Exceeding Heart Rate range question

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marnijojo
marnijojo Posts: 235 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
When I exercise it is really difficult for me to keep my heart rate within the recommended range - I usually am running too high. Is this a problem? Am I not burning calories as efficiently as if I stay within the recommended range? Thanks for any advise you can give me.

Replies

  • cinico
    cinico Posts: 294 Member
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    bump! I hope someone answers, I like you I a hard time keeping my hr down with my workouts
  • luv2ash
    luv2ash Posts: 1,903 Member
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    I run too high as well, but I feel great! Its not like I am dying or feel like I am about to pass out.
  • xHelloQuincyx
    xHelloQuincyx Posts: 884 Member
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    I run too high as well, but I feel great! Its not like I am dying or feel like I am about to pass out.

    how does that answer the question?..


    i want to know the real answer too
  • Mike523
    Mike523 Posts: 393 Member
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    I run too high as well, but I feel great! Its not like I am dying or feel like I am about to pass out.

    how does that answer the question?..


    i want to know the real answer too

    That was a bit harsh, don't you think? This is a discussion forum, and this person was discussing her experience.

    If anything it helps by keeping the topic near the top of the page where maybe someone with an answer will see it.
  • Sumo813
    Sumo813 Posts: 566 Member
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    When I exercise it is really difficult for me to keep my heart rate within the recommended range - I usually am running too high. Is this a problem? Am I not burning calories as efficiently as if I stay within the recommended range? Thanks for any advise you can give me.

    If you're running "too high", you just want to be careful because you could potentially put added stress on your heart, depending on your conditioning. Believe it or not, you can find some articles (scary ones) out there about the stress a marathon can put on your heart. Which is interesting since you'd think Marathon runners are the epitome of healthy.

    Men's Health recommends staying at 65%-85% of your max HR. Of course, this might be different for women, but I wouldn't expect much of a difference if there is.

    The great thing is that this is an easy topic to find things on, most of which are pretty much saying the same thing. Here's a couple that I've found in the past that could be beneficial for you. The 2nd one is a pretty cool calculator because it actually gives you several "zones" that you might fall in. I think that it may provide a fairly decent answer to your question. :)

    http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/healthtool-target-heart-rate-calculator

    http://www.changingshape.com/resources/calculators/targetheartratecalculator.asp

    http://www.healthyforms.com/helpful-tools/target-heart-rate.php
  • Lola_B
    Lola_B Posts: 19 Member
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    Hi! I'm not a medical or fitness expert, so I'm just speaking from my own experience and what I've been told by my personal trainers in the past.

    First of all, which target heart range are you referring to? If you're talking about staying in what they call the "weight loss" or "fat burning" zone, then you definitely have nothing to worry about. The weight loss zone just means that you're burning a greater ration of calories from fat BUT it doesn't mean you're burning more calories overall. If you're planning to, say, walk 5 miles no matter how long it takes you, it might be worth doing it at a lower intensity. The reality, however, is that you're probably exercising for a set amount of time (not distance), and in that case you're best off burning the greatest number of calories overall.

    If you're talking about your heart rate getting into the 220+ range, you should talk to your doctor -- it's unlikely that you could sustain that rate, and it could be a sign of an underlying problem.

    On another note, I've read a number of studies and heard from a variety of trainers that interval training is a great way to boost your fitness level and get off a plateau. So, you might want to try working out at say 180 beats/min for 5 minutes, then lowering your intensity to 130, and back and forth.

    Hope that helps!
  • cjnorman
    cjnorman Posts: 93
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    If I stay in the correct range I don't feel like I am working at all. I think it has something to do with my resting heart rate (usually 90 - 100). I think they should give you a range based on increasing your resting heart rate not based on age.
  • anniekins76
    anniekins76 Posts: 1 Member
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    I also run a really high heart rate - and it's just something that some people do I'm afraid. I know some people have said that it's linked to resting heart rate but I'm not sure that can be the case as my resting heart rate is 58. When I run at about 9km/hr my heart rate goes up to about 200 and stays there.

    As long as you feel okay while you're exercising you should be okay. You will probably find it decreases as you get fitter - mine has, even if only slightly. Doing lots of interval training where it goes VERY high for a minute, and then you decrease it for 2-3 minutes should help your cardiovascular fitness and that should start to bring your heart rate down on normal exercise.

