So whats your maximum heart rate?

[fenlandpsychocyclist]

I've been using a garmin forerunner 305 for two years now and have checked my "resting heart rate" and "thrashing up a hill on a mountain bike" heart rate. (I'm 41, 5'6" and 190 pounds).

Minimum: 48 bpm
Maximum: 190bpm

I usually ride around 150bpm-165bpm range.


Just a quick question really ... as (hopefully) my health improves, would the numbers
change much?

 

[screenman]

Mine was tested at 192 in 1996.

 

[amaferanga]

Why do you want to know? It doesn't mean anything really. It's certainly not something you should be willy waving about if that's what you're doing.

 

[HLaB]

I'm 36 fwiw and my Garmin usually maxes out in the high 190s, I use 199bpm (I was regularly just below that last year and hit it once), a few time I've hit substantially higher up to 240bpm but I suspect interference. My average resting HR is 66bpm but I don't know how accurate that is (I think I laid on the bed for 1/2 an hour so I doubt thats accurate at all ). Going by the 220-age I have to be 21! Reading up I've a higher HR than all the formulas!

 

[Zoiders]

Never ask the heart rate question as people are influenced by what they read about the pros.

In short people fib, it's like asking about average or "crusing" speeds on the bike.

 

[fenlandpsychocyclist]

Oops ... dunno what happened but my original post had a line missing and the question i wanted to ask wasn't there.

Please re-read.

 

[Blue]

I've been using a garmin forerunner 305 for two years now and have checked my "resting heart rate" and "thrashing up a hill on a mountain bike" heart rate. (I'm 41, 5'6" and 190 pounds).
Minimum: 48 bpm
Maximum: 190bpm
I usually ride around 150bpm-165bpm range.
Just a quick question really ... as (hopefully) my health improves, would the numbers
change much?

No, however, if you do a little research and discover the value of the figures you may be able to calculate your HR training zones and then alter your training in such a way that a lot of hard work may enable you to shift the thresholds that exist between the two figures - a little!

 

[Nebulous]

I lost a lot of weight and increased my fitness quite a bit last year. My resting heart rate dropped a lot, certainly more than 10 beats per minute, but if my maximum changed I didn't manage to detect it!

 

[Eoin Rua]

The fitter you become the lower your resting HR will be...with maximum HR it depends, the 220 minus age refers to maximum sustainable rate, but it can go beyond that - at the end of rowing races my HR would commonly be around 230, while a friend of mine struggled to get his HR above 180, he was a rower and ultra-marathon runner

 

[screenman]

The 220 minus age is rubbish and has nothing to do with sustainable rate, that is down to fitness. It is unlikely that your maximum will do anything but decrease as you age, however with the right level of exercise and rest your resting heart rate could lower. Judging by your 48 you are already not unfit, I would say average for UK adult would be more likely 70+

The figures often seen between 220 and 240 on some HRM is caused by outside influences, electric pylons etc.

 

[Red Light]

The 220 minus age is rubbish and has nothing to do with sustainable rate, that is down to fitness.

Awww.....trust you to go and spoil it. I was enjoying the fact that my MHR said I was still 21 after all these years according to the formula.

 

[Becs]

Your maximum heart rate is essentially set genetically but training will alter how much exercise you can do before you hit maximum (unfit and obese may hit it with a fast walk, fit person may need to sprint etc). Also the recovery of your heart rate from max will be shorter as you get fitter. Resting heart rate will change with fitness, but at 48 yours is already good so I wouldn't expect much of a change in rate with further training but perhaps a lowering of blood pressure though.

 

[TheSandwichMonster]

Never ask the heart rate question as people are influenced by what they read about the pros.

In short people fib, it's like asking about average or "crusing" speeds on the bike.

One of my reasons behind getting a turbo trainer, other than the obvious ability to ride inside, was to be able to perform controlled fitness/HR tests. After getting it last week, one of the first things that I did the following day (after properly warming up) was to do me a max HR ramp test.

And you know what, I was gutted! I expected to be up into the 190's easily, and I actually cr*pped out at 186. My resting is around 60bpm, but I expected to be able to get higher than that, but I also reckon I probably didn't go hard enough on the test right at the end. I'll try again in a week or so to see if I can bully myself a little bit harder!

 

[steve52]

eek slow down guys you only have so many beats and then its game over for those with no sence of irony this is not quite true

 

[GrumpyGregry]

What is the point in chasing a higher max HR?