Heart Rate

[chinnyman]

Just started exercising post hernia op. 37yrs, 77kg ,5ft10
Was a keen cyclist previous.

I've always struggled to cycle up big hills and my recovery rate has been poor when playing 5 a side.

I bought a wahoo HRM to help train for a Duathlon. ( Never ran more than 5k!!🤣)

I've noticed my BPM can get to 170 fairly easily with moderate exercise. Doing some HITT on a treadmill at 11km/he and 6km/HR intervals. And some self made spin classess. I do sweat quite a bit and can feel occasionally light headed when finished not always but if I push it.

Now I'm scared I may have a heart attack while exercising.
I'm trying to burn a bit of fat and improve fitness. Not exactly sure if I should back off strenuous exercise and cycle slower and run slower. Problem is living in the Cotswolds there are always fairly big hills around.

I am an ex smoker which obviously doesn't help.

Will my BPM get better the more I exercise?

[Badda]

There’s a theory that MaxHR is 220-age which seems to fit with you. You burn more fat at a lower heart rate than max though. Worth reading up on it.

[smn159]

220-age is a good guide, but individuals can very quite significantly from that. few points off of the top of my head;

- If you exercise consistently both your resting HR and your HR for a given effort level will reduce noticeably.
- Probably best to build an endurance base by doing several weeks of slower paced exercise before really pushing it
- Use an app like Garmin Connect or whatever the Wahoo equivalent is that tracks training load and ramp it up slowly
- Make sure you warm up adequately before pushing hard
- If HR tracking is important, use a chest strap rather than a wrist monitor
- If you're running, don't neglect hip / glute / core strength, or you WILL get injured as the mileage increases

[mcelliott]

The 220 thing minus your age is outdated, your maximum is only important to you, some people max out at 165 others 200+, the fitter you are the longer you will be able to hold a higher number. If you're feeling light headed keep on top of food and liquid intake.

Edited by mcelliott on Saturday 12th December 10:15

[MurderousCrow]

chinnyman said:

Just started exercising post hernia op. 37yrs, 77kg ,5ft10
Was a keen cyclist previous.

I've always struggled to cycle up big hills and my recovery rate has been poor when playing 5 a side.

I bought a wahoo HRM to help train for a Duathlon. ( Never ran more than 5k!!??)

I've noticed my BPM can get to 170 fairly easily with moderate exercise. Doing some HITT on a treadmill at 11km/he and 6km/HR intervals. And some self made spin classess. I do sweat quite a bit and can feel occasionally light headed when finished not always but if I push it.

Now I'm scared I may have a heart attack while exercising.
I'm trying to burn a bit of fat and improve fitness. Not exactly sure if I should back off strenuous exercise and cycle slower and run slower. Problem is living in the Cotswolds there are always fairly big hills around.

I am an ex smoker which obviously doesn't help.

Will my BPM get better the more I exercise?

Hi.

A few points that may be helpful. Firstly, congrats on your return to training!

Given your concern around having a heart attack, speak with your GP. If you have a personal or family history of cardiac issues, or something latent & undiagnosed, they will be able to identify issues, help you understand the risks, and train in a way that minimises that risk. Overall the risks of not training are significantly higher, but people vulnerable to such events do need to train smart.

That said it's less likely that this is you.

Your HR is high with moderate load because you're currently de-trained. The good news is because you were fit previously, it will come back relatively quickly - faster than a person who's at the same level as you, who's always been sedentary.

In general your HR is nothing much to worry about (cardiac issues notwithstanding). It just means you need to accommodate your training status in your sessions, and not expect to get back to where you were instantly. Using a heart rate monitor is an excellent move, as you have a direct insight into the total physiological stress you're undergoing, and can increase or decrease effort / speed to ensure you stay in a beneficial HR zone.

The maximal heart rate calculators are all fairly unreliable. Clearly they cannot account for individual physiology. So it's preferable (so long as it's deemed safe from a health perspective) to use actual maximum and resting heart rates to determine exercise intensities. The gold standard here is the Karvonen formula, which uses the concept of Heart Rate Reserve to ensure safe and effective training:

(Maximum HR - Resting HR) x % intensity + Resting HR

So if your MHR is 170 and resting is 60, your HRR is 110bpm. Multiply this by whatever percentage (say 75%) then add your RHR back on. Works out as 143bpm.

