Max pulse rate

[paul612557]

Just wondering what my max pulse should be. I'm a 35 year old male, 203lbs and fairly fit on the bike. At the moment my max is 175 gained by climbing a 1 mile ascent as hard as I can. I realise everyone is different but this seems a little low. Any views on this?

 

[gruppo]

Just wondering what my max pulse should be. I'm a 35 year old male, 203lbs and fairly fit on the bike. At the moment my max is 175 gained by climbing a 1 mile ascent as hard as I can. I realise everyone is different but this seems a little low. Any views on this?

The most common formula used is 220 minus your age, which in your case would be 185. But that formula is based on an average that has a ±20 deviation. And in essence it doesn't matter whether you are average or not because it is like hair color -- it is what it is.

You did the right thing by checking you HR Max yourself so you know exactly what it is. That is the only importance of HR Max is the knowledge to set realistic training zones for your workouts.

 

[upstateSC-rider]

I'm 38 and my hr-max is 182 going by 220 - 38 or 175 going by my Polar 720 hrmax-prediction.
For me I think the Polar is about spot-on being that I've much closer to that than 182.

Lou.

 

[Meek One]

For what it's worth I'm 34 and hit 196 not too long ago...I guess I was giving the proverbial 110 percent Or umm 105 percent......

 

[markwill]

I'm 38 and my hr-max is 182 going by 220 - 38 or 175 going by my Polar 720 hrmax-prediction.
For me I think the Polar is about spot-on being that I've much closer to that than 182.

Lou.

I'm 42 so my age based estimate should be 178. The Polar hrmax prediction has been 171, of which I've been dubioius. I have hit exactly that figure (171) on the bike, although I would say I was not absolutely at my limit (albeit pretty close). And, although a running maximum is apparently different to a cycling maximum, I hit 179 on the treadmill on Saturday. So, I remain pretty sure that the 171 is too low for me. I'm thinking around 180 or so is about right for me.

Mark

 

[Borg59]

I'm 62 and my max hr is 173, as determined by a 12 mile TT. The highest recorded value thus far this year is 178. Most formulas don't come close to giving an accurate number with the exception of a formula by Dr. Dr. Dan Heil, 211.415 - (0.5 * age) - (0.05 * weight in lbs) + 4.5.
Borg59

 

[cheapie]

i'm 30 and i've seen 210-212 on the treadmill while sprinting for 90 seconds. this has happened 3-4 times.

 

[cheapie]

i wonder if my high max hr is unusual or if i'm just out of shape. i was riding last night and looked down and i was at 195 and wasn't stressing too much at all. hmmm...

 

[nssane]

I'm 34, 195lbs, just shy of a pure 6ft tall. I've been riding only a couple of weeks. My resting avgHR was 70 measured 5 morings in a row at wake up. By by my calculations my MaxHR is 186. However when I ride hard i usually notice my hr being 178-182. I can carry that hr for well over an hour with no ill side effects afterward. When I do peak tests I top out at 212.

 

[gruppo]

I'm 34, 195lbs, just shy of a pure 6ft tall. I've been riding only a couple of weeks. My resting avgHR was 70 measured 5 morings in a row at wake up. By by my calculations my MaxHR is 186. However when I ride hard i usually notice my hr being 178-182. I can carry that hr for well over an hour with no ill side effects afterward. When I do peak tests I top out at 212.

Not sure exactly what you're trying to say here, but if doing peak tests put you at 212, then your HR Max is 212 (or perhaps slightly higher depending on how you do the test) and any calculated value is meaningless.

 

[tanggoman]

i'm 30 and i've seen 210-212 on the treadmill while sprinting for 90 seconds. this has happened 3-4 times.

cycling produces a lower max HR than running on threadmill

 

[gruppo]

i wonder if my high max hr is unusual or if i'm just out of shape. i was riding last night and looked down and i was at 195 and wasn't stressing too much at all. hmmm...

Your HR Max has nothing to do with being in or out of shape. Much like resting HR, it is a number significant for your own training purposes. Although you HR Max can change over time, it is unlikely that getting into shape cause a significant change. On the other hand, your resting HR would most likely get lower with fitness.

 

[nssane]

Not sure exactly what you're trying to say here, but if doing peak tests put you at 212, then your HR Max is 212 (or perhaps slightly higher depending on how you do the test) and any calculated value is meaningless.

I think I was unsuccessfully trying to indicate that my max HR via formula's was different than when I did real peak testing. Sorry if I confused anyone.

 

[Gilders]

For what it's worth, I'm 30 and MHR should be 190, using the oversimplistic and therefore inaccurate 220 minus age formula.

I regularly exceed this on the steep hilly rides in the Lake District area where I live and ride, plus cycling hard up Hartside in the Pennines recently I actually hit then exceeded 220 itself!

As we're all so different in terms of our MHR, I really don't know why anyone pays any real attention to the 220 - age formula.

 

[dazzle96]

I I actually hit then exceeded 220 itself!

.

OUCH

Seriously, how did you feel at 220, light headed, dizzy, wanted t vomit, shaking, or did you have more?

Any age based formula is purely & simply a guideline.
I beleive that 220- age was based on a sample of sedentary individuals.
The factthat they were sedentary may or may not be relevant.
I still use age based formulae because I haven't done a stress test, but I've now changed 3 times after exceeding my theoretical age based MHR.
Stress test will be done sometime next year, not a lot of point at the end of September.

 

[Gilders]

OUCH

Seriously, how did you feel at 220, light headed, dizzy, wanted t vomit, shaking, or did you have more?

Any age based formula is purely & simply a guideline.
I beleive that 220- age was based on a sample of sedentary individuals.
The factthat they were sedentary may or may not be relevant.
I still use age based formulae because I haven't done a stress test, but I've now changed 3 times after exceeding my theoretical age based MHR.
Stress test will be done sometime next year, not a lot of point at the end of September.

Fair enough point - I guess if you're sedentary you're not going to be pushing yourself to the absolute max on any kind of regular basis, otherwise you wouldn't be sedentary!

Re: how I felt at over 220 bpm, as I said in the original post each individual has a different MHR and it appears that a person's MHR is by no means an indicator of a specific level of fitness. As such, felt tired after the climb but yes there still was plenty there to happily complete the remaining 45 miles of my ride. However, there are a multitude of individuals who max out considerably lower than this... thing is, unlike me, they tend to win things like the TDF, don't they, Lance?!

 

[thotdoc]

I'm 62 yo and riding for 2 years. Max hb is 174 on long fast reasonablly level, ie rolling, rides-there are no flat roads, for more than a bit, where I live. On these rides, when I'm really pushing, hb goes up slowly and I don't notice it. But , on a steep incline at 170 hb, I start to feel ill. 220-age worked in the beginning, not now.

G

 

[bikeguy2]

Don't know what it is,my legs always fatigue far before my heart rate or breathing bothers me. 179 bpm on my V02 max test, but my legs died and
my heart and lungs were just getting started.

 

[mmamster]

I always thought that Max HR did not literallly mean how far you could push your heart up under high stress. Are you guys saying that if on a hill climb your HR gets to say 205 then that is your max HR? Isn't max HR a measure of max sustainable/safe HR or something like that? Also I thought that the LOWER your max HR generally the fitter you were all other things being equal, rather than higher.

 

[ghsmith54]

cycling produces a lower max HR than running on threadmill

This simply isn't true. For a given person, max is max regardless of how it is achieved. Also, your max HR is genetically determined (though, like most things, it does decline with age) and has little to do with ones physical conditioning. If you're out of shape, you'll just hit it faster under a heavy load than you would if you're fit.

Greg