Maximum heart rate?
 

I did an elliptical workout for the first time today. I was doing a minute of hard work but not killing myself and then thirty second spurts of pushing it as hard as I possibly could. I survived about 25 minutes and hope to work up to at least double that.

During the minute intervals, my heart rate stayed around 175 – it never got below 168 or so. During the bursts, it would go up to 185 or so, but occasionally I hit 190. I didn't realize that was considered very high until I was doing some Googling later.

Is that way too high? Has anyone else seen those sort of numbers? Heart problems run on both sides of my family so I am trying to find the balance of wanting to push myself to fight off my double whammy of bad genes and not wanting to put too much strain on a heart that might not be built for that kind of exertion.

I've got an appointment with my doctor in about two weeks and I'll bring it up, but I really don't want to stop until then because I'm afraid I'll lose motivation. I'm obviously not asking for medical advice, just anecdotal evidence that I am not going to keel over at the gym!

For what it's worth, I am twenty years old.

Unless YOU have heart issues, or feel like you're going to pass out while you're exercising, there is nothing to worry about when your heart rate gets high. Mine ROUTINELY was over 200 when I first started running and I was almost twice as old as you.

This calculator is pretty useful. It looks like your "target heart rate" is 140-170bmp, which from what I understand means that your body works best and gets the best workout at heart rates in this range. You're only slightly over, so it doesn't look like it should hurt you, but it might be worth trying to exercise a bit longer with a slightly decreased intensity if you're going for cardiovascular and overall health.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/tar...t-rate/SM00083

How were you measuring your heart rate? Were you using a heart rate monitor like Polar or something similar or just those grips that they have on some machines... The heart rate monitoring functions on most machines at the gyms aren't the most reliable and it is very difficult, if not impossible to take your own pulse accurately during strenuous exercise....

There is a formula that is used for maximum heart rate during exercise:

220 - Your Age = Your Maximum Heart Rate

So in your case : 220 - 20 = 200 bpm

This however is just a frame of reference, a starting off point if you will...

The only way to know your actual maximum HR is through exercise testing e.g. a treadmill stress testing... Which in your case might not be such a bad idea since you say that you have a family history of cardiac problems... so probably better to be safe than sorry in a case like that...

But all that aside... With a HR that high you might find it difficult to maintain that intensity until your body is better conditioned... and even then it would probably be better for you to be in the neighborhood of 60% to 80% of your maximum HR as an optimal aerobic training zone...

I hope this helps... and good luck with your workouts...