Help!! High BPM during not-so-hard exercise??

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ashleyeliz25
ashleyeliz25 Posts: 141 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi everyone,

I have asked many people who work at my gym and have read many articles and blogs I found on google but can't seem to find an answer. I recently purchased a Polar FT40 HRM and have noticed that much of my work outs exceed the suggested maximum heart rate. I am 22 years old, 5 ft 4 in, 157 pounds (those are the settings in the HRM) and it has my max HR as 198 (90% internal max is 178) but I adjusted the settings on my watch to be within 93% of my max HR (198 BPM) so the max HR would be 182. But even with this adjusted setting to 93% of max HR I am still going up to 191 when I am running 5.5 mph (which is NOT a tough exercise for me.)

For me, running 5.5 mph is a pretty easy/not-so-hard exercise so why is my HR going all the way up to 191? I've been told that going above the 90% interval of max HR is just working out your heart, not your body, which is bad. But I don't know what to do. I don't sweat if I just walk. And running 5.5 mph is nothing. I read online that it could be from being out of shape but I have been consistently working out at least 4 times a week since August so I don't know what's wrong.

Any idea why my heart rate is skyrocketing during not-so-hard workouts? Any help is appreciated!

Thanks!

Replies

  • florymonde
    florymonde Posts: 261 Member
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    I don't know; if you feel okay while doing it, I'd say keep it up, but check in with your doctor sometime soon to make sure there's nothing else going on.
  • alasin1derland
    alasin1derland Posts: 575 Member
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    I have been tracking my heart rate for awhile now. I have noticed I will max between 208 and as high as 218 if I don't drink my water before insanity. If I drink my water, I max at around 163-167. I know your heart has to work harder if you are dehydrated. Now that I know this pattern, I make sure I drink my water first. I am well into my 3rd round of insanity and have been tracking almost from the start. Maybe you are going through something similar.
  • vorgas
    vorgas Posts: 741 Member
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    That 220 - Age = HRM number is an extreme guestimate, often varying by over 20 BPM. The main way to get a real max hr is to undergo a doctor supervised max stress test.

    A good test you can do yourself is the Foster Submaximal Heart Rate Test (http://www.ehow.com/how_7673143_determine-rate-30-year-old.html). This will give you a better prediction of your max heart rate.

    Another thing that affects HR during exercise is your VO2 Max. The more oxygen you can process, the less often your heart has to beat. Here's a place where you can test that and get an indication of where you fall (http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/vo2max-calculator.aspx). After entering in the data, click the 'click here' link in the test box.

    If this information combined doesn't give you results you expect, then it's possible your HRM isn't registering properly. You may want to verify it by checking your heart rate on a couple of machines that can track it through hand pulses.

    If it's accurate, and 191 is 90% for you, then you should probably see a doctor if it's getting there that fast.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    Here's the help: ditch your HRM and just work out.

    If you don't feel like you're gonna die, ignore whatever your HRM says.

    If you DO feel like you're gonna die, your HRM will NOT save you. Unless I've missed all the articles where HRMs saved 1000s of lives and doctors started prescribing Polar HRMs instead of pacemakers.

    Just work out. At this stage, for what your current goals are, you heart rate has absolutely nothing to do with getting fit

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