Trainer working me too hard?

Aside from 1 response where the poster said he was older than the op, how many of you are over 48? It looks like, by avatars, that most are younger, and a 175 HR is ok. Personally, as a 50 year old, I wouldn't want my HR at 160 for any extended period and definitely wouldn't want to see 175. If the forumula of 220 minus your age is correct, then a 48 year old's max rate is 172. Your target heart rate for cardio is somewhere around 80% of that, so around 135-140.

For someone who just started working out, is older, and is 270lbs, I wouldn't go anywhere near the HR that trainer has him doing on a workout.

I agree a trainer should push you, but pushing you beyond what are acceptable safe HR levels isn't smart or responsible.

Morning all!

I signed up with a personal trainer to get a kick-start to my exercise program. I'm seeing him once a week, and doing another session on my own.

I'm frankly feeling like I've been taken through the wringer each session, and am not enjoying them at all. I'm wondering whether he's pushing too hard. For example, in the cardio part of the workout, he's got me at > 160 bpm heart rate, spiking as high as 175 bpm. I'm thinking for a 48 year old man weighing 270 lbs, this is ludicrous.

Am I correct, or just a wuss?

Have you thrown up? Regularly?

But for your age that HR does seem a little too high IMHO. I would talk to the trainer. I work around there but I am 33.

Aside from 1 response where the poster said he was older than the op, how many of you are over 48? It looks like, by avatars, that most are younger, and a 175 HR is ok. Personally, as a 50 year old, I wouldn't want my HR at 160 for any extended period and definitely wouldn't want to see 175. If the forumula of 220 minus your age is correct, then a 48 year old's max rate is 172. Your target heart rate for cardio is somewhere around 80% of that, so around 135-140.

For someone who just started working out, is older, and is 270lbs, I wouldn't go anywhere near the HR that trainer has him doing on a workout.

I agree a trainer should push you, but pushing you beyond what are acceptable safe HR levels isn't smart or responsible.

I'm a whole year younger and started out weighing 330 lbs.

I think that living a healthy life is something you HAVE enjoy a lot so you can make it a habit and a way of life.

Some people enjoy to PUSH themselves too hard and some people dont.

Of you ask me, I like to push myself but in a moderate way, and I started to enjoy my workouts.

If you dont like it, DONT PUSH yourself... go at your own pace and talk to your trainner. If he keeps pushing you he is going to make you to quit and you are doing sooo well.

KEEP it up! Life is about enjoying the things we do! So dont do anything you dont like.

After all you only need 3-4 times of cardio a week to loose weight

You're getting your money's work!! Results aren't accomplished within your comfort zone! People don't push themselves because they don't think they can do it; trainers are there to prove you wrong. But, if you're concerned about your heart rate, that is something you need to mention to your trainer.

Thats way too MUCH! Forget all the whinning comments. Thats just wrong. At that rate your not burning fat your burning sugars that already have been processed. Its not the zon you should be in for weight loss. I am 5'8" who was 265 last year. I am down 75lbs. It wont take you long to get up to that but start is just wrong by the trainer. Just look up info for yourself and you will see for fat burning your HR should be alot less at your size and age. I hate cardio but its a evil needed to a point. Its not how fast or hard you go its where your HR should be.

I'm sorry, but this is all incorrect. Whether you're burning fat or burning sugars, it's still calories. If your body is burning sugar then it has to replace those stores. Where does it get those calories from? Your fat and the food you eat later (or before). Either way the net effect is the same.

Even if you want to make the argument that you burn a higher percentage of fat at a slower pace, it still doesn't matter. You might burn 15% of your calories from fat at a slow pace versus 10% at a fast past. But if you burned twice as many calories overall, you not only burned more calories, you also burned more fat.

For example:
300 calories burned at a slow pace @ 15% fat burn == 45 fat calories burned
600 calories burned at a fast pace @ 10% fat burn == 60 fat calories burned

Not to mention, the extra conditioning and cardio gains when pushing yourself at a harder pace versus just mailing in your workout.

