Heart rate for a 50 year old

[Timmos1974]

Hey Lads

I play squash quite a bit and have a physical job.

Ive started tontrack my heart rate when playing and have noticed that it does go up to 180bpm…is this too much? I dont feel out of breath or in dificulty.

Have a look at the screen shots. At the end i forgot to turn’it off.

[interstellar]

That doesn’t look close to 180, isn’t that the scale? It’s looks about 140-150 which sounds bang on.

What’s your resting heart rate over the last week?

[the-norseman]

Agree thats no where near 180.

[Armitage.Shanks]

I think 180 is possible. Mine went up to 176 during a normal fitness session last week. And I'm 60 and in no way do I classify myself as an athlete.

[interstellar]

I think it’s possible but that’s not what the graph shows.

I am 49 and have got it to 180 but not sustained at that level

[mike9009]

I am 50 too. My heart rate used to go up to mid 170s whilst cycling. Quacks told me to back off a bit, even though I felt fine doing so... ...

[thepritch]

HR devices can easily spike and show anomalies but that’s usually quite easily to see on a decent graph plot.

Can you show more detail from your graph as it doesn’t really tell us anything?

Everyone is different, and will have different HRmax (some friends HRmax differs by 40bpm), restingHR, and training zones. HR will also be influenced by tiredness, alcohol, fitness, stress, type of activity, heat, hydration, altitude etc.

I also find my HR doesn’t necessarily correlate exactly with how heavy I’m breathing.

To answer your question, I wouldn’t be worried if you saw 180bpm during a vigorous game.

If you’re playing regularly, look at the trends over a few months, you soon get to ‘know’ your body.

Edited by thepritch on Sunday 7th April 07:42

[mcelliott]

mike9009 said:

I am 50 too. My heart rate used to go up to mid 170s whilst cycling. Quacks told me to back off a bit, even though I felt fine doing so... ...

Get a new Dr that advice is utter bs, unless you have an underlying condition, anyway 180 is totally normal for a lot of people, max hr vary enormously from person to person, mine is around 198 my friends who is the same age and fitness is around 170.

[mike9009]

mcelliott said:

mike9009 said:

I am 50 too. My heart rate used to go up to mid 170s whilst cycling. Quacks told me to back off a bit, even though I felt fine doing so... ...

Get a new Dr that advice is utter bs, unless you have an underlying condition, anyway 180 is totally normal for a lot of people, max hr vary enormously from person to person, mine is around 198 my friends who is the same age and fitness is around 170.

Type 1 diabetic. Sorry should add some context....

[Chris Stott]

I’m 56. Max HR (according to my HRM and Fitbit) while static cycling is 192. Hit on a few occasions across 100’s of sessions.

Some people have a naturally higher max HR than others… it’s not dangerous.

[thepritch]

mike9009 said:

Type 1 diabetic. Sorry should add some context....

Hats off to you for being so active Mum had lifelong type 1 and always really struggled to balance her blood sugars and exercise. From my view, it seemed a difficult condition to control.

[grumbledoak]

Just because you have started to measure something doesn't mean it has just started to happen. Or that it is dangerous.

If you felt fine, crack on. You will learn what your normal readings are.

[Bluevanman]

Isn't there a formula for max heart rate,220 minus your age .
I don't know how they came up with that mind

[Chris Stott]

That’s just a guide. An Individual can vary 20% from that.

[Timmos1974]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Yes i think it peaked at 180.

This was traced off an apple watch so might not be that accurate.

[Chris Stott]

Timmos1974 said:

Thanks for the replies guys.

Yes i think it peaked at 180.

This was traced off an apple watch so might not be that accurate.

If you didn’t feel like you were close to throwing up/dying, your max will be a decent amount higher.

Max heart rate is incredibly uncomfortable and you’ll only be there for very short period of time.

[oddball1313]

i’m 51 and hit around 180 at peak when cycling up a tough hill, i can sustain 160-165 for quite a while when on a full gas section so I wouldn’t particularly worry, I don’t think you have anything unusual going on. My mate never goes above 165 and we’re only 6 months apart in age so goes to show there’s a lot of variation between us all

Edited by oddball1313 on Sunday 7th April 16:17

[Terminator X]

Mine gets up to 160-170 when jogging. Similar age to OP.



TX.

[James6112]

220-your age is a good guide
Not 100% though
I’m 62 & still do 5k in around 20 mins (on a good day!, 17 mins 40 odd years ago..)

[mike9009]

thepritch said:

mike9009 said:

Type 1 diabetic. Sorry should add some context....

Hats off to you for being so active Mum had lifelong type 1 and always really struggled to balance her blood sugars and exercise. From my view, it seemed a difficult condition to control.

Thanks, always a balancing act. Things have got 'easier' in recent years with Freestyle Libre., compared to when I was diagnosed in 1981. An inaccurate blood sugar reading would take 5 minutes to do and drawing up insulin into syringes and flicking the air bubbles out at 7 years old was a tricky if necessary skill......