Max Heart Rate

[WobbleWobble]

I'm moderately active, I play ice hockey once or twice a week and I go the the gym once a week as well. I'm 25, 5'11", 205lbs and consider myself overweight, but I don't consider myself obese as BMI would indicate. I just measured my resting heart rate to be 72.

So I've been trying to push myself at the gym these days, going for heavier weights and such. I normally do about 45 minutes worth of weights and then do 15 minutes of cardio. These days, I've been finding myself liking the Stairmaster and normalyl do it at a comfortable level, where my heart rate (measured by the device) goes up to 180-185. I've been looking at pushing myself more, so the other day my heart rate was hitting 195 after about 7-8 minutes of high intensity. I wasn't dizzy or didn't feel weird, but I thought that it was a bit high and decided to stop.

Would it have been bad for me to continue since I was feeling fine? If 195 isn't a dangerous heart rate for me, what would be?

 

[QuantumPion]

My guess is that it would be totally dependent on your particular body and asking anyone other then your doctor for advice would be pointless

Personally, when my heart rate goes over 185 I start to feel tingly in my extremities and get light headed, at which point I decide to slow down. I'm around your age and build as well.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

I would personally train at heart rates lower than that, since it's close to max. Generally, I get a good sweat at 150bpm. You should ask your doctor though.

 

[Capt Caveman]

I wouldn't be concerned about hitting a max heart rate. When running or mtbing and pushing myself, I've hit into the 190's bpm. Your body will only be able to keep it up for short period of time before forcing you to slow down.

 

[yelo333]

I've always wanted to see 200 on the meter, I think I got it up to 198 a few years back...The tricky thing is it gets harder the more in shape you are so the more you try the harder it is.

 

[kamper]

I've hit 191 with no apparent side effects, other than being really friggin tired. I figure I could get to maybe 195 if I was really in the mood for pain but most of the time I don't go over 185. For longer runs (10-20k) I average about 160-170 but that hasn't gone down as I've gotten into better shape, I just run faster.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

OP - your 72 resting heart rate is exactly average, so no concerns there. If you're concerned, ask your doctor about getting examined for potentially undiagnosed heart conditions.

I find it hard to believe that you'd be able to work out at 195bpm for 7-8 minutes; I'm guessing the heart monitor on that machine isn't quite so accurate. Next time, at the end of the session, measure your heart rate yourself on your carotid artery (neck).

For reference, I'm close to your age (26) and I would have a very hard time hitting 195. I'm in better cardiovascular shape than most people (resting rate 48-50 bpm) and I hit about 180-185 after a very intense burst (2-3 minutes of hard running - intervals or hills). 195 would probably be a full-out 300-400m sprint for me.

My steady runs are at around 140-145 bpm and medium-intensity (tempos) are around 160-165.

 

[edcarman]

Max heart rate is very specific to the individual. The oft-quoted formula of 220 - age has a standard error of 7-11 bpm. This means that 68% of the population's HRmax lies within 7-11 bpm of 220 - age and 95% within 14-22bpm.

If you use the average error of 9bpm then this roughly means that 95% of 25 year olds have an HRmax between 177bpm and 213bpm. Depending where you sit in that range, 195bpm (assuming the HR monitor is correct) could be quite a long way from your true HRmax.

Source: http://faculty.css.edu/tboone2/asep/Robergs2.pdf