Heart Rate

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girlruns
girlruns Posts: 344
in Fitness and Exercise
For those who are in the know on such things, does your max heart rate get higher the fitter you are? I know the "quick" rule is 220-age which puts my max at 195 (soon to be 194). After my runs, my heart rate monitor puts me at an average of 165ish with a max of 175ish which is 84% to 89%--apparently the threshold you should be working out at. However, after a solid year of workouts, and 40 pounds of weight loss, I feel like maybe my max would be higher and therefore I should be working out at a higher intensity. Any insight would be appreciated!

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  • Randee75
    Randee75 Posts: 234
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    I am getting my HRM delivered tonight and I really want more info too.
  • DianaPowerUp
    DianaPowerUp Posts: 518 Member
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    According to the trainers in our gym, people now have learned that your "max heart rate" is genetic, and not a # that you can change by exercising, and is not age dependant (altho, yes, like everything, your heart will slow down the older you are).

    Periodically, they do what's called a "submax test" - it's a way to figure out what your genetic max heart rate is, so you can program your HRM accurately. Since it does go off of perceived exhaustion, there is some user error in it, inherently, and after you're in the gym for a while, you have to "tweak" your #. In any case, sure, you can get your heart more fit, and get your hr as high as possible, and then see how quickly you recover. The quicker the recovery, the more fit you are, cardio - wise.

    I hope that kind of helps! Oh, and to answer your question - no, your max hr does not get higher with more exercise, but your recovery time will lessen.
  • Baregravity
    Baregravity Posts: 11 Member
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    hmm heart rate is a tricky subject. it truly depends on what your objective is. I have learned a lot about the heart rate in the past few months. currently, i am following Dr Maffetone's 180-age Heart Rate. this rate is his theory on the threshold between aerobic and anaerobic activity. which by the charts typically seen in gyms, i would be at around 60%. i actually have a blog "what i learned..." on that subject if you want to read it to understand his approach. but aside from that, intensity if done consistently, the body will adjust, (which is what i think you are experiencing, and thus why p90x is so popular today, preventing the body from adjusting, or mixing it up, which is just a variation of cross training) and the heart should become stronger at that point, so you should be able to do more work at the same rate, or more efficient. but either way you approach you should have a max limit on your heart rate or you could do damage to it in the long run.
  • Tomhusker
    Tomhusker Posts: 346 Member
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    I don't hit my max heart rate. I maintain it in a range of between 60% and 80% of my perceived max heart rate. This figures out to between 103 and 137 (220-48=172, then 172 *.60 or 172*.80). This is said to be the weight loss range. That's what I am in it for.
  • girlruns
    girlruns Posts: 344
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    Thanks all! Some good things to learn.
  • schobert101
    schobert101 Posts: 218 Member
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    Your maximum heartrate is genetically determined and not a function of fitness. You cannot change it by working out etc.

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