Heart rate questions?

First a little background. I%26#039;m 57 and about 8 years ago I started sitting at a desk a lot more for my job. I gained a lot of weight so this spring I started riding a bicycle to lose weight and become more fit. So far so good. I feel 10 years younger and lost 36 pounds and rode the bike over 1300 miles. I recently purchased a heart rate monitor and have been trying to use it to push myself a little harder while cycling and jogging. I read that my max safe heart rate is 220 minus my age 57 = 163 beats per min. Now when I push myself to a heart rate of 165 range if I just downshift one gear or start walking, if I had been running, within 10 seconds my heart slows down to 155 and 10 more seconds it drops another 10 bps and after less than 1 minuit it goes back to the 120 range. Does this mean I am fit enough to start pushing harder to the 175 to 185 range?

Heart rate questions?

Your Target Heart Rate is 220 - your age multiplied by .8 which is 130.4. Working out at that heart rate 3-4 times a week for 25-30 minutes each time moderate-vigorous excercise is what they say you should be doing to be healthy. You sound like you%26#039;ve been doing great. I%26#039;m not sure why you would want to push to a higher heart rate, it may put a strain on your heart which wouldn%26#039;t be good and you really don%26#039;t need to do that, getting your heart rate that high doesn%26#039;t sound very healthy. One thing that would be good for you is to make sure you%26#039;re doing things that work all your muscles. Like anaerobic excersices - sit ups, push-ups, stretching, etc. those are the things that will strengthen and lengthen your muscles. Since your over 30 you should get a check-up if you haven%26#039;t already to make sure you are able to do all those things, asking your doctor this if you haven%26#039;t already is probably the best thing to do. I%26#039;m glad you feel so great and good luck.

Heart rate questions?

i wouldn%26#039;t push myself too hard if i were you because your heart is something that you do not want to overtrain. it sounds like you are getting the benefits you desire from working out, so why try to push yourself over the edge? if it gets too easy, just increase the intensity by adding time to your workout. keep on keeping on!

Heart rate questions?

Your heart rate and recovery are great.

I%26#039;m 34 and my target heartrate for FAT BURNING is 138-148. I also use a heartrate monitor and 1x per week I try and keep it below the 138 and go for endurance (60 -90 minutes), 1 other day I shoot to keep it above 148 in the 158 range (30 minutes only) and the rest of the time I shoot to keep it in range. Going 10 bpm above your range generally should be limited to shorter spurts and/or done during interval training (push hr up and then back off and %26quot;recover%26quot;).

I think your doing fine and if your heart rate recovers that quicky it sounds like you can certainly push yourself like you want. Just don%26#039;t overdue it. I would recommend the intervals for anyone wanting to push themselves because they just never seem to get any easier and continually challenge the body with the up/down rates. You can do this running, biking, treadmill or elliptical. I usually go 30 seconds as hard as I can, slow it down for 30-45 seconds, sometimes a minute at the end. I do this 8-10 times until it gets easy then I increase my hard time by 15 seconds until I am up to a minute/minute, then I start to add incline, resistance, ankle weights and more reps to keep it challenging.

As a point of interest, I also had a V02 max (along with the BODPOD for bodyfat % and RMR to measure my resting metabolism) test done to figure out what my BPM range should be to get the most from my workout. It was one of the most interesting things I have ever done.

Just some ideas to change it up for you...keep up the fantastic work!

Heart rate questions?

Hi there , why do you want to push yourself harder , you are doing a great job.

The heart rate monitor should come with a chart that tells you your max heart rate and the type of workout you want (have been doing)is called aerobic exercise(using oxygen) and is achieved by elevating your H/R to 65% of your max H/R and keeping it there for more than 30 mins, when you achieve this you are burning body fat at the most efficient level, and you feel like you could keep at this level forever.

If you push too hard your H/R goes up and you reach your anaerobic threshold(stop using oxygen) which is around 85% of your max H/R you stop burning body fat as the body switches to another energy source and you will become breathless and have to slow down.

Your fitness has obviously improved as your recovery is good, and you have a handle on what your heart does with different intensity of execise.

Moving forward It still depends on what your current goals are if it is weight control follow the above ,if you want to start competing then talk to a member of the gym staff for another type of program

Well done on you results , and you are enjoying yourself cannot ask for more B