Does weight loss equal lower high-effort heart rate?

[531Aussie]

I guess it's relevant to HR at all ranges of output, but it's easier to gauge max or near-max efforts than low and moderate efforts. My resting HR is still pretty much the same.

I lost roughly 8kg a couple of years ago, and a few more kg about a year before that.
I've noticed in the last 18 months or so that my HR doesn't get quite as high as it used to (about 5 to 7 beats lower) during very hard efforts. For example: a few years ago, on a "fresh legs" day, I could easily get my HR into the low to mid-190s during a hard interval or gap-bridging-type effort, but it's unusual if my HR nudges 190 in a similar situation these days.

It's only just dawned on me that it could be because my heart doesn't have to work as hard, due to their being less blubber to pump blood through. Is this how it works?

Prior to thinking of this, I assumed the lower HRs were due to older age (I'm 45), or coz I'd lost power from the weight loss (I've always thought that HR is a "by-product" of what the legs can generate on the day).

I don't have a power metre

Thanks

 

[vspa]

i think you are right, lower weight means better fitness which means lower heart rates for equivalent efforts,

 

[maydog]

Weight loss, cardiac remodeling, improved lung function and more capillaries will all affect your peak heart rate.

Another item may be your heart rate monitor. I was using a Garmin 405cx for the past year or more and thought that my peak heart rate dropped 5 beats. Now I am using HeartWear model and getting higher values.

 

[531Aussie]

Thanks for the replies.

I've had the same Polar for 7 years, and before that I used other Polars, even going back to 1992 when I bought my first Polar Edge. I was so cool

 

[vspa]

Thanks for the replies. I've had the same Polar for 7 years, and before that I used other Polars, even going back to 1992 when I bought my first Polar Edge.  I was so cool   

the one with the big screen and big display, displaying bpm only ? mine is still hanging somewhere in the house, and i also stayed loyal to polar till today.

 

[531Aussie]

Originally Posted by vspa .


the one with the big screen and big display, displaying bpm only ? mine is still hanging somewhere in the house, and i also stayed loyal to polar till today.

Yep, that sounds familiar. Mine had to be started by almost touching the transmitter with the receiver, which was fun when the receiver was on the handlebars.