Maximum Heart Rate

[Dulish]

What exactly does "Maximum Heart Rate" mean???

I am curious because my MHR is 184 (226 - 42) but I can often get there doing my highest intensity intervals and go beyond it. So, obviously, it's not the fastest your heart can or should beat... so what is it really??

[Marc]

Heart rate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mmmmmmmm, good one Lo, as a rule of thumb i use same as you, 220-26 = 194bpm, but it seems that might not be that accurate. I think the Polar HRM's also use this method. A friend of mine often used to go above his max heart rate, ive got it up tp 95% but never over 194 bpm!

[gnash]

Max HR of 220 - age is 100%...HR 85-90% is ok for interval training and HR75% is ok for LISS...100% is risky for anyone except well- conditioned individuals with a long training history..1 year of training at 65-85%...increasing VO2 max and lactate threshold take some time....

Timing of recovery to HR 90 is something to track as an indication of conditioning level..the quicker the recovery, the better the condition..

gnash

[statona]

What Gnash said.

[Rhone]

Every once in a while in the medical and scientific communities (exactly the places where you'd expect this wouldn't happen), someone comes up with a reasonable rule of thumb--you know, like 64oz is the magical amount of water you should be drinking per day, or 98.6F is everyone's "normal" body temperature--and then someone quotes them, and someone else quotes them, and next thing you know it's being treated as gospel even by those who should know better.

220-age as the formula for maximum heart rate is an example of that. It's a general rule of thumb based on a few studies, which was not originally intended to be used as some kind of universal absolute.

Clarence Bass has a great article on the subject.

[Dulish]

Thanks for posting that, Rhone... I've often wondered if that formula was pulled out of someone's, uh, back pocket LOL.

And, just an FYI.. for women the formula is 226 - age for 100% I guess we chicks beat faster ;-)

[Chris]

I've read a formula where you can take into account things like fitness level, body fat, age, weight, some other crap, and get a good estimate of what is max. However, I'm more in Gnash's corner than trying to figure out what my individual max hr is. My point is, although 220-age might be a universal estimation, it's still a reasonable base line... and training at or very near this value is dangerous. It's important to back off of your max and work up to a faster speed/more effort at a lower heart rate. You'll still get a great workout.

[Adam]

I have pushed my heart rate to 200 before, and it's scary. You need to be careful!! I got there a few times but one time was when I was on caffeine (a few cups of coffee when I hadn't had any for a long time) and THAT was a horrible moment. My HR was artificially fast, but I was pushing myself too hard as well..

As a rule now I won't have anything but water before cardio. When you're heart rate is up TOO high your body will stop you from continuing one way or the other, but with drugs like caffeine that element is skewed.

EDIT: to clarify I was 21 when I did that so I was approx. 90's% or maximum.

[mtbkr]

The 220 - age for males or 226 -age for females is used as a baseline calculation, however this does vary. I have an endurance background, and the max I have hit so far (biking up hill at almost 100% pace) was 198 bpm. According to the formula my max hr would be 196bpm, which isn't too far off - I would imagine my actual maximum would be somewhere around 200 -205bpm based on perceived exertion. This calculation is a good basis for working out your heart rate zones, but to get a true reading of what your max is you can do some tests, but it really depends on what you are going to use this information for!
The last race I did (the weekend before I started BFL 3 weeks ago) my average was 180bpm which is 91% and my max was 194bpm (98%)