Max heart rate & intervals

SophRW

I need some help figuring out where my heart rate should be during cardio. I wear a monitor, but it seems to be more of a decorative piece than anything else. I'm 23 and in very good cardiovascular shape. The more fit I've become, the harder it is to raise my numbers. I do 1 hour of Spinning everyday. According to the charts, my max heart rate should be 203, but that just seems ridiculously high to me. The highest I've EVER gotten my heart rate was 173 (and damn, that was uncomfortable). During a workout I will max out at 160-165, but I can only maintain that for about a minute or two. According to my watch my average heart rate during a workout is around 140-145.

ZakWray

You miss typed "103" for 203 right? 220 - age is only an approximation equation, but it won't be far off.

Simply, if you are in very good health/fitness, as you describe you're muscles will have to work much harder than someone who is very unfit in order to increase your heart rate.

SophRW

Whoops yes, 203, not 103.