heart rate too high?

Amy_B

I was using my HRM during my exercise dvd yesterday (one I've done several times before). It said my average HR was in the 140s & my highest was 215. Is that safe, the 215?

SHBoss1673

probably, as long as you felt ok, could be a faulty reading too. All you need is one second of mis-read heart rate for that to happen. If your average is in the 140s then it couldn't have been up there very long.

michlingle

I have two HRMs, one is a Nike, the other is a Garmin. My Nike one was like 40 bucks on amazon and I find that sometimes it spikes for no reason, like as high as 227 for about 30 seconds, then it comes back around 170 every so often to where I know I really am working at. Now my Garmin is a LOT more accurate, I never have that problem, that was about $200 (Christmas gift!). SO I think the verdict is that the more affordable ones may have irregular, but temporarily irregular, readings. I think if my heart rate was really 227 I'd be dead.

Amy_B

I hope it was probably just a fluke or a random spike because I felt okay. I have a Polar F4. Thanks!

SHBoss1673

I hope it was probably just a fluke or a random spike because I felt okay. I have a Polar F4. Thanks!

that happens to me once in a while with my F6. Random electrical interference can do it. it screws up your high numbers, but shouldn't bother your averages very much.

jsonnett02

I was told that your highest heart rate should be your age subtracted from 200, cuz it shouldn't be over 200. Now if this is correct of not, I am not sure. When I am running my high has been 176 and I thought that was pretty high, but it's when I'm running harder so I am not able to hold a conversation. It could be a defect in the HRM, but I thought Polars are supposed to be one of the better qualities???
If your HR was consistently that high, I would be worried, but if it's just a few seconds or a minute, I wouldn't worry about it :flowerforyou:

SHBoss1673

I was told that your highest heart rate should be your age subtracted from 200, cuz it shouldn't be over 200. Now if this is correct of not, I am not sure. When I am running my high has been 176 and I thought that was pretty high, but it's when I'm running harder so I am not able to hold a conversation. It could be a defect in the HRM, but I thought Polars are supposed to be one of the better qualities???
If your HR was consistently that high, I would be worried, but if it's just a few seconds or a minute, I wouldn't worry about it :flowerforyou:

Polars are pretty good, but even polars have a range, F4's and F6's, while pretty good, are still on their lower end, and do make mistakes. Also we can't rule out outside electrical noise, this can, and will happen, remember our bodies are mostly water, and conduct electricity pretty well, sometimes without our knowing, our body can transmit some low level electrical noise and that could screw up the impulse detection that the chest strap has. Also it could just be a random heart palpitation, have 2 or 3 seconds of that (perfectly normal for many people during hard physical activity) and it will throw off the moving average for that 5 second period.

12by311

My HRM spiked to 220 yesterday when I was running. I readjusted my strap lower, and it went back down to my normal ~158 or so instantly.

Azdak

I was told that your highest heart rate should be your age subtracted from 200, cuz it shouldn't be over 200. Now if this is correct of not, I am not sure. When I am running my high has been 176 and I thought that was pretty high, but it's when I'm running harder so I am not able to hold a conversation. It could be a defect in the HRM, but I thought Polars are supposed to be one of the better qualities???
If your HR was consistently that high, I would be worried, but if it's just a few seconds or a minute, I wouldn't worry about it :flowerforyou:

I have a soft strap Polar transmitter (wear link?) that I started having problems with after less than a year of use--erratic readings and high-number spikes.

I stopped using it for several months and just switched to an older plastic strap I had lying around. Two weeks ago, my watch starting showing low battery, so I sent it and the old soft strap transmitter in for service. They replaced both batteries. When I got it back, I put it on and got the exact same erratic readings as before. I called the service center (at creative health products), and they said that, on the soft strap transmitters, you have to adjust the elastic so that they are pretty tight--she said there should be a mark or indentation after the strap is removed. They also recommended taking off the transmitter after each workout and washing it or at least making sure the connection area was wiped off and completely dried.

I have been following the advice for almost two weeks now and it is working fine.