Exercising Heart Rates

[F1sh]

People, I’m seeking wisdom. What sort of heart rates should I be seeing when exercising? I understand that age and fitness play factors, but here's me 40 years young, not been new a gym for circa 4 years and just want to ensure that I'm not over doing things. The general goal for my gym membership is a bit of weight loss (circa half to a full stone) and getting better prepared for next seasons snowboarding.

Also are there different rates for fat burning and enhancing cardio?

Thanks
F1sh

[944fan]

Heart rates are grouped in to zones, what those zones are depending on a variety of factors. Some useful info here:

http://www.brianmac.co.uk/hrm1.htm

If you don't have a HRM or if you are just a beginner then using RPE (Rating of Perceived Exertion) maybe just as useful. Rather than targeting a specific HR zone and constantly monitoring the you HRM then use one of these RPE scales to judge what you are doing:

http://www.topendsports.com/testing/rpe.htm

[boyse7en]

One (not very accurate) method of getting your max heart rate is to do 220-age (so 180bpm for you). Min heart rate is best tested just as you wake up and before you get out of bed (as an example i'll use 60bpm). You can then work out the various "zones" of heart rate (fat burning, cardio, etc)

ie for 75% of Max. ((180-60)x0.75) + 60 = 150bpm


It's better if you can measure your max heart rate as the method above isn't great (mine calculates as 178bpm (i'm 42), but is actually 206bpm measured at the end of a 10k uphill sprint finish run) but this involves pain. You need a hill, someone to shout at you and a bucket to be sick in. It's also probably a good idea to get checked out by a doc before trying it in case you've got some underlying health issue.

[JumboBeef]

boyse7en said:

but is actually 206bpm measured at the end of a 10k uphill sprint finish run) but this involves pain. You need a hill, someone to shout at you and a bucket to be sick in.

And someone to do CPR. Lots of "healthy" middle aged men drop dead each year pushing themselves too far.

[F1sh]

Thanks for the replies. I have an old Timex Ironman and HRM chest strap which I've just ordered some fresh batteries for. Just wanted to get a rough idea of the zones I should try and stick to.

I have asthma which is well controlled and monitored by the doctors twice a year, but I plan on taking things at a steady pace over going all out. Yes I've been hospitalised with it over the years, but my last attack was many years ago now and I just want to try and help things along. Mainly I know the signs for when it's going wrong and how to best help/fix it.

Basically I'm wanting a bit of weight loss then just making sure that my chest is working to the best of what it can.

From basic checks I've got a resting heart rate of 75-80, so looking on the web its fairly average.

Thanks
F1sh

[boyse7en]

JumboBeef said:

And someone to do CPR. Lots of "healthy" middle aged men drop dead each year pushing themselves too far.

Yes, hence the recommendation to get checked over by a doctor first.

[JumboBeef]

boyse7en said:

JumboBeef said:

And someone to do CPR. Lots of "healthy" middle aged men drop dead each year pushing themselves too far.

Yes, hence the recommendation to get checked over by a doctor first.

No, was talking about you (pushing yourself so far you have 1/pain and 2/vomited).

[Roger645]

JumboBeef said:

And someone to do CPR. Lots of "healthy" middle aged men drop dead each year pushing themselves too far.

Really?

"It’s important to remember that the number of people who have a heart attack or cardiac arrest during sport is very low."
Dr Tom Crisp, Consultant Sports Physician from the Bupa Musculoskeletal Centre London

[JumboBeef]

"very low" compared to what?

I know of at least three (off the top of my head) in the last 12 months in my area. One at a Gym, one swimming and a third was cycling.

I'm not saying everyone who pushes themselves will keel over, but there will be *some* who do. Pushing yourself so hard that you vomit and your HR is above max is never going to be a good idea.

[Regiment]

JumboBeef said:

"very low" compared to what?

I know of at least three (off the top of my head) in the last 12 months in my area. One at a Gym, one swimming and a third was cycling.

I'm not saying everyone who pushes themselves will keel over, but there will be *some* who do. Pushing yourself so hard that you vomit and your HR is above max is never going to be a good idea.

How many of these three people had undiagnosed conditions that might have helped to cause such issues?

[ambuletz]

Not looking to try and hijack the thread or anything but..

