heartbeats - whats too fast?

I've been doing C25K. I do it on a treadmill at the gym. A couple of times i've gotten up to 190 bpm according to the hand sensors. Is that normal?? =\
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Replies

  • jg4ever
    jg4ever Posts: 85 Member
    I have been getting up that high also. I'm interested to see what everyone has to say.
  • It's a bit too high, but not life threatening. Calculate your max. heart rate. Mine is 200, yours is likely lower.
    You should aim for 70% of your heart rate, but 50-60% burns more fat.
  • CollieFit
    CollieFit Posts: 1,683 Member
    I only reach that sort of heart rate when doing really hard hill reps or intervals.

    The point of C25K is to build endurance, but you're working way above your lactic threshold and should probably slow down a bit.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    Too fast is when you pass out. Borderline too fast is light-headedness.

    Anything short of that and you're fine.
  • mmipanda
    mmipanda Posts: 351 Member
    It's a bit too high, but not life threatening. Calculate your max. heart rate. Mine is 200, yours is likely lower.
    You should aim for 70% of your heart rate, but 50-60% burns more fat.

    How do you calculate that?
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    It's a bit too high, but not life threatening. Calculate your max. heart rate. Mine is 200, yours is likely lower.
    You should aim for 70% of your heart rate, but 50-60% burns more fat.

    How do you calculate that?

    Don't... there's no point in it, and at best you've got a 50/50 chance of it being within 20% of your actual max HR.

    .
  • Im 23, and i have a cardiac arrhythmia. Get my heart rate up to 204-206 max more often than i like (can you say "stroke"?). 190 is a manageable HIIT rate for me.

    The days that REALLY suck are when i should ve hitting 190 bpm but cant get past 75-80. I usually stop and go lay down those days.
  • mmipanda
    mmipanda Posts: 351 Member
    I only reach that sort of heart rate when doing really hard hill reps or intervals.

    The point of C25K is to build endurance, but you're working way above your lactic threshold and should probably slow down a bit.

    Ho hum do you think so? I havent had trouble completing a day so far. At the end of todays run i even added an extra minute of running at 10.5kph (i normally run at 9)
  • Turtle003
    Turtle003 Posts: 133 Member
    My resting HR is ~41 and when I work out it can go up to ~180 when I do sprints. I asked my Dr. about this and he said as long as I don't feel light headed and pass out its fine! Keep running!
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    I only reach that sort of heart rate when doing really hard hill reps or intervals.

    The point of C25K is to build endurance, but you're working way above your lactic threshold and should probably slow down a bit.

    Ho hum do you think so? I havent had trouble completing a day so far. At the end of todays run i even added an extra minute of running at 10.5kph (i normally run at 9)
    How far along in the program are you? Like has been said, C25K is about endurance, not speed. The fact that your heart rate is that high is just proof that you need to work on the endurance. I pushed the pace quite often during the first 5 weeks, but once I hit the 20 minute runs I hit a wall because I didn't work enough on endurance, and focused too much on speed. I had to slow way down, and almost start from scratch.
  • iRun_Butterfly
    iRun_Butterfly Posts: 483 Member
    I'm doing C25K too, I usually hit about 180ish toward the end of my workout, usually by that point I'm afraid my ankles or my heart will give out...the ankles go first :-)

    The only time I've really worried is when it doesn't come back down in a reasonable amount of time. I had a scare a couple years ago (doing C25K at that time too) where I was still in the 140's almost 45 minutes out of my workout (normal resting HR for me is mid 50's). My mom is a nurse, she attributed it to lack of food and dehydration.
  • cmsmj1
    cmsmj1 Posts: 66 Member
    Get running outside and up some hills..then you will see how easy it is. :)

    I trained* for a duathlon last year...thought I was doing great and then got spanked.

    I started C25K and finished it about 6 weeks ago- running outside, mainly offroad and it was harsh. My HR max I have seen on a run is 179 (35yrs old bloke) and I thought I was about to cough a lung.

