Heart Rate

yoadius

I've been cycling for about a year now and just recently got a HR monitor off my Dad (I'm 15).
Was testing it out today and was surpised and quite worried, my heart rate was often going over the 200 mark and reached 212 on one climb. When resting it was about 46.

Is this normal? Or is there a chance I have some underlying heart problems that I should get checked out?

Cheers,
Scott.

overmars

I've calculated that your max HR is 205*.

http://www.polarusa.com/trainingzone/heartratecal.asp

I don't think 211 is anything to worry about.

*I did the difficult calculations before simply putting your numbers in the boxes!

incog24

I don't think you need to be worried at all. I've been told the "220 minus your age" calculation is fairly approximate, so don't worry particularly about exceeding it. I'm 18 and get the same thing. My heart rate soars when I'm working hard, as high as 236 on rare occasions and I'm not dead yet...

grant.smith

I was wondering about this, I was going up a 1:6 hill yesterday and my HR jumped to 212. I have a RHR of 53 and my watch tells me I have a MHR of 187. It has never jumped this high before and I do plenty of runner and circuit training. However this is the was my first serious session on the bike...

doyler78

grant.smith wrote:

I was wondering about this, I was going up a 1:6 hill yesterday and my HR jumped to 212. I have a RHR of 53 and my watch tells me I have a MHR of 187. It has never jumped this high before and I do plenty of runner and circuit training. However this is the was my first serious session on the bike...

My Polar HR monitor says that my maxHR is 187 however my max is around 197 therefore I wouldn't trust the HR to give an accurate figure for this. If 212 is well above what you normally see on hills then it is likely just interference. Very common on wireless HR monitors.

As for the OP. I very much doubt that there is anything to be concerned about here. I'm 34 and have a 42 resting heart rate and a max of 197 on a bike although in the gym on a treadmill I can go over 200, although not for very long If your body is at all concerned about what you are doing you will know about it and you certainly won't be able to sustain it on a regular basis that level.

maxHR, interesting as it is, isn't nearly as good a figure to watch as your resting HR. Any upward movement above 5-10bpm could be indicating that you have either overtrained or are in the early stages of developing some illness - usually just a cold. That's your cue to train at farily low intensity for a day or two or better still just rest for a couple of days until your resting HR drops back again to a more normal level.

Greenbank

All of those formulae are just different ways of estimating your maximum heart rate.

In the real world, you've seen your HR up at 211. I'd suggest you use that as your MHR.

Despite being 31 I can still get my HR over 200 (just) if I really go for it.

notanotherhill

...........and with no disrespect intended to anyone, herein lies the problem with HRM's. People start to rely on the figures you see in front of you. If you heart rate is causing you problems your body will let you know about it.

doyler78

notanotherhill wrote:

...........and with no disrespect intended to anyone, herein lies the problem with HRM's. People start to rely on the figures you see in front of you. If you heart rate is causing you problems your body will let you know about it.

Not everyone has the same the body and therefore what works for you may not work for others.

I trained for years without a hrm and I always overtrained. I would go slower, reduce resistance, etc but training always felt hard to me no matter how hard I trained. I would sweat every bit as much going lower speeds and resistance than if I was putting in near max effort. The first I knew I when I had done enough was when my legs went and this was fine in the gym because I had the numbers on the equipment to tell me how hard I was going because I got to know what effort I could put in for to achieve the length of training I wanted for that day. This I couldn't do on a bike outside as the terrain and weather conditions amongst other things had their place to play and I found that I overtrained alot putting me off the bike nearly as often as I was on it.

For me getting a hrm allowed me a way to monitor my effort (in much the same way as I did in the gym with the equipment) and I have never, in the 3 years since I bought my hrm, overtrained once. Welll we all overtrain however what I mean is that I didn't get to the stage where I was forced to not train because my body couldn't physically cope with any exercise. I could spot the signs and ride accordingly the next day or take a well deserved break for a day.

For me the hrm isn't there to dictate what I do it is there to give me an indication of what effort I am putting in so that I can dose my effort for the lenght of ride I am doing. I don't suddenly panic if my heart rate goes high on a hill. If it is consistently higher than it normally would then I would ease back little - but I guess that what you all do when you feel your legs a little more tired than they normally would.

You seem to be able to tune into what your body is telling you and that is great for you and I wish I got the same signals. I don't so I use something else to help me with that. We both get the same result in the end. Improved fitness and that's all surely what matters. I can understand that for someone listening to the body seems obvious and it must be hard to believe that for some of us that we just don't pick up on those signals as easy but I can assure you that for me I don't. Years of overtraining proved that to me but I guess I will never convince some sceptics who just believe I must stupid or something.

John C.

I found my hrm a useful training aid. It slows me down on the long rides so I can finish them. I don't know how acurate mine is but I have pushed it up to 201 (I'm nearly 50) which means that 80% is 160 and 60% 120. Knowing that I try and keep it around the 150 mark keeping a close eye on it on the long DOWN hills, I find if I'm not careful I push higher heart rates flying down hills when I should be resting than I do going up them.
Use it as an aid, if it says you're overdoing it when you've got a long way to go, SLOW DOWN.