I have recently joined a gym. They have put me on a cardio-vascular program for two weeks to strengthen my heart and lungs before introducing resistance training.
I am a fairly fit 53 year old overweight male. Most of the machines monitor your pulse rate. My resting rate is 60 - 68 but by the end of the workout it's around 168. Is this OK or should I take it a bit easier?
Thank you.

try this...

heart rate calculator

Plugged in age 53 male and medium activity and 60 based on the info you provided.


Based on an age of 53 and using the formula 214 - 0.8*Age
Maximum Heart Rate (Calculated) = 171.59999999999999432
% of Maximum Heart Rate Reserve*
Percent 60 sec. 10 sec. 60 sec. 10 sec.
------- ------- ------- ------- -------
100 171.6 28.6 171.6 28.6
95 163.0 27.2 166.0 27.7
90 154.4 25.7 160.4 26.7
85 145.9 24.3 154.9 25.8
80 137.3 22.9 149.3 24.9
75 128.7 21.4 143.7 23.9
70 120.1 20.0 138.1 23.0
65 111.5 18.6 132.5 22.1
60 103.0 17.2 127.0 21.2
55 94.4 15.7 121.4 20.2

* Percent of maximum, corrected for resting heart rate of 60

It depends on how long you are at the 168. Is it a spike, or are you steadily climbing to that number.

Do you consistantly stay in excess of 80% of your maximum heart rate?

Thanks Meggen and TrainerDan,

Yesterday it climbed to 168 on the last machine.

It isn't always 80 percent, it calms down if I'm not excercising too hard.

I did the same program today and it didn't go so high - maybe I'm getting used to it?

Could be ... could be an number of other factors too:

Stress, accuracy of the machine (I've had some tell me I was at 195) ...

So, if I see it approaching my maximum heartrate should I ease up a little?

Hi, RC! I've been working with a trainer for about 4 months now, and her rule of thumb for me (I'm also 53 years old) is that I should stay within 65-80% of my maximum rate for most of my cardio time except for the warm up and cool down. I do a BFL-type interval routine, and I try not to get above 80% except when I'm doing my level 10 exertion, which is only for one minute of my whole routine.

After awhile you'll know pretty much how hard you can work (e.g., how high to set the resistance, incline, etc.) to be at the heart rate you desire.

Thank you for all your help and concern everyone. I'll try to keep it below about 135 most of the time. I'm really enjoying the gym by the way. It's like a fairground to me!

I would recommend to buy a heart rate monitor. I prefer one from Polar, they are very reliable. Contrary to the exercise machines' monitors.

The only way to actually determine your true maximum heart rate is a stress test in the doctors office. The way all of the charts calculate max heart rate is only a very loose average. Everyone has a differnt max heart rate and yes with age it generally declines. Can you kill yourself by having your heart rate too high? Only if you have heart problems! Otherwise your body will go anerobic and your muscles will not be able to maintain the work effort that brought your heart rate up and thus your heart will slow down. Men's Health has some interesting reading on the subject. Hitting your max doesn't mean your heart is going to explode, at least not if you have a healthy heart. I am 42 and I just went in for a stress test and my predicted max heart rate was 178. My actual max was 189. Your max can also increase as you get in shape. Glad to hear you are enjoying exersice! Keep up the good work.

dug

You know, I have been exercising regularly for 5 months, and it seems since I started low-carbing 11 days ago, I have to work harder and longer to reach my target heart rate of 148. Also, my recovery time is much quicker, and my resting heart rate has dropped from 80-90 beats per minute to 60-70. Also, my blood pressure has normalized. I can hardly believe my good fortune!

Thank you all for your input. I don't feel so worried now.
The good news is that the very same excercise program which drove my heart so high in the first place now doesn't make it go nearly so fast. I guess I am getting fitter! On the 20th I have a meeting with a trainer to increase the range of excercises.
Well done Skinny Jim. My blood pressure (which was also on the high side) has also come down considerably since I started going to the gym.