    *I say trained...but I ran on treadmills and span on bikes and it was as much use as tits on a fish. I could run 5 miles on the treadmill..and when it came to the first duathlon run, 5kms...I could not do it, at all.
  • Aviendha_RJ
    Aviendha_RJ Posts: 600 Member
    Have you been checked out for a heart murmor?

    I ask because I have one. And I run. And my HRM is sensitive enough to pick it up.

    According to my HRM my heart beats 210bpm when I run a 10 minute mile. In the danger zone for a stroke.

    According to my pulse, I'm at 140bpm. WAAAYYY in the safe zone.

    I still use my HRM but I know now that my actual heartrate is 2/3 of whatever it reads.
  • tross0924
    tross0924 Posts: 909 Member
    Too fast is when you pass out. Borderline too fast is light-headedness.

    Anything short of that and you're fine.

    ^^ This. Max heart rates vary by a HUGE margin.
  • 1capybara
    1capybara Posts: 162 Member
    Too fast is when you pass out. Borderline too fast is light-headedness.

    Anything short of that and you're fine.
    Medically accurate truth!
  • xX_Samantha_Xx
    xX_Samantha_Xx Posts: 166 Member
    I hit 180's and 190's during my crossfit classes. But I'm smart enough to know to slow down if I start to feel light headed. It is a shocker to see it on my HRM during workouts, though. I'm generally at 180's during my workouts.
  • dizzysmile
    dizzysmile Posts: 71 Member
    At the hardest I ever worked on C25K (also on a treadmill) it got to about 205. That was maybe once or twice, if I was having a bad run. 190 was much more common for when I was really pushing it to the max, but more commonly I was between 165-185.
  • running_free_1984
    running_free_1984 Posts: 115 Member
    Get a proper hrm and then check your heart rate. Gym equipment cant be as accurate, it used to give me silly readings. But my Garmin is amazing. I feel better now that i i know my average hr is about 165 on a long run where I'm pushing myself a lot. But i also know it might get as high as 187/190 too.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    Get a proper hrm and then check your heart rate. Gym equipment cant be as accurate, it used to give me silly readings. But my Garmin is amazing. I feel better now that i i know my average hr is about 165 on a long run where I'm pushing myself a lot. But i also know it might get as high as 187/190 too.

    How do you know that your garmin is more accurate?
  • mrslcoop
    mrslcoop Posts: 317 Member
    How far into the program are you? When I started my HRM read 180-190 bpm constantly. I tired out easy and I found it hard to keep my pace of 10 mins per mile. The closer I got to completing it and the more conditioned I became the lower my heart rate became. My heart rate during a 5K hovers between 165-175 now and keeping my target pace has become a lot easier. I’d say so long as you don’t have any medical conditions and you feel good (not dizzy or sick) keep going.
  • K_Serz
    K_Serz Posts: 1,299 Member
    I've been doing C25K. I do it on a treadmill at the gym. A couple of times i've gotten up to 190 bpm according to the hand sensors. Is that normal?? =\

    Its not ...

    abby-normal-20100825-171857.jpg
  • mrslcoop
    mrslcoop Posts: 317 Member
    Get a proper hrm and then check your heart rate. Gym equipment cant be as accurate, it used to give me silly readings. But my Garmin is amazing. I feel better now that i i know my average hr is about 165 on a long run where I'm pushing myself a lot. But i also know it might get as high as 187/190 too.

    How do you know that your garmin is more accurate?

    It’s not that hard to check the accuracy. A finger to your neck for 15 seconds times 4 will tell you how close the HRM is…. That was the first thing I did to know I could rely on my HRM.
  • Pangea250
    Pangea250 Posts: 965 Member
    I wouldn't go by those hand sensors. I've never found them to be even a little accurate. Check on your wrist or get a heart rate monitor to wear.