Whenever I'm doing some cardio (usually cross trainer) for 50minutes at a time my heart rate is usually about 160bpm. I'm 26. Anything wrong with that? Should I be taking it up or down a notch? Or is the heart rate somewhat irrelevant compared to calories burnt with regards to fat loss.

[mu0n]

ambuletz said:

Not looking to try and hijack the thread or anything but..

Whenever I'm doing some cardio (usually cross trainer) for 50minutes at a time my heart rate is usually about 160bpm. I'm 26. Anything wrong with that? Should I be taking it up or down a notch? Or is the heart rate somewhat irrelevant compared to calories burnt with regards to fat loss.

Keeping up 160bpm for 50 minutes is good going IMO without knowing your weight, intensity etc.

When I do intervals (90s steady, 30s hard on a higher level), my HR gets up to about 175-180 and around 185 by the time I'm on my last sprint.

My cardio sucks but this is a good method for weight loss and getting it over and done with more quickly.

When I trained for a 10k my resting HR was really low - about 45bpm.

[Tiggsy]

Regiment said:

JumboBeef said:

"very low" compared to what?

I know of at least three (off the top of my head) in the last 12 months in my area. One at a Gym, one swimming and a third was cycling.

I'm not saying everyone who pushes themselves will keel over, but there will be *some* who do. Pushing yourself so hard that you vomit and your HR is above max is never going to be a good idea.

How many of these three people had undiagnosed conditions that might have helped to cause such issues?

This.

VERY few "healthy" people drop dead.

[Regiment]

ambuletz said:

Not looking to try and hijack the thread or anything but..

Whenever I'm doing some cardio (usually cross trainer) for 50minutes at a time my heart rate is usually about 160bpm. I'm 26. Anything wrong with that? Should I be taking it up or down a notch? Or is the heart rate somewhat irrelevant compared to calories burnt with regards to fat loss.

160 is absolutely fine. You'll notice as well that as you do long, steady cardio sessions, your heart rate will steadily increase throughout the session, so to stay at the same heart rate, you'll be slowing down.

[JumboBeef]

Tiggsy said:

Regiment said:

JumboBeef said:

"very low" compared to what?

I know of at least three (off the top of my head) in the last 12 months in my area. One at a Gym, one swimming and a third was cycling.

I'm not saying everyone who pushes themselves will keel over, but there will be *some* who do. Pushing yourself so hard that you vomit and your HR is above max is never going to be a good idea.

How many of these three people had undiagnosed conditions that might have helped to cause such issues?

This.

VERY few "healthy" people drop dead.

Only just seen this reply.

The answer is, of course, I don't know. But then when you considered up to 0.5% of the pop have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (the leading cause of sudden death in adults) and most do not know they have it, that is many thousands of people who *might* just keel over after exercise.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/gi... (this was HC).

It is not clever to push yourself that hard it hurts and you vomit.

Just saying.....

[F1sh]

Thanks for the replies. Now been 4 times and averaging 130-140 (on my trusty little Timex Ironman HRM) for most of the cardio working upto 170 (highest I've seen) when doing 2.5-5 minute pushes, this is followed by a wind down for 5 then back again. Mostly still trying to keep my breathing in check.

Only thing I'm finding is that I'm always tired after I've been.

F1sh

[Otispunkmeyer]

boyse7en said:

One (not very accurate) method of getting your max heart rate is to do 220-age (so 180bpm for you). Min heart rate is best tested just as you wake up and before you get out of bed (as an example i'll use 60bpm). You can then work out the various "zones" of heart rate (fat burning, cardio, etc)

ie for 75% of Max. ((180-60)x0.75) + 60 = 150bpm


It's better if you can measure your max heart rate as the method above isn't great (mine calculates as 178bpm (i'm 42), but is actually 206bpm measured at the end of a 10k uphill sprint finish run) but this involves pain. You need a hill, someone to shout at you and a bucket to be sick in. It's also probably a good idea to get checked out by a doc before trying it in case you've got some underlying health issue.

Yeah its bad trying to find your max HR. In swimming ours used to be 7 x 200 m on I think 4-5 minutes. PB + 30 on the first one, decrease by 5 each time so that the last one is at PB pace. Starts off ok... quickly descends into crushing pain. Really the aim isn't to actually hit PB, with only 2-3 minutes rest tops between swims I think only the Michael Phelps' of this world could think of doing such a thing. The PB goal is just something to aim at to make you swim at maximum effort. Absolutely horrible set just to find your max HR is 225.