In other words, go hard and go home (barring medical conditions or injuries or other extenuating circumstances).

from what you've said, he's keeping you at 160 during the whole cardio portion? that is too high in my opinion. intervals, sure, but sustained...that is putting undue pressure on your heart and blood vessels and arteries. I am 44 and 160lbs and, in addition to swimming and walking all week, I ski about once a week with a heart rate monitor on and when I really push myself down a run I get up in the 160's or higher, but that is when I stop and catch my breath and get my heart rate down before skiing on! as it is almost my entire ski day is ranked by the HRM as "fitness endurance" and only a small portion as "fat burning" (and that's probably when I'm sitting on the ski lift between runs!). Anyway, if it were me, I would go online and find a site that tells me how to calculate my max heart rate based on weight and age, etc. and go from there...In my opinion, from what you've said, you are an injury waiting to happen...we're just not in our twenties anymore...plus, heart aside, your joints have been bearing a pretty heavy load for longer than these youngun's, so again, watch out for injury...I've lost plenty of weight without killing myself in the exercise and eating department, and I'm pretty fit and muscle-y! just working on slowly and safely losing those last 20lbs so I can better see the definition that's there

one last comment...I've started and stopped exercising many times over the years and I have found that when I go big in the beginning, I tend to fizzle out (or get injured) pretty quick. So, now I'm a start slow and build over time proponent...to me, it is easier that way to build a healthy lifestyle that is sustainable for the long haul without every feeling resentful, or injured, or weak/lazy because you can't seem to "stick with anything" (that last one was a negative thought that tripped me up for a long time!)

FWIW, I'm 55, female, 115 lbs and I run 5K in 30 minutes with my HR in the 160's most of the time. Sprinting for the finish will put it into the 180's. Haven't died yet. I can hit 130 at a brisk walk. You can't judge one persons level by your own.

The key word being "yet"

Did your 1st 2 workouts pushing your HR that hard? Were you running 5k's in 30 minutes from day 1? I understand that once you are fit and have experience that you can push harder. Someone who has not exercised in years, or ever for that matter, is a different story.

I agree with Teresa- when you have never done something, you need to start slow. That doesn't mean you can't push yourself, but you have to be reasonable about it. I wouldn't take my wife down to the squat rack and load up a bunch of weight and have her squat to failure. She'd never come back. When you haven't done any physical activity for a long time, you need to build up a base level of fitness before you can max out your capability.

FWIW, I'm 55, female, 115 lbs and I run 5K in 30 minutes with my HR in the 160's most of the time. Sprinting for the finish will put it into the 180's. Haven't died yet. I can hit 130 at a brisk walk. You can't judge one persons level by your own.

The key word being "yet"

Did your 1st 2 workouts pushing your HR that hard? Were you running 5k's in 30 minutes from day 1? I understand that once you are fit and have experience that you can push harder. Someone who has not exercised in years, or ever for that matter, is a different story.

I agree with Teresa- when you have never done something, you need to start slow. That doesn't mean you can't push yourself, but you have to be reasonable about it. I wouldn't take my wife down to the squat rack and load up a bunch of weight and have her squat to failure. She'd never come back. When you haven't done any physical activity for a long time, you need to build up a base level of fitness before you can max out your capability.

I agree with this 100% I myself am 57. That's why I said originally see your doctor, see what he says. I started going to the gym last June and at the time was quite uncomfortable if my HR was in the high 140's. Now I easily work in the 150's and can go into the 160's for intervals without too much discomfort. Could not do that in June. I've been training with a trainer twice a week since June. In the beginning, he watched my heart rate like a hawk and made me take extended rests if he thought I was in a danger zone. Now he does not monitor it as closeley because he knows I'm more fit. A niece of mine who is a doctor told me that although I'm 57, physiologically I'm more than likely 10-20 years younger. But its all a matter of conditioning yourself over time. Your heart after all is a muscle. It needs to be conditioned just like your biceps, triceps, hamstrings etc.

