Heart rate while exercising

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cyan_skye23
cyan_skye23 Posts: 7 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
How high is too high for your heart rate while working out? Hubs is freaking out saying I'm pushing too hard with a rate of 185 on the elliptical. I am 33 yo female. I felt perfectly fine besides the usual sweaty and winded. Idk what's considered normal. Any ideas?

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  • JButlerEagle
    JButlerEagle Posts: 45 Member
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    Maybe a bit high.... here's a chart. http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/PhysicalActivity/FitnessBasics/Target-Heart-Rates_UCM_434341_Article.jsp#.V0EMoXry2-w
  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,209 Member
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    If you feel fine, your HR is not too high.. unless a doctor told you otherwise. :+1:
  • hill8570
    hill8570 Posts: 1,466 Member
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    Unless you have a medical problem, heart rate is self limiting. If you feel OK, don't worry about it.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
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    rwible23 wrote: »
    How high is too high for your heart rate while working out?

    1 + your maximum heart rate. When you get near it, you'll get really exhausted and it will be very hard to continue. Maybe you'll get tunnel vision, I did once while doing a test to find my max HR. Basically your body will force you to back off before you have a heart attack, assuming you're a normal, relatively healthy person and not on any drugs that would affect this, or don't have any medical conditions that would affect your heart.

    I've been able to get mine into the 190s. Not in a while, but you're doing 185 bpm which is not at all outside the normal range for a hard effort.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    If you feel fine then you are fine.

    I tested my max HR (176bpm - I'm old!) in a sports science lab as part of a VO2 max test and I can tell you I certainly didn't feel fine!!

    It certainly wasn't sustainable so if you can sustain 185 carry on. There's a very wide range of "normal" and you can't really compare person to person.



  • FitToLead
    FitToLead Posts: 275 Member
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    I agree. In my late 40's I sustained a HR of over 176 for 4 hours while hiking mountains. And then continued for another 6 hours that day, and 3 more days of hiking - though not at such consistently high HR. I was fine. You are 15 years younger than I was.

    Everyone really does have their own max heart rate, and like most of the others have said, you really would know if you are getting close to max, cos, max is max - nothing, I mean nothing left in the tank, it doesn't sound like you are in that state at all. I've only ever been close once cycling up hills.

    Its 10 years later, in my late 50's, and I've gained about 88 pounds, yet in recent trips to the gym with my physio he was commenting that I must have a high Max HR, cos I can work up into the 170's - which is taxing - but I recover quickly, get onto the next exercise, and feel fantastic for the rest of the day, and into the next.
  • FitToLead
    FitToLead Posts: 275 Member
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    Having said all that, I think Phil Mafftone's work is the most useful I have ever read on building heart strength. It flies against common protocols, but I have cycling buddies in their 50's who have come back form significant injuries or illness, gone onto his program- which did drive them mad a bit at first - and when they started racing again, or doing big rides, they were faster than they had ever been because their hearts were so strong. https://philmaffetone.com/want-speed-slow-down/
  • Anaris2014
    Anaris2014 Posts: 138 Member
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    I was about your age, running 5km (about 15-18 minutes of which was at 180bpm or higher), twice a day, 7 days a week. I started worrying about my heart too. Ended up seeing a GP and cardiologist and both told me I was fine.

    I would do the same on an elliptical on days that it was to wet to run, or I just felt like a change.

    If you are at all worried, talk to a Doctor and ignore us armchair experts.
  • markrgeary1
    markrgeary1 Posts: 853 Member
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    Anaris2014 wrote: »

    If you are at all worried, talk to a Doctor and ignore us armchair experts.

    Nominated for the "Best Comment on the Internet - Ever" award.
  • ACSL3
    ACSL3 Posts: 623 Member
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    When I first started working out I could sustain a heart rate in the high 180s. I couldn't feel it, but did start feeling poor if I stayed in the 190s. As I keep working out its slowly decreasing and now I'm generally in the low 170s.

    I talked to a cardiologist just to be sure because my friend was concerned. He did a EKG and said I was fine and not to worry. It may help you and your husband to do the same - just for peace of mind if nothing else. Anything dealing with the heart is scary so I can understand why your husband is concerned.

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