Can't stay in target heart rate

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lma0423
lma0423 Posts: 78 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I just recently got a heart rate monitor, a polar ft4. My target HR zone is under 165 bpm. I mostly do at home workout videos such as 30ds and cant seem to stay under 165. I'm usually around 175. Does this just mean I'm out of shape and as I continue to exercise it'll slowly start to stay in the range? Not sure if it matters, but I'm 21 y.o. 170lbs and 5'6. I didn't think I was THAT out of shape...

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  • lma0423
    lma0423 Posts: 78 Member
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    anyone? :)
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    no, it means you should ditch your hrm and just work out. there is no target heart rate. that thing has already wasted your money; don't let it waste your workouts too.

    work out, do the best you can do, and the next day that you work out try to do a little bit more. watch your calories and record yyour weight once a week.

    repeat.

    profit
  • 1Fizzle
    1Fizzle Posts: 241 Member
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    no, it means you should ditch your hrm and just work out. there is no target heart rate. that thing has already wasted your money; don't let it waste your workouts too.

    work out, do the best you can do, and the next day that you work out try to do a little bit more. watch your calories and record yyour weight once a week.

    repeat.

    profit

    ^^^^^This times a million.
  • TheConsciousFoody
    TheConsciousFoody Posts: 607 Member
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    I just recently got a heart rate monitor, a polar ft4. My target HR zone is under 165 bpm. I mostly do at home workout videos such as 30ds and cant seem to stay under 165. I'm usually around 175. Does this just mean I'm out of shape and as I continue to exercise it'll slowly start to stay in the range? Not sure if it matters, but I'm 21 y.o. 170lbs and 5'6. I didn't think I was THAT out of shape...

    Before you ask people on MFP..who are all apparently magical know-it-alls you could talk to your Doctor about your heart rate. I needed one for medical reasons so for me it is a blessing but my Dr helped me with understanding when I need to take a break from my workouts. Most normal folks use the HRM to look for a better idea of calories burned so I think for them a "target" HR is silly.
  • martinh78
    martinh78 Posts: 601
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    You haven't wasted your money, as it's a great motivator seeing how many calories you have burned.

    You should be able to switch the zones off on your monitor (or customise them in the future if required). Once you get fitter, and if you decide to train for something like a marathon, the zones can be useful to help with training/pace/overtraining but you may or may not need this.

    For now just enjoy your workout and calorie counting, and maybe get a feel for what your bpm is at certain levels of excertion.
  • krebsi
    krebsi Posts: 53 Member
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    i am woking out with my Suunto M4. it connects to the pc in the spinning class and its a great motivator to see other peoples % of their work out which then makes people being very competetive

    my watch/Suunto works out itself what my Highest HR should be when i first switched it on, however, after a few workouts my HR went higher and it adjusts itself so i am training in the % i should be... (the true HR)

    can you not adjust your MAX HR on your watch? if so, just put it up/set it to the highest HR you have ever been on...
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    Before you ask people on MFP..who are all apparently magical know-it-alls you could talk to your Doctor about your heart rate. I needed one for medical reasons so for me it is a blessing but my Dr helped me with understanding when I need to take a break from my workouts. Most normal folks use the HRM to look for a better idea of calories burned so I think for them a "target" HR is silly.

    So your doctor wrote you a prescription for an hrm?
  • dmkoenig
    dmkoenig Posts: 299 Member
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    Heart rate monitors have their place in exercise management as they provide specific feedback on how hard your heart is working. However, in order to use it effectively it does need to be calibrated to the individual. I'm 55 years old so the default max heart rate my HRM initially used for my age was about 30 points lower than what my actual max heart rate is so I had to recalibrate it so that I wasn't exceeding my target even with very low level exertion. The definition of a "target" heart rate also needs to be aligned with your goals - whether it's to burn fat (lower HR) or improve your cardiovascular system (higher HR).

    One of the best things a HRM can do is quantify Rated Perceived Exertion (RPE) which is a perceived level of effort of how hard your body is working. Most people use an RPE scale of 1-10 or 6-20 to describe how they feel during workouts. Tuning into your body combined with your HRM will provide the best sense of your own different zones and after a while you should be able to come pretty close to estimating what your heart rate is by how you feel. Over time as you improve your fitness, you should see both a reduction in your heart rate from your HRM and experience a lower RPE for the same workout (i.e. doing a 5K run @ 10 minutes/mile).

    A HRM is just one of many tools in your tool chest to help manage your workouts, get the most out of them, and keeping you motivated by measuring improvement over time. Good luck!

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