While on the treadmill at the gym today I grabbed ahold of the heart rate monitors and it said 168, I am 25 years old. My mother told that was waaaaaaaaaaaay to high! Any thoughts?

Don't worry, it's just fine.

A rough guide to your heart rate and exercise zones is to take your age and subtract it from 220. That's roughly your max heart rate -- so for you, your max HR is 195.

Then you can figure out what intensity zone you're in when you exercise:

65 - 75% of your max is low intensity

75 - 85% is moderate intensity

85 - 90% is high intensity

For you:

127 - 146 is low intensity

147 - 166 is moderate intensity

167 - 176 is high intensity

So you were right at the edge of moderate to high intensity exercise, which is a good place to be. Keep up the good work!

What is high for your mom might not be way too high for you.

The standard calculation (up for some debate, but pretty widely used) is:

220 - Your Age = Maximum Heart Rate

People usually work out between 65-85% of their max heart rate. So you were definitely at the high end, but not outlandishly high. Did you stay at that rate the whole time, or were you at the end of a high speed interval?

I usually go by exertion, and try to work out at a pace where I can talk for a few words at a time, but can't speak long sentences or sing. It's the perfect exertion for me.

I told my mom she didnt know what she was talking about lol

That is why I brought the question here


Thank you thank you so much for the info

Meg and Mandalinn are spot-on! Work your heart rate, girl!

When I am out running my heart rate will go as high as 188 - thats right on my anerobic edge. (I'm 24)

My working heart rate during a run tends to be about 170-175. I know that it's alright for me because even at that level I could still have a real brief chat if I wanted to. I know I am slacking off if it drops to 160 lol.

I have a friend I do Spin with and her heart rate will peak at 190 in that class and average like 175 - whereas I peak about 180 and average 165 - we're both working at the same intensity we just have different thresholds. Except I tend to sweat a **** of a lot more lol.