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Saturday, October 31, 2009

How valid is heart rate monitoring on aerobic exercise machines?

I am 51, people think I look younger. I%26#039;m in good shape but according to the aerobic exercise machines at the gym, I%26#039;m supposed to keep my heart rate under 150 or something. I can work a lot harder but my heart rate goes up into the red zone. Its seems pretty arbitrary to me. Any advice?



How valid is heart rate monitoring on aerobic exercise machines?

My guess is, the machines are just giving out an approximate number and it%26#039;s not 100% accurate. The only way to find out your true maximum heart rate is to do a stress test on a treadmill at the doctor%26#039;s office while hooked up to an ekg. Then once u have that figure, u can work the numbers in.



Or...



Do what I did. I purchased a heart rate monitor and ran as fast as I could, holding the effort for at least one minute. Mine came out to 212bpm. So, 75% of that would put me at 159bpm and 85% would be 180bpm.

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