bpm on treadmill

RivetingRoger

Hi folks, question for ye
ok i am 38
to get your max heart rate you subtract my age, 38, from 220 which is 182
Now, they say when exercising you should never go over 85% of your MHR
85% of 182 is 155 more or less, so, to be safe i should not be exceeding that on treadmill
Thing is, my usual BPM on treadmill at average speed (9.5) is 174/175
what to do?
I feel fine, i have been running for years and in last few years had various checks done on my heart, all fine.
Should my BPM concern me?
Thanks

adrian522

Firstly, to get your max HR you need to do a test, not everyone the same age has the same HR Max. Second, Why do you say you should never go over 85% of your max? Where did you read that?

When racing anything shorter than a marathon you will be above 85% of your max.

seamus

No.

The 220 - age calculation is a rule of thumb and shouldn't be taken as an absolute.

I'm 35 and my MHR is 202.

There are a number of ways of making a pretty accurate stab at figuring out your own MHR. Do a quick google and you'll find them. Basically you end up warming yourself up and then running as hard as you can until you're ready to collapse.

Once you have that figure, you can start working on HR-based training.

However if you're not interested in HR-based training and it's a curio for you, then forget about any of that and just do what you're doing.

The only reason it's not recommended to always train above 85% of MHR is because recovery takes a good bit longer. It won't lead to any serious damage unless you're doing it 5 days a week for several months. And when you're above 85% you'll know all about it.

RivetingRoger

Thanks chaps. Google and me are not friends, i scare the life out of myself on things like livestrong etc!
i stopped running for a bit due to meniscus damage but back into it now, so have a stone to shift. I always feel ok on treadmill at that level, i used to go at faster speeds to be honest. I am not even sure how much you can depend on those treadmill bpm bars anyways, when you take your hand off it still seems to read which I never understood?!
So even if my bpm hits 175 i am ok to keep going?

average_runner

RivetingRoger wrote: »

Thanks chaps. Google and me are not friends, i scare the life out of myself on things like livestrong etc!
i stopped running for a bit due to meniscus damage but back into it now, so have a stone to shift. I always feel ok on treadmill at that level, i used to go at faster speeds to be honest. I am not even sure how much you can depend on those treadmill bpm bars anyways, when you take your hand off it still seems to read which I never understood?!
So even if my bpm hits 175 i am ok to keep going?

Quick tip for you. Never google an illness symptom or health issue, google will tell you, that you are dying

seamus

Look, if you're the kind to get a bit bogged down in numbers and specifics, and a little bit of a hypochondriac, then the best thing to do is arm yourself with information that is very specific to you.

A Vo2 test like this will give you a tonne of data as well as do's and don'ts from someone qualified. So you then have a base of information to put your mind at ease.

A Vo2 test is a overkill for someone just trying to get back to it, but if you're worrying about injuring yourself then it's better to worry about actual data than data you got from Google.

And yes, you're right - the HR bars on a treadmill won't be particularly accurate. Probably within 5%.

RivetingRoger

I'd be the type that would convince myself i was gonna have a heart attack at 175bpm!

RivetingRoger

just to summarise, its fairly safe not to worry about hitting 175 when running a decent pace for me..?
And i can relax and "jog on" so to speak?!!

Murph_D

RivetingRoger wrote: »

just to summarise, its fairly safe not to worry about hitting 175 when running a decent pace for me..?
And i can relax and "jog on" so to speak?!!

No one here can answer that for you (or for anyone else). Everyone is different. If you are concerned about this, you should go to a cardiologist and have yourself checked out, either with a treadmill stress test or even better, a cardiac CT scan. It's the best way to get that kind of reassurance (I've done this, and so have a good few regular posters around here).

Good luck with it.

ThisRegard

RivetingRoger wrote: »

Hi folks, question for ye
ok i am 38
to get your max heart rate you subtract my age, 38, from 220 which is 182
Now, they say when exercising you should never go over 85% of your MHR
85% of 182 is 155 more or less, so, to be safe i should not be exceeding that on treadmill

As the guys said, this is not hard and fast. When I was 40 (last time I checked my MHR during intervals), I was hitting up to around 184bpm.

Are you perhaps using 85% to work out the average rate for your aerobic zone?

RivetingRoger

Murph_D wrote: »

No one here can answer that for you (or for anyone else). Everyone is different. If you are concerned about this, you should go to a cardiologist and have yourself checked out, either with a treadmill stress test or even better, a cardiac CT scan. It's the best way to get that kind of reassurance (I've done this, and so have a good few regular posters around here).

Good luck with it.

