Question about heart rate during exercise

T

txsqlchick

New member
I'm still a newbie when it comes to the "technical" side of working out, so I'm not really sure what the "best" heart rate is for me.

I've pegged my resting heart rate before in the "healthy" range, i.e. 70-80BPM. However, it takes very little to raise it into the 120s-130s. Climbing up a flight of stairs sometimes is all it takes. I don't know if that's bad or not.

When I work out on the elliptical, I sometimes have to slow down to keep my heart rate out of the "red" zone, which is 160BPM and over. I used to be able to get into the 170s with 10 minutes of moderate to vigorous effort on the elliptical, but now I really have to push to get it that high. I think this is a good thing, since I have to work harder to raise my heart rate to a level that previously did not take as much work to achieve.

On the machine is an indicator showing whether your heart rate is in the "weight loss" zone or the "cardiovascular" zone, or above. Mine is never in the "weight loss" zone, it's always at the top of the "cardiovascular" zone. If I'm above the "cardiovascular" zone, what's the physiological effect of that? Am I spinning my wheels? Should I slow down?

What are these zones? Should I care? My goal in working out is not just to lose weight, but to improve my cardiovascular fitness because of a family history of extreme hypertension and heart disease. I do want to get down to a healthy weight (it'll take about 85lbs more to get there) but more than that I want to have a healthy heart.

Am I working my ticker too hard? I'm 33, female, I weigh 236 (rounded up from 235.8), and I'm 5'5".
 
txsqlchick said:
I'm still a newbie when it comes to the "technical" side of working out, so I'm not really sure what the "best" heart rate is for me.

I've pegged my resting heart rate before in the "healthy" range, i.e. 70-80BPM. However, it takes very little to raise it into the 120s-130s. Climbing up a flight of stairs sometimes is all it takes. I don't know if that's bad or not.

When I work out on the elliptical, I sometimes have to slow down to keep my heart rate out of the "red" zone, which is 160BPM and over. I used to be able to get into the 170s with 10 minutes of moderate to vigorous effort on the elliptical, but now I really have to push to get it that high. I think this is a good thing, since I have to work harder to raise my heart rate to a level that previously did not take as much work to achieve.

On the machine is an indicator showing whether your heart rate is in the "weight loss" zone or the "cardiovascular" zone, or above. Mine is never in the "weight loss" zone, it's always at the top of the "cardiovascular" zone. If I'm above the "cardiovascular" zone, what's the physiological effect of that? Am I spinning my wheels? Should I slow down?

What are these zones? Should I care? My goal in working out is not just to lose weight, but to improve my cardiovascular fitness because of a family history of extreme hypertension and heart disease. I do want to get down to a healthy weight (it'll take about 85lbs more to get there) but more than that I want to have a healthy heart.

Am I working my ticker too hard? I'm 33, female, I weigh 236 (rounded up from 235.8), and I'm 5'5".
Click to expand...


Not sure if it will but hope this link helps

 
According to that calculator I'm blowing way past my "upper limit". My question wasn't so much what my ideal heart rate is (I can figure that out) but what the physiological effect is of exceeding it and wondering if I'm doing harm rather than good.
 
txsqlchick said:
According to that calculator I'm blowing way past my "upper limit". My question wasn't so much what my ideal heart rate is (I can figure that out) but what the physiological effect is of exceeding it and wondering if I'm doing harm rather than good.
Click to expand...

Oh, well sorry I couldn't help. Good luck finding what your looking for.
 
this tool:

is one of the better heart rate calculators i've found...

however, rather than getting too hung up on numbers - using the Rate of perceived exertion scale I feel is far better and allows you to work at your own pace rather than a one size fits all set of numbers that might not fit all people...



by using the rate of perceived exertion scale you're increasing your endurance.. and you are progressing.. without getting mired in details


*The Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE)
Use the RPE scale to estimate the intensity of your workout session.
Here's how the four levels are defined.
RPE 3-4 Easy to moderate; you should be able to maintain this level and carry on a conversation with minimal effort.
RPE 5-6 Moderate; you can maintain this level and have a conversation with some effort.
RPE 7-8 Difficult; maintaining this level and having a conversation requires quite a bit of effort.
RPE 8-9 Peak effort; you won't be able to maintain this level for more than 3-4 minutes; no-talking zone.
 
What Mal said. RPE. Your HR numbers won't really matter until you've reached a point where your body isn't going, "Ahhhhh. Wtf! PUMP THAT SHIT, QUICK."

If you can do it consistently without burning out (imo this means 12-13 RPE range, on the scale she provided, but what a lot of us call rpe 2-3 because the first 10 points don't mean anything relevant to exercise), then you're not overdoing it.

Out of shape = crazy high heart rates (explanation below). Plus, your basal rate is pretty high, and those machines usually don't factor in your resting rate, because they're dumb. Notice the calculator Mal linked you to asks for your RHR. This is because if your RHR is <50 like mine, then xx% of "max" is going to be very different than for someone possessing otherwise the same stats (male, my age, blah blah).

'Course, if you plug that all in, you get,

Based on an age of 33 and using the formula 226 - Age
Maximum Heart Rate (Calculated) = 193

% of Maximum Heart Rate Reserve*
Percent 60 sec. 10 sec. 60 sec. 10 sec.
------- ------- ------- ------- -------
100 193.0 32.2 193.0 32.2
95 183.3 30.6 187.1 31.2
90 173.7 28.9 181.2 30.2
85 164.0 27.3 175.3 29.2
80 154.4 25.7 169.4 28.2
75 144.7 24.1 163.5 27.2
70 135.1 22.5 157.6 26.3
65 125.4 20.9 151.7 25.3
60 115.8 19.3 145.8 24.3
55 106.1 17.7 139.9 23.3
Click to expand...

Which puts you in the 90% range, but this is fine. Beginners work at a much higher percentage of their maximum for extended periods than trainees of a greater "age" (this is true of weight training, endurance sports, pretty much everything). With time and conditioning this will not be the case. Until then, just keep on keepin' on. :)
 
Thanks for the answers guys; I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to stroke out or drop dead of a heart attack if I kept working out and putting my heart rate north of 170.

As long as I'm still doing myself good rather than harm, I'll keep doing what I'm doing!
 
Cool thread, I was looking at the number on the Eliciptical tonight and saw that I was pretty much always at the high end of the scale as well, averging around 156-164. good info thanks :)
 
Thanks too...

This was very helpful to me too because my heart rate spikes all the time on elliptical machine when I work out. Around the 165-174 range and I don't feel badly but my gym manager told me I was goinginto an "anabolic" range burning muscle???? If I am over the max HR for my age.

He calculated as 220-33 ( my age) x.85 = 159 Any truth to that???
 
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