Heart rate question

How did you establish your training zones? Do a lactate threshold heartrate test, next best to lab testing.

How do you feel at a heart rate of 155-165? I'm 49 and feel fine working out in the 140's but if I go above 150 it's not sustainable for more than a few minutes at a time.

Also, are you doing intervals and hitting 155-165 during the hard part? Or are you doing steady state cardio and staying at that level for a long time? Intervals pretty much require going well above any target zone for part of the time.

@shiley393 How long have you been doing cardio work 3 times weekly?

I am 47 now, and when I first started incorporating cardio into my workouts I was the same way. I was hitting 160+ at times. I had to concentrate to keep mine below 160 or stop to allow it to go back down. What I found was that my heart just needed time to get stronger. I wasn't used to the stress. So I slowed down a bit and tried to stay below 160.. mid 155's or low 150's at most. I also started taking a good Omega-3 Fish oil supplement which seemed to really help as well. Over the period of a few months I could sustain more and more without going above say 155. Now I can max out my machine's resistance settings, hammer that thing as hard as I can for 30 minutes in the mornings and stay at 155 or less. It took time. It's ok to get your HR up high, but that should be your queue to slow down a bit and allow it to go back down. Your breathing will help as well.. when your HR gets high some people with take shorter quicker breaths and it'll reduce the oxygen you're receiving and it'll increase your HR. Slow down your breathing, slow down your effort, take deeper breaths and try and keep your HR a bit lower. Just my .02, I'm no expert.

shiley393 wrote: »

Hi--I'm 54 years old, 5'5" and 188 lbs. I have a Polar hrm, which says my target zone is 110 to 141. Once I get into a workout, no matter what I do, my heart goes well into the 155-165 zone. I assume that's normal, but is it beneficial to burning calories being out of the zone? There's no way to keep my heart rate at 141 without feeling like I'm crawling!

The polar-defined "zones" are based on a 220-age maximum heart rate estimate. At least 1/3 of the population has a true maximum heart rate that is 15-35 beats above that number.

Polar can't go into that nuance because for liability reasons, their information has to be strictly within the most widely-accepted guidelines. Which means that most of what they tell you is wrong.

Work out. Pay attention to your breathing and perceived exertion. If you were talking on the phone and whoever was on the other end could notice your increased breathing, but you could carry on an extended conversation with little effort--that's your minimum. If you not only can barely gasp two words between breaths, but have great difficulty even concentrating on the conversation, that's the maximum.

Do something in between. Notice your heart rates at different levels of exertion. Determine your own "zones".

Put yourself in charge of the HRM, not the other way around.

shiley393 wrote: »

JeromeBarry1 wrote: »

@shiley393 How long have you been doing cardio work 3 times weekly?

Yes, I've been doing cardio at least 3 times a week, usually for 45-60 minutes at a time. I'm either doing the elliptical, treadmill or a combo of both

I'm hoping to learn how many days, weeks, months or years you've been working at this level of exertion in your cardio.

I've noticed that when I started cardio work on a treadmill after years or months or weeks of not doing it, my heart would reach higher highs during the high intensity intervals, and higher lows during the low intensity intervals. After a few weeks of consistently doing the cardio on the treadmill, I could see that the high intensity intervals were producing lower high heart rates and the low intensity intervals were producing lower low heart rates. I deduced that my regular exertions were improving my cardiovascular conditioning. As I've lost 90+ lb in the past year, I'm quite amused to find that my resting heart rate was last measured a few weeks ago at 50 bpm. I'm also 54.