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Location: Nothing could be finer... I'm in S. Carolina!!
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hubby and i bought cheapo hr monitors that don't have an average or highest hr feature... so the other morning when we were w/ our tri group, we were to run 8 minutes as hard as we could and monitor our heart rates. i tried watching mine to get an average, but it was jumping all around. at one time it read 215, one time 160, one time 170ish, and then 180 - so i guestimated that my average hr was 185 and my highest heart rate was 215. i'm 24 and about 120lbs. - does this sound abnormally high or ok? i asked my tri coach and he said it wasn't abnormally high, but that was all. so, i'm just not sure. my heart rate always seems to be higher than i feel. we did a fitness exam monday (free w/ our gym membership) and our results should be back next week and i'm hoping that will give me some clearer answers, but one of the tests was to briskly walk the treadmill (3.5 i think was the speed) w/ an incline building to 15%, so at the end, my calves were burning!! we were to tell her on the rpe scale what we were feeling and she was also monitoring our heart rate. i would tell her a 3 or 4 but my heart rate might be at 110... is that not high? at the end, my heart rate was (i think) around 180 (and sometimes approaching 200) and i was telling her a 9 on the scale. just trying to make sense of all of this. i don't want to hurt myself but i also don't want to not work out hard.
suggestions? clarifications? thanks!
Last edited by fisher33; 07-17-2008 at 03:37 PM..
Reason: added
I don't think your heart rate monitor is very accurate and I wouldn't trust those readings. I have a Polar F6 and it only cost $99. I doubt your maximum heart rate is even 215. I can't even get to 190 doing speed intervals.
I was wondering how accurate it is. My heart rate is higher than what my gym manager said is should be. He said I should stay below 155 (I am a 31 year old female) to burn the most fat calories. But, when I work out, I feel best at 160-165. I do intervals of about 3-5 minutes high intensity and then I slow down until my heart rate gets back down. Recently, another manager from my gym said I should do shorter intervals (30 seconds). So, I am trying to find what is best for me. But I do want to maximize my workout and burn the most fat calories.
Are the treadmills heart rate less accurate than the monitors that you wear?
The reader probably isn't accurate, 215 would be pretty much hard to hit, your max heart rate for a female is 226 minus your age (this can vary according to most websites), so it would have to be wrong (or abnormally high!). I'm also 24 but a male, and the highest I've ever been able to get mine up to is 190 on an elliptical trainer, going as hard as I could, so I think 185 would probably be a reasonable max for 8 minutes of very intense running.
110 is on the low side for exercise as far as I know. I run quite a bit, but don't keep track of my heart rate, I'd guess its comparable to a similar amount intensity workout on an elliptical, which is around 160 for me.
If your heart rate really is that high during normal training, I'd probably see a doctor, but as far as I know (which really isn't that much), it won't neccessarily hurt you to get your heart beat up really high as long as your blood pressure and cholesterol are both OK. What is your sitting heart rate? You can check it with you fingers on your wrist or neck (just like when you get a check up at the doctor). It should be around 70-ish beats per minute.
The reader probably isn't accurate, 215 would be pretty much hard to hit, your max heart rate for a female is 226 minus your age (this can vary according to most websites), so it would have to be wrong (or abnormally high!). I'm also 24 but a male, and the highest I've ever been able to get mine up to is 190 on an elliptical trainer, going as hard as I could, so I think 185 would probably be a reasonable max for 8 minutes of very intense running.
Location: Nothing could be finer... I'm in S. Carolina!!
1,294 posts, read 6,485,070 times
Reputation: 421
thank you for replying. OA 5599, my sitting heart rate is normal, about 70ish. i think (hope) it's my hr monitor being wacky.
95butterflies - i'm not sure which hr monitors are more effective. i got the 215 from my hr monitor. i looked down once while running the 8 min. as hard as i could and noticed it read 215. i was running hard, but i wasn't about the pass out.
also, my hr monitor and the treadmills hr monitor were pretty much the same when i did the fitness test. so... that just adds to the confusion for me. hopefully when i get those tests back, i'll know really what's going on. and today my husband and i are going to get better hr monitors. if these numbers really do represent my hr, i think i will be making a dr. appt.
fisher33: After rereading your post, I thought of something else. You said when you were doing the walking test (going up to a 15% incline) that you were talking to the coach, telling her how you feel. This may have raised the readout on the monitor. This is just from my own personal experience (so others can chime in if this doesn't make since). I love to listen to music and jam out when I work out. I also love to sing along, but have enough common sense to know that everyone else does not like to hear me. So, I lip sinc. Weird yes, but it helps me pass the time. If I have been lip sincing when I check my heart rate, it is almost always higher because for that short moment while lip sincing my breathing is thrown off (especially if I am really pushing myself). Also, if you are moving your arms, back and forth, while you are walking this will also raise your heart rate.
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