    Hope that helps a little!
  • BigBoneSista
    BigBoneSista Posts: 2,389 Member
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    Here is a good article about the 5 different heart rate zones and how to figure your individual heart rate out.

    http://www.howtobefit.com/five-heart-rate-zones.htm
  • marnijojo
    marnijojo Posts: 235 Member
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    Wow, thanks for all the quick responses. I knew I could count on MFP to help me out on this one. I will take a look at these websites too. Thanks again.
  • JHRSr58
    JHRSr58 Posts: 14
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    http://www.thewalkingsite.com/thr.html

    TRAINING ZONES

    Healthy Heart Zone (Warm up) --- 50 - 60% of maximum heart rate: The easiest zone and probably the best zone for people just starting a fitness program. It can also be used as a warm up for more serious walkers. This zone has been shown to help decrease body fat, blood pressure and cholesterol. It also decreases the risk of degenerative diseases and has a low risk of injury. 85% of calories burned in this zone are fats!

    Fitness Zone (Fat Burning) --- 60 - 70% of maximum heart rate: This zone provides the same benefits as the healthy heart zone, but is more intense and burns more total calories. The percent of fat calories is still 85%.

    Aerobic Zone (Endurance Training) --- 70 - 80% of maximum heart rate: The aerobic zone will improve your cardiovascular and respiratory system AND increase the size and strength of your heart. This is the preferred zone if you are training for an endurance event. More calories are burned with 50% from fat.

    Anaerobic Zone (Performance Training) --- 80 - 90% of maximum heart rate: Benefits of this zone include an improved VO2 maximum (the highest amount of oxygen one can consume during exercise) and thus an improved cardiorespiratory system, and a higher lactate tolerance ability which means your endurance will improve and you'll be able to fight fatigue better. This is a high intensity zone burning more calories, 15 % from fat.

    Red Line (Maximum Effort) --- 90 - 100% of maximum heart rate: Although this zone burns the highest number of calories, it is very intense. Most people can only stay in this zone for short periods. You should only train in this zone if you are in very good shape and have been cleared by a physician to do so.

    So the real answer is what you are trying to accomplish determines the rate you should attempt. I personally attempt the highest level that I can sustain for about 50 minutes. If it is too high to maintain for any time I'll quit and burn too few calories over all and I'll build up more lactic acid in the muscles than I like. If the intensity is too low and easy then I'm not burning as many calories as I would like and I'm wasting time that I could spend burning more calories.

    As long as you are healthy (no heart problems) I believe the heart rate monitor is a good tool but exercising to the highest level that you can maintain for the time you have to work out is the best level of effort to attempt. The monitor can be used over a period of time to determine if your fitness is improving (resting rate dropping and your cool down period is becoming less). Finally, my approach will work even if your monitor is not all that accurate as you are more interested in the trend differences than and "exactly what is my heart rate?"
  • AmeMahoney
    AmeMahoney Posts: 232
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    Besides the training and your goals, and the "heart rate zones" that have already been discussed, you should talk to your doctor and make sure you don't have any heart trouble before pushing yourself to such a high level. Keeping your heart rate at an excessively high rate can cause damage and issues, especially if you've already got a defect (heart murmer or irregular heart beat, for example). It can also kill you in very extreme cases if it is really, really high and you have an issue.

    When I first started running, I came close to passing out several times just because it was so hard for me (and I was doing the 30 minutes in 10 weeks starter program). I wouldn't recommend staying so high that you feel like you are going to pass out, or even so high that you are gasping and wearing yourself out, especially if you're older than, say, 20 (which I think I was at the time, but you know how memory gets later...). I really don't believe that working yourself half to death is good for you.And that's only because I injured myself a lot of times before I figured it out.
  • JHRSr58
    JHRSr58 Posts: 14
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    EXACTLY! Any exercise program should start with a doctor visit first. And as I stated, if I can't maintain it for an extended time (50 minutes in most of my cases) then I slow down to where I can make it. The only time I exceed this is when I'm doing interval training or working out for a very short duration and I've cleared my health with my doctor before starting my exercise program. Dizziness and "starting to pass out" is a sure sign you've passed where you can do the exercise for an extended time duration.

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