Exceeding max heart rate?

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omma_to_3
omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I posted this on a thread I had started about jogging on a treadmill but it got lost in the thread. Opinions?

I do have an HRM. And sometimes I exceed by target MAX heartrate. I'm 37 so it should be 183, correct? I frequently exceed that on the longer running stretches - usually my max is between 186 and 192. How bad is that? It's usually only that high for a couple minutes, but I suspect it will happen more often as I lengthen the runs.

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  • helpmelose2011
    helpmelose2011 Posts: 125 Member
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    I'm not sure I know when I get close to 190's my chest starts to hurt. Be careful and listen to your body :) If your body's not giving you bad signs then I dont see any reason why it should bother you :)
  • byHISstrength
    byHISstrength Posts: 984 Member
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    I've wondering the same thing.
  • soccerella
    soccerella Posts: 623 Member
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    i always heard that its somewhere like 220 minus your age. So at 29, I'm not supposed to go over 191

    BUT i've been a college athelete (lacrosse and soccer) and ran several half marathons and have always been given a clean bill of health and never had a DR tell me something is wrong when I say my heart rate often shoots to 190 plus very quickly in my cardio workouts.
  • skylark94
    skylark94 Posts: 2,036 Member
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    I'm 36 and female. When I started running I could easily exceed a HR of 200 during my sprints. I think as long as you listen to what your body is telling you, you'll be okay.

    Edit to add- When I started running back in September 2011 my resting HR was 83. It is now 57. You may want to track your resting HR. It's a great measure of improvement in fitness.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    the calc to get your max HR is just a general calc, many peoples max HR's are either higher or lower then the calc suggests. If you are cleared medically for intense exercise, and you don't feel like passing out at high HR, then it is fine.
  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
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    My heart is always FINE...my lungs on the other hand LOL.
  • lizard053
    lizard053 Posts: 2,344 Member
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    It depends on the strength of your heart! Most people shouldn't exceed the max. More athletic people have no problem. Me, it hurts too much! I bounced up to a 195 yesterday and I thought I was going to pass out!
  • UpEarly
    UpEarly Posts: 2,555 Member
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    220 minus your age is a very rough estimate. Another formula recommends that women use 226 minus their age, as women typically have higher heart rates. That also creates a very rough estimate. Individuals' actual max heart rates vary widely.

    To know your *real* maximum heart rate, you would need to visit an athletic performance lab.
  • Sp1nGoddess
    Sp1nGoddess Posts: 1,138 Member
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    If you exceed your max heart rate you would probably be DEAD... : ) I think your real max is the actual HR number you achieved which was higher than the calculated MHR. There is a big debate and many methods of calculating your MHR. The best method is to get tested at a medical facility. You can test it yourself by doing a very hard run and seeing where you are - basically run to your maximum effort possible.

    http://completerunning.com/archives/2006/11/02/how-to-accurately-determine-your-maximum-heart-rate-have-an-out-of-body-experience-at-the-same-time/

    Good luck!
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
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    My husband and I just debated this. I thought "max heart rate" was the rate which you were not supposed to go over. He thought it was the actual physical limit. Sadly, he was right (he asked his doctor). The calculated ones are just a guess and often wrong. Your max heart rate is as high as your heart rate will go, so 192ish, looks like. I hate it when he's right.
  • NovemberJune
    NovemberJune Posts: 2,525 Member
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    I agree that the formula is just a guess. My HR goes over my supposed Max a lot too, and I feel like I'm working hard but not THAT hard. I also think this means our HRMs over-estimate calories burned for us...? Does anyone know about that?
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
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    I posted this on a thread I had started about jogging on a treadmill but it got lost in the thread. Opinions?

    I do have an HRM. And sometimes I exceed by target MAX heartrate. I'm 37 so it should be 183, correct? I frequently exceed that on the longer running stretches - usually my max is between 186 and 192. How bad is that? It's usually only that high for a couple minutes, but I suspect it will happen more often as I lengthen the runs.

    If your heart rate went to 192 then your max heart rate is 192 (or more). 183 is the HRM's best guess. Everybody ends up being a little different.
  • mewaybright
    mewaybright Posts: 240 Member
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    I posted this on a thread I had started about jogging on a treadmill but it got lost in the thread. Opinions?

    I do have an HRM. And sometimes I exceed by target MAX heartrate. I'm 37 so it should be 183, correct? I frequently exceed that on the longer running stretches - usually my max is between 186 and 192. How bad is that? It's usually only that high for a couple minutes, but I suspect it will happen more often as I lengthen the runs.

    226 - your age is just a general heart rate and does not take into account your fitness level. Try this method:
    But, for exercisers, the typical way we calculate MHR is with the formula 220-age. This formula is a bit controversial because it doesn't reflect the differences in heart rate according to age. A more accurate formula, offered in a study published in the journal, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, is 206.9 - (0.67 x age).
  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
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    Thanks all. I too was thinking the max heart rate was not the actual physical limits of how fast your heart COULD beat, but the maximum that it SHOULD beat - ie the max you should safely shoot for.
  • rbrannock
    rbrannock Posts: 169
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    I'm curious about this too. My resting heart rate is actually very slow, as is my dad's and my son's...so I'm guessing its a hereditary thing. They even did an EKG on me at one point b/c it was so slow....about 52 BPM..resting. So with that being said, would that change what my max HR is? If you do the 220 - my age, which is 35, my max HR is 185....and according to my HRM I get in the 90% range, but as soon as I'm done it drops back down quickly.
  • solpwr
    solpwr Posts: 1,039 Member
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    My husband and I just debated this. I thought "max heart rate" was the rate which you were not supposed to go over. He thought it was the actual physical limit. Sadly, he was right (he asked his doctor). The calculated ones are just a guess and often wrong. Your max heart rate is as high as your heart rate will go, so 192ish, looks like. I hate it when he's right.

    This is correct. Max HR is your personal maximum heart rate that your heart will beat in a normal sinus rhythm. It is useful to know the number so that you can also know your aerobic and anaerobic thresholds. It is beneficial to also know your resting HR to better discover your thresholds. This site will help give you some basic numbers: http://www.stevenscreek.com/goodies/hr.shtml

    Infrequently I get palpitations during exercise, and my HRM indicates a rate well over 200 bpm, but this isn't a valid number, due to the non-sinus rhythm.

    The resting HR is probably the best indicator of true fitness. Mine is in the low 50's now. In October it was 38. It's amazing how a few months of not maintaining a full training schedule can degrade fitness. When I was in shape, I could not get my HR very near my max of 169, I sustained 162 for a few minutes during a mountian bike race in September. But now my HR goes higher faster, and doesn't recover as quickly.

    When my fitness peaked in 2011, my HR would drop from mid 150's to under 90 in less than a minute. Edit: I'm referring to Recovery Heart Rate. This is the difference between your HR during vigorous activity your HR after ceasing the activity.
  • marielladear
    marielladear Posts: 28
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    Hmmm this is worrying for me :/, when I work out I'm usually in the 200's :S I'm 17 sooo that's normal right?
    If yes, then I see, nothing wrong with exceeding maximum heart rate...
  • iambatman41
    iambatman41 Posts: 37
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    http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/calculator_target.asp

    The Karvonen Heart Rate Formula

    This formula uses your resting heart rate (RHR) to calculate your max heart rate. 50% to 60% for beginners and 75% to 85% for advanced fitness levels.

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