struggling to reach max heart rate

This topic contains 4 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by ayurvedic123 6 years, 6 months ago.

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Chris Malone

5:16 pm
8 May 16
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I’m struggling to reach my max HR. I can get to 80% but can’t seem to get higher though I’m working really hard. Does this mean I’m a aerobic non responder or am I really not working as hard as I think I’m up to 30 sec sprints on 1% incline on treadmill about 2 mins rest doing between 6 -8 sprints

penguin

8:03 pm
6 Jun 17
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Chris, Don’t get hung up on this. I have always had a slow heart rate and can never get anywhere near what all the exercise regimes say is my max. Twenty years ago, after a company medical examination, I had various scans then found myself on a tread mill with a heart specialist, his registrar and a nurse monitoring my progress as they made me work progressively harder. After about 40 minutes the medical conclusion was “This is getting boring. You are unusual, but that is no reason to get worried. Go away” The slow heart rate doesn’t stop me feeling wrecked when I work really hard.

bcjmmac

10:24 pm
6 Jun 17
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I also find that I only reach 80-90% of my max HR doing HIIT. I also do regular cardio & can get my HR up to max after ~20 minutes of high intensive elliptical running. Doing combination of both (HIIT 2 times/week, regular same) I have been able to increase my speed on the elliptical from 15km/hr to close to 17. Good enough evidence, for me, that my cardio endurance is improving.
During cool down, my HR rapidly slows, which is likely what is happening during your HIIT training. Shortening the “rest” intervals will keep your HR up & might increase the max you reach – of course much harder.

bigbooty

11:06 pm
6 Jun 17
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I suspect that you are not getting into 100% anaerobic state. You should not be able to sustain what you are doing for more than 20 to 30 seconds. No way. So ask yourself. At what you consider to be your HIIT pace, could you have gone for an extra 10 or 15 seconds at that pace? If you think you could have extended it, then for you, youre not doing HIIT. Do you fell physically ill after each of your HIIT burst? If no then its not 100% anaerobic. I incorporate two 15 second HIIT bursts at the end of my 50km bike ride. I feel physically ill as I get off my bike.

penguin

9:06 am
7 Jun 17
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I can get myself into the state that I can go no further and absolutely must stop, but none of the heart monitors show me anywhere near my theoretical max. For once this isn’t an age thing – I was like that doing basic military training. I don’t trust rules aimed at the whole population with no allowance for individual difference. Some of us are different. BMI is another one – designed to assess population groups, not individuals. Great if you are a sedentary office worker, adult but not old, of average height and western European ancestry but otherwise only a rough guide.

Also some of the gym equipment can’t be trusted, either because it isn’t accurate or because whoever programmed it was playing safe. On some of the machines I have to select the default age of 35 and not enter my actual 73 or they won’t let me work sufficiently hard. Being told to slow down by an exercise bike is only amusing the first time it happens.

I’m off now to tell lies to a piece of equipment that thinks it knows better than I do.

ayurvedic123

11:29 am
18 May 18
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Exceeding 85 percent of your maximum heart rate can be dangerous to your health, as exercising at an extreme intensity is associated with an increased risk for a cardiac event