I’m a reasonably fit 44-year old woman, who finally hit on the right combination of diet and exercise to maintain my healthy lifestyle. During one of my workouts when the eliptical machine was trying to kill me again I began to ponder the whole topic of target heart rates and have had this nagging question for many weeks. I’m hoping someone can provide some insight.
My resting heart rate is about 45-48 beats/minute. My target heart rate is about 145 beats/minute (a difference of nearly 100 strokes). AND, this takes me about 5-7 minutes to achieve this.
If someone else of approximately the same age and weight starts with a resting rate of 75 beats/minute and they reach the same target heart rate, they are increasing the number of beats by about 70 beats/minute. For them, it may only take about 3-5 minutes to achieve their target.
Are we getting the same level of benefit? If you start at a lower resting rate, wouldn’t your target heart rate also be lower?
Just one of those things that has made me ponder more frequently than seems necessary. Let me know what you think. I have great faith in the brain power of the dopers!
Are getting your maximum heart rate using the old formula of 220 minus your age? (If you’re using the “recommended” HR table on the elliptical machine, that’s the formula they use) That formula is really, really inaccurate for many people. Ideally, you’d know your maximum heart rate and multiply that by the percent exertion you’re aiming for. There are other formulas that have you subtract your resting HR from your maximum, multiply the difference by your desired exertion and then add your resting HR back in. That will be closer but could still be substantially off if you’re using the formula to get your maximum HR.
Anyway, if you’d like to read more, I had some quotes and a link in the last post in this thread.
I’m 52 (almost 53) so using the old 220-age my MAX heart rate should be 168 (167). I can hit 185 without too much trouble, and 190 if I put my mind to it. Riding my mountain bike today I spent over an hour at 150-165. I can still kinda sort of carry on a conversation at 165.
Anyway my heart rate monitor calculates my personal target rate, and it give me 140-160 as my target.
I began to ponder the whole topic of target heart rates and have had this nagging question for many weeks. I’m hoping someone can provide some insight.