Thats way too MUCH! Forget all the whinning comments. Thats just wrong. At that rate your not burning fat your burning sugars that already have been processed. Its not the zon you should be in for weight loss. I am 5'8" who was 265 last year. I am down 75lbs. It wont take you long to get up to that but start is just wrong by the trainer. Just look up info for yourself and you will see for fat burning your HR should be alot less at your size and age. I hate cardio but its a evil needed to a point. Its not how fast or hard you go its where your HR should be.

I'm sorry, but this is all incorrect. Whether you're burning fat or burning sugars, it's still calories. If your body is burning sugar then it has to replace those stores. Where does it get those calories from? Your fat and the food you eat later (or before). Either way the net effect is the same.

Even if you want to make the argument that you burn a higher percentage of fat at a slower pace, it still doesn't matter. You might burn 15% of your calories from fat at a slow pace versus 10% at a fast past. But if you burned twice as many calories overall, you not only burned more calories, you also burned more fat.

For example:
300 calories burned at a slow pace @ 15% fat burn == 45 fat calories burned
600 calories burned at a fast pace @ 10% fat burn == 60 fat calories burned

Not to mention, the extra conditioning and cardio gains when pushing yourself at a harder pace versus just mailing in your workout.

In other words, go hard and go home (barring medical conditions or injuries or other extenuating circumstances).

No the effect is not the same.... once you get your heart rate over your Anerobic thresh hold your working cardio more than fat burn... the old school thought of going as hard as you can for as long as you can is old and inaccurate. When you burn processed sugars you do not get the effect nor results


The lactate threshold (LT) (or lactate inflection point (LIP) or aerobic threshold (AeT)) is the exercise intensity at which lactate (more specifically, lactic acid) starts to accumulate in the blood stream. The reason for the acidification of the blood at high exercise intensities is two-fold: the high rates of ATP hydrolysis in the muscle release hydrogen ions, as they are co-transported out of the muscle into the blood via the MCT— monocarboxylate transporter, and also bicarbonate stores in the blood begin to be used up. This happens when lactate is produced faster than it can be removed (metabolized) in the muscle. When exercising at the LTS intensity any lactate produced by the muscles is removed by the body without it building up.

With a higher exercise intensity the lactate level in the blood reaches the 'anaerobic threshold (AT), or the onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA).

The lactate threshold is a useful measure for deciding exercise intensity for training and racing in endurance sports (e.g. long distance running, cycling, rowing, swimming and cross country skiing), but varies between individuals and can be increased with training. Interval training takes advantage of the body being able to temporarily exceed the lactate threshold, and then recover (reduce blood-lactate) while operating below the threshold and while still doing physical activity. Fartlek and interval training are similar, the main difference being the structure of the exercise. Interval training can take the form of many different types of exercise and should closely replicate the movements found in the sport.

Accurately measuring the lactate threshold involves taking blood samples (normally a pinprick to the finger, earlobe or thumb) during a ramp test where the exercise intensity is progressively increased. Measuring the threshold can also be performed non-invasively using gas-exchange (Respiratory quotient) methods, which requires a metabolic cart to measure air inspired and expired.

Although the lactate threshold is defined as the point when lactic acid starts to accumulate, some testers approximate this by using the point at which lactate reaches a concentration of 4 mM (at rest it is around 1 mM).

[edit] Aerobic Threshold

The aerobic threshold (AeT) is sometimes defined as the exercise intensity at which anaerobic energy pathways start to operate and where blood lactate reaches a concentration of 2 mmol/litre (at rest it is around 1). This tends to be at a heart rate of approximately 20-40 bpm less than the anaerobic threshold and correlates with about 65% of the maximum heart rate. As its name suggests, the anaerobic energy system does not utilize oxygen to create Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and uses glycogen/glucose. Lactic acid is a by-product of using anaerobic metabolism to create ATP for working muscles.

Wait a minute. People are skiing with HRMs now?

I give up

I worked out with a trainer for a year and his words to me were always "If it HURTS stop. If you are just UNCOMFORTABLE quit whining."

Couldn't agree more.

What's the logic of using a trainer to have you do cardio? You can do that on your own time and not have to pay for it. Take advantage of the trainer and learn good lifting form... if he is knowledgeable in that area.

Stop with the excuses. The trainer isn't doing the work, you are.