Max heart rates

[James_P]

Looking for any knowledge on this..

I'm 40 and do CrossFit 5 times per week. During the heavier conditioning classes, specifically longer workouts on the ski ERG, my heart rate has reached 204, today it hit 202. Generally during workouts its mid 190s. Resting HR is between 42 - 45.

Feel fine, just was a bit concerned when I saw those figures and one of the class members was a bit surprised!

Thanks

[gregs656]

James_P said:

Looking for any knowledge on this..

I'm 40 and do CrossFit 5 times per week. During the heavier conditioning classes, specifically longer workouts on the ski ERG, my heart rate has reached 204, today it hit 202. Generally during workouts its mid 190s. Resting HR is between 42 - 45.

Feel fine, just was a bit concerned when I saw those figures and one of the class members was a bit surprised!

Thanks

I wouldn't worry about it. If it used to get to 160 until 6 months a go and now goes wild then maybe there is something going on. My HR has always got comparatively high but does settle down pretty quickly.

[mcelliott]

Absolutely normal, max heart rates vary massively from person to person, nothing to worry about whatsoever with yours

[Chris Stott]

As mcelliot says, nothing to worry about.

If you can sustain mid 190’s, your actual max is probably 220ish.

Maximum heart rates are not an indication of fitness or heart health.

[LimaDelta]

I hit 229 aged 42 during a kettlebell workout a little while back (on a Polar chest strap, non of this wrist optical stuff which can be way out). I was aware of the 220-age thing as a 'maximum' and had always considered that as a red-line, but after a bit of research I found it is fairly meaningless. I still try to keep mine below 200 at 44, but regularly run into the 180/190s. Your maximum is your maximum.

[Chris Stott]

Why would you try to keep below 200 if your max is 229?

I’m 55 and my max HR is 192. I do at least one max effort interval workout a week. Yesterday I did 30 mins constant effort at an ave of 145 (75% of max HR), immediately followed by 10 mins of 1 min on 30s off max efforts… during that my ave HR was 175 (91%) and max hit 187 (97%).

If your max is 229 but you never exceed 195 you’re only getting to 85% of max… which isn’t a hard effort… that’s the sort of effort you’d want to sustain to build lactic threshold.

Max HR is just a number.

[LimaDelta]

Chris Stott said:

Why would you try to keep below 200 if your max is 229?

I’m 55 and my max HR is 192. I do at least one max effort interval workout a week. Yesterday I did 30 mins constant effort at an ave of 145 (75%) of max HR, immediately followed by 10 mins of 1 min on 30s off max efforts… during that my ave HR was 175 (91%) and max hit 187 (97%).

If your max is 229 but you never exceed 195 you’re only getting to 85% of max… which isn’t a hard effort… that’s the sort of effort you’d want to sustain to build lactic threshold.

Max HR is just a number.

Personal choice really. My last session max was 196 max, 152 average for 1:37 There is no way I could sustain 200+ for over an hour and a half. I know I can push harder, but I'm not doing this to win medals, I'm doing this for enjoyment and to prolong my life. In a shorter cardio or interval session I am happy to push higher, but any session with resistance or weight then my muscles will fatigue way before I reach 220+. The 'hardest' sessions I do, which see the highest HR are 24kg kettlebell snatches, or the 'death bike', but they don't last long.

I am in no way an expert or even qualified, these are just my personal observations.

[oddball1313]

We’re all different - i’ve just turned 50 and regularly hit 180 when doing an effort cycling up a 10%+ hill. Can sustain 160 for over an hour when pushing it