For MHR you can simply take the highest value registered on your HRM so far, and use that for now. Resting HR should be taken in the morning, before getting out of bed. Do this on three different days of the week and average the result.

The majority of sessions for someone returning to training after a long layoff should be between 60-75% efforts based on the formula above. Again, if it's safe there's nothing wrong with doing intervals, threshold sessions or even Max HR tests, but you should know the when, how and why - at least for now these should not be a large part of your overall training volume.

60-75% is surprisingly low effort for many people. It feels pretty easy (at least for the first 20-40min). Stay there, be patient. Over time you'll see your speed increase. Keep at it and you'll be rewarded.

Hope that helps.

[chinnyman]

Fantastic thank you. I think I may emphasised the point that I was some super human pre hernia, I was marginally fitter than now and have never been super fit.

My dad did have a heart attack in his 50's and so did his brother. An Indian diet and sedentary lifestyle probably didn't help but has made me a more conscious.

Looking back at the last few years of my exercise , my recovery rate is poor but once I have recovered I can carry on going. I can run a 5k in 31minutes but there is some walking involved as I had episodes of getting too tired.
I also cycled 50miles last year at a good pace. I am not an iron man and am moderately active.

This HRM has made me think that I maybe need to exercise more but somehow get my heart rate down so I can exercise for longer. I just wasn't sure if that was possible and I'm asking too much.

[Mazinbrum]

I’m 55 and can get to over 170 on my bike so not an issue. As you get fitter your resting heart rate will drop giving you more bandwidth for a higher performance.

[MurderousCrow]

chinnyman said:

Fantastic thank you. I think I may emphasised the point that I was some super human pre hernia, I was marginally fitter than now and have never been super fit.

My dad did have a heart attack in his 50's and so did his brother. An Indian diet and sedentary lifestyle probably didn't help but has made me a more conscious.

Looking back at the last few years of my exercise , my recovery rate is poor but once I have recovered I can carry on going. I can run a 5k in 31minutes but there is some walking involved as I had episodes of getting too tired.
I also cycled 50miles last year at a good pace. I am not an iron man and am moderately active.

This HRM has made me think that I maybe need to exercise more but somehow get my heart rate down so I can exercise for longer. I just wasn't sure if that was possible and I'm asking too much.

Your HR for a given power output will drop as you train. This *is* training, or at least the cardiovascular training effect. That also means for the same perceived effort, you will be able to go faster.

Speak with your GP about your risks of dropping down dead. Probably not high. Other than that, don't overthink it. Use the HRM as intended - to stop you overworking. And be consistent. Good luck.

[anonymous-user]

If you are doing the treadmill and spin stuff indoors, make sure you have adequate cooling - a fan at least.

As others have said, as you get fitter, your heart rate for a given exercise load will start to reduce and also the time needed for your heart rate to fall after an effort will start to reduce

Here’s 4 things I’ve read about training for an event like a duathlon

Consistency first, volume second, intensity third, periodisation fourth

And go easy on the high intensity stuff generally. Do a bit of it, but focus on the c.70% of your max heart rate stuff for most of the time

Enjoy it!

[Parsnip]

Some of the formulae mentioned above are better than others. None are anywhere near as accurate as this one:

Do a moderate warm up for your chosen activity. Ramp up the effort until you are comfortably out of breath and want to stop. Aim at that big hill and go as hard as you can until you want to keel over.

The max number your HRM has seen, once you can see again to check it, is your MHR.

Mine has been 191 for the best part of 10 years. The speed at which I'm going when I hit it (and the % of it at slower speeds), the time taken for it to fall back to something normal afterwards and my resting heart rate have all been up and down depending on my state of fitness.

Speak to a medical professional if you have a concern - I am not one, there may be some on here, but if you have a genuine concern for your heart health, I would not take advice from a car forum.

I would also echo the advice to take things slow and build it up - rapid changes won't do your body any favors. It also stands true that your body can only take so much and balancing your training is important - you could do all of your training at high intensity, but it isn't the best way to do it - you will spend more time injured and recovering between sessions than if you balance intensity and volume.

Volume training (or base miles) is your cake. Speedwork (intervals etc.) is the icing and the cherry.

[chinnyman]

Thanks all.
I think due to time constraints and the feeling of wanting to sweat it out. I have tended to do short hard exercises but after researching from the above, I think I will slow down a bit and go slightly longer.

Agreed I wasnt looking for specific Pulmonary advice on PH!!