I should say when I am allowed to exercise), it gets extremely high but I also have exercise pre-syncope which contributes to this. You will absolutely positively know if your heart rate is too high. When I'm in the hospital for my heart, I can barely move because my heart is beating so fast and how dizzy/light headed I am.

If you're training really hard, your heart rate is going to be higher and add being de-conditioned to that, it most certainly will fall above 160-165 bpm.

If you aren't experiencing symptoms (dizziness, fainting, etc) when your heart rate is around 180-205 bpm, then I wouldn't worry about it.

MiekeJ

Thanks guys, that's reassuring! And yes, feeling fine at around 90-100% capacity, and don't usually sit in the 200's for very long - just worried I was getting there in the first place!

Thanks again for your advice!