    Without having individualized testing (like a stress test) done, your can calculate your max heart rate to be 220 minus your age. That's what is considered the max to exercise at. Typically, people can't maintain that number for long, so I have read recommendations to shoot for 85% of that number for cardio work. When I run, I routinely hit 100%, but I'm 47 years old, so my max is only 173 bpm.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    Get a proper hrm and then check your heart rate. Gym equipment cant be as accurate, it used to give me silly readings. But my Garmin is amazing. I feel better now that i i know my average hr is about 165 on a long run where I'm pushing myself a lot. But i also know it might get as high as 187/190 too.

    How do you know that your garmin is more accurate?

    It’s not that hard to check the accuracy. A finger to your neck for 15 seconds times 4 will tell you how close the HRM is…. That was the first thing I did to know I could rely on my HRM.

    So gym machines mis-count actual HR, or cals burned while exercising?
  • scott091501
    scott091501 Posts: 1,260 Member
    DO NOT use 220 minus age. Horrible way to set zones. There are some really easy ways to do it. The easiest is a 30 minute field test outlined here:

    http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2009/11/quick-guide-to-setting-zones.html
  • Pangea250
    Pangea250 Posts: 965 Member
    I've been doing C25K. I do it on a treadmill at the gym. A couple of times i've gotten up to 190 bpm according to the hand sensors. Is that normal?? =\

    Its not ...

    abby-normal-20100825-171857.jpg
    LOVE the reference. One of my favorite movie quotes. "Abby who?" "Abby...normal??????"
  • Deadlay
    Deadlay Posts: 135 Member
    Sometimes those sensors will misread and show your HR skyrocket. As they say in medicine, treat the patient (or person) not the machine. Take a minute and count your HR on your wrist or neck and see what it actually is.

    Never trust a machine. They are planning to kill us all and take over the planet.
  • mrslcoop
    mrslcoop Posts: 317 Member
    Get a proper hrm and then check your heart rate. Gym equipment cant be as accurate, it used to give me silly readings. But my Garmin is amazing. I feel better now that i i know my average hr is about 165 on a long run where I'm pushing myself a lot. But i also know it might get as high as 187/190 too.

    How do you know that your garmin is more accurate?

    It’s not that hard to check the accuracy. A finger to your neck for 15 seconds times 4 will tell you how close the HRM is…. That was the first thing I did to know I could rely on my HRM.

    So gym machines mis-count actual HR, or cals burned while exercising?

    I didn't say that. Someone else did. All I said was it's not hard to verify that your HRM is accurate when you asked the question. I don’t use “machines” so someone else will have to speak to their accuracy.
  • Pangea250
    Pangea250 Posts: 965 Member
    DO NOT use 220 minus age. Horrible way to set zones. There are some really easy ways to do it. The easiest is a 30 minute field test outlined here:

    http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2009/11/quick-guide-to-setting-zones.html
    That's good for some down-to-it training, but the OP is doing C25K. She most likely isn't even able to run 30 minutes yet.
  • running_free_1984
    running_free_1984 Posts: 115 Member
    Get a proper hrm and then check your heart rate. Gym equipment cant be as accurate, it used to give me silly readings. But my Garmin is amazing. I feel better now that i i know my average hr is about 165 on a long run where I'm pushing myself a lot. But i also know it might get as high as 187/190 too.

    How do you know that your garmin is more accurate?

    i know my Garmin is more accurate than the particular equipment i used at the gym because the readings at the gym would bounce around and look insane! The readings given to my by my hrm make a lot more sense and reflect how i feel at any given time of my workout! If my heart were doing what the equipment at the gym thinks its doing i might actually die or already be dead, so yeah i do believe that it is more accurate for that reason!

    How bloody rude to presume to ask that question when this has been MY EXPERIENCE of the equipment I've used at the gym. This may not be others experience bit WTH it's a perfectly valid response given with the intention of exploring a potential issue.