Hi all. I've just recently discovered this board and am delighted to have found you all.

I've been a regular exerciser for many years, so getting myself to the gym isn't the issue. I realized recently, though, that I'd gotten myself into an exercise rut--lots of steady state time on the elliptical with occasional intervals (and weights a few days a week), but it was definitely feeling like I was treading water. (And meanwhile, my weight started creeping up, and I wanted to squelch that.)

So, I decided to diversify, and now I'm splitting my workouts, each day I'm at the gym (4 days a week), between at least 2 machines and sometimes 3--some stair climber, some treadmill, some bike and some elliptical. (I usually do an hour or a bit more per gym trip.) That's felt good, in general, and I've also upped the intensity, in general. (Also it may be that the stairmaster, in particular, kicks my butt, so I kind of gasp my way through my 20 minutes on it.)

And it seems to be working. I've dropped the pounds I gained and am hoping to go down further. In the interests of keeping it up, I bought a heart rate monitor (a Polar F6) and used it for the first time yesterday. And discovered that I was out of my target heart rate for at least half the time (too high). I'd set the workout for moderate, and it had set my target between 125 and 140. (I'm 41.) But for a chunk of the time on the elliptical and part of the time on the treadmill, I was above this--either because I was running or just going fast on the elliptical. I guess my question is--is this a bad thing? Am I being inefficient in exercising too hard.

I guess the other thing is that my gym is in the town where I work, and I work 4 days a week, so I only go to the gym on those days, which is why I wanted to intensify while I'm there. The three days I'm home, I'm active, certainly--I walk and occasionally hike or x-country ski and muck about in the garden (depending on the season)--but not in that intensive cardio sort of way, usually. I just bought my first exercise DVD to try as well.

Sorry to be so longwinded. But I'm just trying to figure out what will be most efficient, both in terms of further weight loss and getting into better shape overall. (I'm also trying to shift from machine weights to more free weights, but that's a different thread.)

Thanks in advance. It's been fun exploring these boards over the past few days.

My understanding is that the 220-your age to get your max heart rate is beginning to be debunked a little. Kinda like the needing 8 glasses of water thing. There are all kinds of other things that go into determining your max heart rate, including your current level of fitness, etc.

(disclaimer .. I don't know how you're determinng your max heart rate, but this is the most common way, I think)

I would say that if you're comfortable with your workout, you don't feel faint or puky afterwards, and you feel like you're making progress, you're ok.

That's my non-professional opinion on the topic!

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How intense are you looking for your workouts to be? As in...what percentage of your max heart rate? If you're 41, your max heart rate is 179 and it's generally not recommended to go above that (though I have gone over my max on occasion). I have a polar HRM too and when I train (weights, cardio, whatever) I try to stay around 85% of my max. If you're trying to maximize your efficiency at the gym I'd aim for a high target heart rate (70-90% of your max). That'll burn the most calories overall and give you the most bang for your buck

Thanks, both of you. I guess I hadn't thought it out, exactly, how intense I wanted it to be in terms of percentage. When I've been going by the HR monitors on the machines, I would try to keep it up in the 140s as long as I could, with spurts higher when doing a fast few minutes and back down in the 130s while recovering. I doubt I've gone above 179--yesterday, the Polar said I hit 170, but I don't think I stayed there long.

I can tell I've worked out hard when I finish, and sometimes I sit down and pant for a few minutes, but I'm definitely not faint or puky (thankfully). I like the idea of aiming for 70-90% of my max since that's where it seems that I've been working out mostly these last few weeks. I think the other thing is, now that I've been going harder, I can go harder, and so I want to. I've had knee issues and a broken ankle, so I can't run, so I like the opportunity to go fast when I can. (I've been trying to make myself run a bit on the treadmill, in a limited sort of way, mostly because it definitely feels like a workout, but it's definitely not going to translate into me becoming a runner, ever.)

I'm 51 and I usually work above my target rate and have not died yet ... I think a good rule of thumb is that if you aren't dizzy or faint, go for it... Just my 2 cents, but then again I am not a professional....

When my mother wanted to use the treadmill (she was 79 at the time) I used the 220 - 79 and came up with 141 as a max. The first day on it she hit that really quite quickly, even a few beats higher. Although she's generally fit, she's not used to the continuous format of the treadmill. As she was going to the doctor later in the week I stopped her and had her check with the doctor. He pretty much told her that even if she was at her theoretically max he wasn't worried. She'd had a couple of stress tests over the years and he said she was okay to go that high. Now she usually doesn't hit more than 130, but I was very willing to let the doctor guide her.

Sounds like you're doing great, suecd. I wouldn't worry so much about going over your max heart rate as I would about staying within your target range to maximize your efficiency at the gym. That's why I LOVE my polar heart rate monitor...especially when I'm running outside or doing circuit training. Best investment I ever made.

Well, the report on day 2 is that I set the workout to high today, since I was doing the stair climber and some time on the elliptical, and that range was something like 141-160, and I was in that range for a good chunk of that time (maybe 40 minutes out of 55). I'm going to keep playing with it, but maybe it's just that, at least for now, I feel like doing a bunch of high intensity workouts.

Overall, I'm not particularly worried about my heart, given that all my other heart-related vitals are good, but I didn't want to be spending all these gym hours inefficiently, esp. as it gets nicer out.

I feel that exercise, no matter how intense or not, is better than eating or spending time in front of the TV....

I think that's absolutely true, but I also know that there are ways to maximize the exercise you do get ... so for those who are interested in knowing how to, it's a valuable point of discussion.

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Another way to evaluate the intensity of your workout is to use the perceived exertion scale. The scale I use is ten points, where 1 is sitting on the sofa, 5 is slightly uncomfortable but can still talk, 6 is slightly breathless but still able to talk, at 7 you are able to talk but don't want to, at 8 you can no longer carry on a conversation, and at 10 you are dead.

For steady state cardio, you want to be at around a 5-6. For intervals, you want to be at around 8-9 on the sprints/intervals and 4-5 on the recovery.

Comparing your perceived exertion to the feedback from your HRM would give you an idea of how problematic it is to be above your max heart rate. If you are at a 9 or 10 when you are above your max heart rate, you should probably dial it back a bit. If you are at a 7-8, that's probably okay for short bursts (like intervals) but not for an extended period. If you are at a 5-6, it's probably okay even for an extended period.

Having said all this, I just want to point out that I am not a doctor or an expert in any way, so take this all for the amateur advice that it is. But I have found the perceived exertion scale to be pretty helpful in determining the intensity of my workouts, especially since I don't have an HRM and the machines at the gym cannot accurately read my heart rate (although one once reported that my towel had a heart rate of 200 BPM).

I will agree with Ms. Bluetoblue!! I love PRE! It is awesome. It has helped me alot too- I'll do 3 days of High Intensity Interval Training and the other three days I'll do steady state.

It is a great way to measure your progress, and to switch it up as well- and keep your body confused, so that it doesn't stop progressing.

Good luck- and playing around with all this will help and you'll figure it out soon enough Have fun!

Bertie