Heartrate too high during Strength Training?

jehavin
jehavin Posts: 316 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey all, does anyone have the issue of having your heartrate go higher when weight training than when you do cardio? For example, I do HIIT biking and try to keep my heartrate around 130-150 (due to pregnancy,) which I seem to have no problem doing. After my cardio, I go straight to my strength training, and I've been noticing that I get out of breath when lifting (about 5 sets of 8 lifts in 35 minutes,). So today, I wore a heartrate monitor that showed that my heartrate stayed consistently above 150 for the whole time, sometimes reaching 165.

I try to take proper rest times between sets, and I don't feel like I'm going above my skill level, so I was just wondering if this is "normal" for most people. Perhaps just not as noticeable since there aren't "heart rate monitors" on the weight stacks/barbells?

Also, I try not to count my strength training calories to eat back, but if my heart is in the 65%-85% zone the whole time, should I count it as cardio just so that I'm not skimping my body on the fuel it needs after such an intense session?

Thanks for your input!

Replies

  • erinsueburns
    erinsueburns Posts: 865 Member
    Mine does too. I started worrying about that so thats why I started wearing the HRM. I slow down my reps and take longer rests between sets. And despite the heart rate thing, weight lifting doesn't burn calories the way cardio does, because the physiologic reasons for the increases in heart rate aren't the same. So I log what the heart rate monitor seems to indicate minus 20% and I eat those calories back mostly and so long as I'm actually hungry. But I'm trying to eat at maintenance or just a slight deficit. Considering your pregnancy, it might be helpful to adopt a similar strategy.
    Hey all, does anyone have the issue of having your heartrate go higher when weight training than when you do cardio? For example, I do HIIT biking and try to keep my heartrate around 130-150 (due to pregnancy,) which I seem to have no problem doing. After my cardio, I go straight to my strength training, and I've been noticing that I get out of breath when lifting (about 5 sets of 8 lifts in 35 minutes,). So today, I wore a heartrate monitor that showed that my heartrate stayed consistently above 150 for the whole time, sometimes reaching 165.

    I try to take proper rest times between sets, and I don't feel like I'm going above my skill level, so I was just wondering if this is "normal" for most people. Perhaps just not as noticeable since there aren't "heart rate monitors" on the weight stacks/barbells?

    Also, I try not to count my strength training calories to eat back, but if my heart is in the 65%-85% zone the whole time, should I count it as cardio just so that I'm not skimping my body on the fuel it needs after such an intense session?

    Thanks for your input!
  • jehavin
    jehavin Posts: 316 Member
    Awesome---thanks for the tip on what to eat back and why! I could definitely try to increase my rest time but you know how it is---you get so pumped up that you're itching to hit the next lift! =)
  • erinsueburns
    erinsueburns Posts: 865 Member
    Awesome---thanks for the tip on what to eat back and why! I could definitely try to increase my rest time but you know how it is---you get so pumped up that you're itching to hit the next lift! =)

    No problem. Bear in mind though, 20% had no scientific evidence, it just feels like a comfortable compromise for me, lol. I'm still very out of shape though and mainly on body weight exercises with some light weights thrown in. Though I am starting to get my groove on rows and pushups like that :) Though people at stores look at you funny when you are just clicking out rows in the aisle ;) (I'm testing out weights to see what I ned to start out with so I dont inadvertently buy too light of weights and waste my money)

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