Heart rate Resting and Heart Rate going up a bloody big Hill ???

[Grayduff]

Before you say anything yes i am going to see the Doctor next week However i wanted to see whether my good friends on this forum have had some issues related to mine.
I have been cycling for just over two years 100-150 miles a week and now during the not so nice weather i have been Spinning and Turbo training a couple times a week as well as a 40 mile ride with the club on a Sunday. The reason for the question is that i was told by another spinning compatriot that i should get my resting heart rate checked and he thought that my Max heart rate was to high also.
I am 50 years old and my max heart rate can go up to about 178 according to my heart rate monitor when working at almost full gas, however despite this i feel fine, the only time i suffer more is when i go up big/biggish hills 18/23% gradient over 10/15 minutes but i do recover quickly, it was suggested that this is ok ish but i should check my resting heart rate...i have now done this on 4 waking occasions and it is around 52 ...Should i be worrying or am i just a little fitter than i think i am just .crap at going up hills

 

[Dogtrousers]

I have a HRM although I don't use it all the time, I find it can be diverting/interesting. Off the top of my head those figures look entirely normal to me. Unless, of course, we both suffer from the same hideous problem. By all means ask your doc about it.

 

[User269]

I don't think your experience is unusual or pathological given a good level of fitness. My max HR is 187, resting 56, and I'm sure many more of us here will be saying much the same thing.

 

[Panter]

Looks OK to me.
Your max is better than mine, resting is about the same.

Unless we're all dying of course!

 

[DWiggy]

That looks very much like mine, I'm 37 I have a resting heart rate of around 48-50bpm with my max topping out around 175-180bpm and I've never felt this fit in all my life...looks good to me but if in doubt check it out!

 

[berty bassett]

i am nearly 50 with resting hr roughly 50 max hr 178 - what ever it is - ive got it too - must be a computer virus

 

[screenman]

58 and resting below 50 and a max of 182, but not much fun right up there.

 

[BSRU]

Sounds like they're talking sh!te to me, my max HR is 188.
You are probably just bad at going up very steep hills, like many cyclists(including myself)

 

[jefmcg]

I think your friend is an idiot. It's right in there amongst the estimated values for someone your age.


http://www.digifit.com/heartratezones/maximum-heart-rate.asp

BTW, it drops as you get older, so if his is lower it may (completely uneducated supposition) be that your heart is in better shape than his.

 

[ColinJ]

I can't see what the problem is supposed to be with your heart rate? The low is not particularly low, and the high not particularly high. When I was younger, my figures were nearly 20 bpm lower at the low end and 20 bpm higher at the high end and I did not have any heart problems.

The maximum does tend to drop with age. Some people reckon by about 1 bpm/year. By that, my maximum should be less than 180 bpm now but I have not checked for years. I might stick some new batteries in my HRM to see what my numbers are now.

I know my minimum is much higher now, probably in the 50s. It was disconcerting when it was low because when lying in bed I could really notice the near 2 second interval between beats.

 

[Rob3rt]

I wouldn't be bothering the doctor...

 

[Grayduff]

Thanks for the input guys i think i will stop drinking the double Expressos now, I feel a lot better and you are right BSRU i am crap at Hills and Rob3rt priceless as always

 

[tincaman]

53yrs and max rate of 185, resting at 50, all looks good to me.

 

[Mo1959]

My resting when I am in bed and totally relaxed often drops to mid thirties. Waiting on a heart rate monitor being delivered and may use it occasionally out of curiosity and to maybe see if working heart rate gradually drops as I get fitter but it's not something that I want to get hung up over.

 

[chewa]

I'm 53, my resting is 38-40 and i can still get to just over 180 when climbing. I don't feel stressed (too much) at that and do recover quickly. I used to donate platelets and they had to take my pulse immediately I entered the building as if I sat down for a few minutes my pulse rate dropped below the minimum allowed for a donation. Eventually they put a note on my file about the amount of cycling I did.

I mentioned it (my upper limit) to my doc (not on a specific visit but when there for something else) and he reckoned not to worry about it, just 40 odd years of regular exercise had allowed me to cope with that.

When I got my Garmin 800 I started using the HRM setting at the recommended figures for my age but got sick of the alarm going off so have stopped using it regularly . I just use the cadence function and my local LBS owner (and veteran racer) says he doesn't train using a HRM anymore - he uses power meters as (older than me) his HRM figures mean nothing anyway.

I only use a HRM occasionally now - too easy to get hung up on the figures.