All done. ECG, ECHO, Chest Xray, Holter, Bloods etc after a faint 2 years back
All came back good

TFBubendorfer

RivetingRoger wrote: »

Hi folks, question for ye
ok i am 38
to get your max heart rate you subtract my age, 38, from 220 which is 182
Now, they say when exercising you should never go over 85% of your MHR

In short:
The 220 - age formula is useless.
That 85% rule is even more useless (never heard that before, where did that come from?)

Even shorter:

RivetingRoger wrote: »

Should my BPM concern me?

No!

TFBubendorfer

RivetingRoger wrote: »

I'd be the type that would convince myself i was gonna have a heart attack at 175bpm!

The max HR isn't the HR where you drop down dead. It's simply the max HR your body will let you go.

Those sudden deaths that happen every now and again (e.g. marathon runners collapsing near the finish, rugby player suddenly collapsing) all happen at HRs very much lower than max HR and are not related to that.

RivetingRoger

Thanks everyone. very much appreciated. I used to love running. Only took it up 5 years ago to lose weight.Did the GLR did a load of fun 10ks etc
When i hurt the meniscus it was doing the parkrun 5k
Not being able to run for months was desperate, only getting back into it now, and would hate to have to stop again!! If i pass within a square mile of a bag of chips i put on a pound....!
Appreciate the help and advice.
Happy running everyone
Roger
ps - my friends call me Woger.....

jamule

I'd be more worried about not having a heart beat than maxing it out

Down South

I hit 202 at a race last friday. I'm 44. I'm sure the watch is off a bit. I was certainly busting a gut at the finish but not dying

Mellor

Cross post from fitness;


182 is the average heart rate for a large sample of 38 year olds. But individuals will often vary to one side or the other. The standard division is +/-12bpm. Which 66% (of 38 year olds) would fall between 170 and to 194.
And 95% are between 158 and 206.

For you, I'd guess your heart revs a little higher than the average. No drama, mine does too afaik.
You won't know what your actually max is unless you have it tested.

As for the never going over 85% of mhr. That's not really accurate as a rule and people who are training are would be over that all the time. I was probably at 95+% today.
The number comes from American heart foundation advice exercise. But they are pitching to people who are overweight, unfit and and have cardiovasular issues, not the general population.
In reality, you have to set your own limits based on your own fitness.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

A session I give to my lads/ladies to determine LTHR and HR zones. (Or else just do a 5 mile/10k race)

15min warm up, into a 30min tt all out effort followed by a 5min very easy warm down. Make sure to wear hrm and turn autolap off the garmin, hit lap at the start of the 30tt, 10mins into the tt and at the end of the tt.

TFBubendorfer

Mekhi Dry Typhoid wrote: »

A session I give to my lads/ladies to determine LTHR and HR zones. (Or else just do a 5 mile/10k race)

15min warm up, into a 30min tt all out effort followed by a 5min very easy warm down. Make sure to wear hrm and turn autolap off the garmin, hit lap at the start of the 30tt, 10mins into the tt and at the end of the tt.

You mean, exactly as described by Joe Friel himself: https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/joe-friel-s-quick-guide-to-setting-zones/

Mellor

Mekhi Dry Typhoid wrote: »

A session I give to my lads/ladies to determine LTHR and HR zones. (Or else just do a 5 mile/10k race)

15min warm up, into a 30min tt all out effort followed by a 5min very easy warm down. Make sure to wear hrm and turn autolap off the garmin, hit lap at the start of the 30tt, 10mins into the tt and at the end of the tt.

What would the relatioship be between LTHR and MHR be?
I'd been a much shorter, harder run that 30 mins to hi my MHR. Maybe at the end of a flat out 5k, but probably need 2-3k increasing steadying to a faster pace than my 5k

TFBubendorfer

Mellor wrote: »

What would the relatioship be between LTHR and MHR be?
I'd been a much shorter, harder run that 30 mins to hi my MHR. Maybe at the end of a flat out 5k, but probably need 2-3k increasing steadying to a faster pace than my 5k

That test doesn't give you MHR, that's true.

Instead it gives you what you need to calculate Joe Friel's HR zones from Z1 (very easy) to Z5 (very hard), which form the basis of most heart rate-based training plans in existence.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Mellor wrote: »

What would the relatioship be between LTHR and MHR be?
I'd been a much shorter, harder run that 30 mins to hi my MHR. Maybe at the end of a flat out 5k, but probably need 2-3k increasing steadying to a faster pace than my 5k

As TBF suggested it's a tried and trusted method of Friels. It determines LTHR rather than MHR. For me MHR is pretty irrelevant for most athletes.