Heart rate drops suddenly on cycling machine

Amtmann

Just a quick question:

I do daily cardio on a cycling machine for about 50 minutes, where I keep my heart rate between 140 and 150 (which is what the gym instructor advised based on my age, etc.).

The thing is, recently I've noticed that my heart rate can suddenly plummet from 140 to 80 and then quickly recover. The first time this happened I figured it was a fault in the machine's sensor, but it kept on happening, so I switched machines and it's still happening.

I don't feel dizzy or weak when it happens, and it's a little worrying for me. Can anyone explain what's going on??

purpur1

I would have put this down to a Heart Rate Monitor fault to be honest. Try using one of the strap on HRM's combined with the watch. I find they're far more accurate than the gym ones. Otherwise... I don't know. I wouldn't be qualified to make a judgement on what that could be!

If your not feeling weak, dizzy, extremely short of breath etc, i'd say it's alright and it's just an inaccurate HRM.

sfag31

Most prob the training m/c sensor - they all gonna operate in the same way. wild flucations in h/r monitors is common enough. check the strap battery and compare against your watch. dont rely on metal handle bars - oh and dont die.

Khannie

I'd say it's the HRM. Mine is getting old and I get crazy fluctuations like that. Are you using a chest strap or the "hands on" ones?

rebel girl 15

I'd say it is a fault with the sensors since you don't feel anything else - we've done some testing as part of exercise prescription and found them inaccurate sometimes, one girl doing the VO2 max, when her heart rate should be up around 160, and I'm getting 100 on the watch, and it kept fluctuating wildly, so much so that the exercise physiologist took her heart rate manually and found that it was much higher than what we were getting on the watch

Sometimes with the strap on ones, mobile phones can interfere with them and give inaccurate readings

Amtmann

Thanks everyone. The sensor is a metal plate built into the handlebars. I've lost quite a bit of weight (almost 6kg) in the past four weeks and thought it might be a consequence.

rebel girl 15

Furet wrote: »

Thanks everyone. The sensor is a metal plate built into the handlebars. I've lost quite a bit of weight (almost 6kg) in the past four weeks and thought it might be a consequence.

They are probably the most unreliable tbh, sometimes with those your hands can be sweating and then your grip isn't true with them, and you get bad readings, try taking purpur1a advice and get the strap on one with watch if you want to keep a proper track of it

And congrats on the weight loss!

**Timbuk2**

The hands-on HRMs are terrible. In my gym, I rest my iPod on the display of the cycling machine, but it interferes with the HRM (possibly Wifi, I'm not sure) and it often displays heart rates of between 190-340 without my hands even touching the sensors.

I use a strap and watch Polar HRM now, and it is always reliable.

The Guvnor

What the lads have said, the hrm on the bikes are not great and any media device can interfere with them.

I've felt like death a few times on an exercise bike despite a heart rate of 80 or so the machine told me!:)

ab20

I find it amazing that nobody has told you to go to A&E and get your heart checked. Why is it always the machine? If I was you I would go and get and ECG at least. I was visiting my GP for 18 months and he could not detect that i had a heart problem. I was only when I went to A & E that they realised that I had a big problems. So don't just put it down to the machines. BE SAFE BE SURE get it checked. There is also a heart screening clinic in the Mater called the Family Heart Screening Clinic. The phone number is 8034354 call and make an appointment it is FREE!

Red Alert

In the gym I go to the sound system in some parts of it interferes with the HR monitors as well. Best to just take the average reading and you'll be fine.

rebel girl 15

ab20 wrote: »

I find it amazing that nobody has told you to go to A&E and get your heart checked. Why is it always the machine? If I was you I would go and get and ECG at least. I was visiting my GP for 18 months and he could not detect that i had a heart problem. I was only when I went to A & E that they realised that I had a big problems. So don't just put it down to the machines. BE SAFE BE SURE get it checked. There is also a heart screening clinic in the Mater called the Family Heart Screening Clinic. The phone number is 8034354 call and make an appointment it is FREE!

You don't need to go to A&E for an ECG, most doctors surgery's do them now - a GP can do an ECG and refer you onto a specialist if needs be.

More than likely it is the machine not giving a correct reading, even with the Polar ones, any media device can interfere with them

purpur1

ab20 wrote: »

I find it amazing that nobody has told you to go to A&E and get your heart checked. Why is it always the machine? If I was you I would go and get and ECG at least. I was visiting my GP for 18 months and he could not detect that i had a heart problem. I was only when I went to A & E that they realised that I had a big problems. So don't just put it down to the machines. BE SAFE BE SURE get it checked. There is also a heart screening clinic in the Mater called the Family Heart Screening Clinic. The phone number is 8034354 call and make an appointment it is FREE!

To be honest, the OP is a person that is quite fit, (judging by the 6kg weight loss in the last few weeks), and anyone that has done this works out according to their heart rate, and burn zones, usually with HRM's, as i'm sure the OP does. Anyone who's ever used the handheld HRM's in a gym should know that they're unreliable and are nothing more than a loose guide, so as i said in the previous post, if the OP wasn't feeling weak, ill, dizzy etc then it was more than likely going to be one of the rubbish HRM's, as the OP is clearly a fit and healthy person. I understand your situation but i certainly wouldnt have advised the OP to go running to the A&E until he tested it out on a more reliable HRM first. If there were still problems, well then he'd be a fool not to go and get it checked.

Otherwise, he'd just be wasting the doctors time.

rawgyms

Dodgy sensor! nothing to worry about , unless you feel flush or suddenly dizzy then take a drink of water and ask a member of staff!