Is there a Heart Rate Danger Zone?

There is individual variation in heart rates. If you feel fine you are probably fine.

And yes your heart rate will drop as you increase fitness. You will find that both your resting heart rate and your heart rate during a given intensity of exercise will be lower than before.

I am not a doctor. You should ask a medical professional for a real answer.

First, are you using your own HRM (with chest strap) or the numbers the treadmill calculates when your hands are on the sensors? If the former, the number is probably good; if the latter, it could be way off. Get a good HRM.

So if the data is reasonably accurate, you probably aren't helping your fitness by putting your heart into that level of overdrive. Lower the incline or the speed, and as you become more fit and your heart more efficient, you should see the heart rate improve. If your heart is still working so hard, bring up the topic at your next doctors appointment,

I started C25K six weeks ago, and keep my "running' speed at 5.0 to keep my heart rate to the 160s. As my CV system becomes more fit, I'll crank it up with the goal of a 10 minute mile (versus the current 12 minutes -- and then I will reassess).

I can't answer your question, but as a nurse I'll say that you BP and pulse are perfectly normal for a healthy person.

Average / typical max heart rate is 220 minus age so that's what they estimate for people, lacking any other information. Doesn't mean it "should" be or that there's something wrong with you if it's less or more, just that's what's most common. Your true max heart rate cannot be determined by an online calculator using only your age and gender and might be higher or lower. You can get a better guess of your own max heart rate based on your perceived exertion. Google and you can find the Borg Perceived Exertion Scale. Your actual heart rate when you are at 19 or 20 on that scale is your own max heart rate.


I am an avid runner and my resting hear rate is 45 bmp. I don't know what my typical heart rates are during runs right now; I rarely use my monitor.

I've given up worrying about heart rate zones - my numbers just don't fit the guidelines. I should be dead if my HRM is correct - I'm assuming there must be an error sometimes, but it regularly gets over 180 and it's not unusual for it to spike to over 200.

According to a gazillion different formulas (http://www.brianmac.co.uk/maxhr.htm has a heap of different ones) my max rate should be anywhere from 166 - 179, but in practice, that is clearly not MY max heart rate.

I talked to my doctor last year about running and any risks, he ran a stack of tests and said that all my results were so normal that they were boring and that I should run as much as I like.

If you have any reasons to feel concerned, you should talk to your own doctor.
Generally though I don't pay much attention to those "zones", they don't suit me and maybe they aren't right for you either.

As far as where you should be training --

90% of max is too high for your everyday runs. Again, you may not be training at that level -- can't tell for sure just on the heart rate. But see where you are on that perceived exertion scale. Most of your runs right now should be at about 65-85% of your max, or about 11-15 on the perceived exertion scale.

After several months of consistently running 3+ times per week, you may want to add in some hard intervals in the 90+% range, but you don't need to do this yet.

Max heart rate differs from person to person. the xxx-minus age is really just an approximate for the average of all people your age.
for a more individual maximum heart rate, there are sub-max tests, max tests and also such a thing as perceived max (observed at some point during exercise).
i am 30 (nearly), female, 157lbs, 5'7". when i run, i try and stay between 145-170. i usually start out around 150 and end up at 175. when i hit 180 i tell myself to slow down. but the maximum i have seen is 230-240 on several occasions when i pushed HIIT probably a bit too far. these days i try and stay below 200, just to be on the "safe" side.
as for running, if you are going longer than 20 minutes, you probably want to run at a pace where you can just still talk fairly comfortably. going above that can give you advantages, but it shouldn't be more than (i think) 10% of your total exercise time.

check out "total heart rate training" at your local library if you are interested in better researched/more detailed info than i can give you just now

I've been 'low and slow' most of my life (low BP and slow, in the 50s heart rate). I chalk it up to a lifetime of loving skating. A few years ago I had my first trip to a cardiologist (age 54) due to 'heart symptoms' (a squeezing sensation in the chest that came with bike riding and lasted for three days). I was given the complete gamut of scans and tests. Each of the tests came back with a glowing report (eg. 0% plaque), and the doc pronounced my heart and cardio health like that of a 25yr old. But one test was a bit scary at first.

For one of the tests I had to wear a 24hr Holter monitor that would continuously record my heart rhythms over a "typical day"--including any usual workouts. My cardiologist was at first very concerned when he discovered that during my skating workout (particularly after fast spins) my heart rate went up as high as 220. He said for most people, that might signal the onset of cardiac arrest, and asked me how I felt at the time. I remembered those two occasions of rapid heartbeat, and remembered either slowing the pace for a couple laps or getting off for a brief rest right after those due to being utterly spent, even with slight stomach queasiness. But it wasn't the first time I'd had those sensations during a hard workout, so I hadn't been at all concerned. When I told him I'd felt that same way countless times over 35 years of skating, he was less concerned. (And when a simple blood test revealed I was dangerously low thyroid due to undiagnosed thyroid disease, everything became clear. Untreated hypothyroidism can lead to serious consequences, even death, as the thyroid hormones regulate brain and heart function.)

All that to say...heart rate REALLY varies among individuals and even though a textbook might say above a certain level = imminent heart attack, there are always exceptions. Your best bet, if you have concerns, is to do a stress test with your doc, and find out what's normal for YOU.