Maximum heart rate

[shouldbworking]

I had always read and assumed it to be true that maximum heart rate declines with age. I went out to set a best time on my road bike this morning whilst wearing my polar heart rate monitor, and clocked 209 bpm (I'm 30)

A quick google later came up with this - http://www.howtobefit.com/determine-maximum-heart-...

Is this true? what are your own experiences with heart rate vs age?

[Dangerous2]

dead - max heart rate 0

edit: so clearly it does drop with age.

[mattikake]

It's a calculated reccommended/theoretical max that is used for health professionals to cover their rse, not the actual max you can reach.

It could just be that your OBLA threshold his really high. Mine is. I can get to 98% (which is frankly orgasmically awesome ). I'm 37 so my MHR is 183 yet I can hit more than this when pushing.

[Ordinary_Chap]

I'd check to make sure the heart monitor is correctly configured and reporting a realistic reading.

[jimbobsimmonds]

Purely hypothetical question but what happens when you reach maximum heart rate? Cardiac arrest? Pass out? Throw up?

[Dangerous2]

its a bit like 88mph on back to the future but with cooler special effects.

[Raoul Duke]

Its the blinding lights when you read over 200bpm that indicate your about to go back Marty.
In all fairness though you can easily record a max bpm well above the simple 220 less your age equation and its nothing to worry about - normally...
If you are pushing hard up a hill and stop suddenly at the top, your legs which have been aiding the heart in acting as additional blood pumps suddenly stop helping, so your heart has to pick up the slack, hence the spike.
You can feel this sometimes and it is a weird sensation for sure but usually shortlived. The other possibility is interfernce - i quite often see mine display some odd readings early in the ride, however this settles down fairly quickly and doesnt correlate with what i can feel manually checking my pulse so i have put it down to the iPod? This happens with both my Polar and Garmin so it doesnt appear to be a single manufacturer issue.

[shouldbworking]

Mystery. I'd blame it on the heart rate monitor but it was just the one spike on a ride showing otherwise readings as expected.

The only thing I'm thinking is it was about 10 minutes in and I'd gone out faster than I intended to start, which normally results in a spike + a 'bleugh went out too hard' feeling around that time. I was working hard but definately didnt notice anything to suggest the sky high reading recorded.

[Parsnip]

shouldbworking said:

Mystery. I'd blame it on the heart rate monitor but it was just the one spike on a ride showing otherwise readings as expected.

My guess is interference then - My MHR is 191 (24 y/o for the record) and have seen 250 before on the graph back home. If my HR hit 250 I would be in the middle of a heart attack - this was with a knackered old Polar though, my newer Garmin seems to fare much better - newer technology I guess.

My old bike speedo used to read over 150kph at the same point everyday on my commute - think it was a loop in the road at a set of traffic lights that did it.