Heart rate of upto 170BPM. Normal?

Slim Col

Slim Col

New member
Earlier today I did my daily exercise-bike workout and I used the tachometer for the first time. What I learned surprised me. My heart rate began at around 60BPM and steadily rose to a peak of 172. It remained in between 160 and 170 for the duration of the workout; this was at a speed of about 25-30 kilometres per hour.

Is this normal and what does it mean in terms of the amount of calories I'm losing?
 
Your target heart rate is purely indivual. It depends on your age, your resting heart rate and how fit you are. This comes from the American Heart Association:
For me, I should be between 93 and 157. Rarely am I there while I am exercising (ie: cardio). I have always heard that the higher your BPM, the more calories you are burining, but if you get your HR up TOO high, you are headed for a stroke. I wouldn't worry too much about a HR of 172. Others here may have more science to back this up or disprove it, but IMO, you're ok.
 
there are target heart rate calculators all over the web... or you could get an heart rate monitor and really keep track...

My HRM monitor tells me that the higher my heart rate, the more calories I'm buring, however, to get my heart rate higher, I have to bump up the incline or the speedon the treadmill...

If you google "fat burning zone" you'll get tons of conflicting information that says you should or shouldn't work within a specific heart rate in order to burn the most fat...

Bottom line, in my opinion, is that cardio is good for your heart and helps strengthen the heart, and that's why you should be doing it - don't get so hung up on the number of calories being burned or fat zone or whatever..> Just focus on working hard and progressively harder (in 6 months time, you don't want to be working at the same level you are now) and you'll get to where you want to be
 
The lovely BrunetteGoddess asked a question in her diary recently about how high a heart rate should go...

my response there pretty much applies here to :

Long article short
Bottom line: Vary your intensities, work as hard as you comfortably can, and—most importantly—stick to your cardio workouts for the rest of your life. You’ll get fit, lose fat and help keep it off.
Click to expand...
 
Great advice there, maleficent!

To be honest, I'm not that bothered about whether my heart-rate is affecting the amount of calories I'm burning during exercise. I'm more concerned about whether this is bad for my health and putting me at risk in any way. According to Runningjunkie's link, my heart rate is about right for my age; twenty nine. The average maximum heart-rate for that age is 191. Also, I've been doing daily exercise for a total of six months.

"After six months or more of regular exercise, you may be able to exercise comfortably at up to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate."
 
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