Training & Nutrition - High Maximun Heart Rate

I have been riding now for about 3 months averaging about 500 Km a month so whilst I am sure my fitness will continue to improve, I am not unfit.
I am overweight weighing in at 100 Kg, but also I have a reasonable amount of muscle.

I bought a heart rate monitor recently and was suprised to see my heart rate around 220. This is supposedly way to high, but I have been riding in ignorance of this fact for the last 3 months with no problems.

My heart rate doesn't seem to go in the range 170 -210 jumping up to 220 or so when I am sprinting or pushing high gears going down hills.

I have recently completed a 100 km ride but ensured my pulse rate didn't go up above 160 as the purpose of the long rides is to burn fat.

I am 38 years old so according to convential wisdom my maximun pulse rate should be around 180 I think.

DOes anybody think that my pulse rate jumping up to 220 or so is something to be concerned with.

what is your RESTING heartrate, like when you're sitting in your lounge chair at home, doing absolutely nothing, watching telly?

What you should do is to ask your family doctor about this. Just tell him you think your heart rate is going too high when you ride your bike. What will likely happen, if you're lucky, is that you will be referred for a heart stress test on a treadmill. They will try to get your heart rate as high as they can while you are connected to a continuous electrocardiogram device. This will show a number of things, such as how your heart behaves under load like that, how your blood pressure behaves, and, in addition to knowing if you have any heart problems you need to be aware of, you will know what the maximum heart rate is that they allowed you to get to. 220 seems a little on the high side to me, but I'm not a doctor nor a cycling coach.

What Longfemur said, absolutely, I second it.

What is of concern is that you're not young, sorry, 38 is when many people start to have cardiac problems. You've not been cycling a long time. You admit to being overweight... maybe some cardiac problems have been incubating over the years due to this? If so, 90 days of cycling won't undo them.

FYI, my max heart rate is also higher than 220-age, it's 192 as observed on the HRM, and I'm 44 years old, but I trust that it's a real number and not a disease process because I'm been back on the bike in a big way for four years, and I've had a fulll cardiac workup recently, and have no other cardiac risk factors.

Heart rate of 220 pedaling down hill? First problem is the accuracy of the data. HR counting is not as easy as it looks and when skeletal muscle activity goes up it is easy for the HR counter to miscount either high or low. You need to cross check against another, different type of HR counter. Above 140-150 BPM it is hard to do a manual HR count by feeling the pulse, most humans can't think fast enough to keep track of the count rate above 160 so you will have to get another electrical counter to cross check.
Do this before going off half cocked.
Steve

I went through the same thing when I got a HR monitor. I wasn't 220 but quite high.

I got checked.

I got rid of the HR monitor too. Best thing I ever did was ridding myself of the thing.

I personally hate being ultra aware of my HR.

I manage fine with perceived level of exertion and lots of kms in the saddle.

Ramon,

Keep us updated if you find out what the problem is. I know a 27 yo female who has a resting heart rate of about 90 bpm and can get on the treadmill and sustain 200 bpm with no problem.

Some people have high maximum heart rates. It's a genetic thing. There is considerable variation between individuals at any age.

My resting pulse rate is 71.
I should add that up to 6 years ago I was very fit routinely doing 2 aerobic sessions back to back and then going out to do a few hours of rock climbing or squash.
When we checked our pulse rates during aerobics it was sometimes up at 220 but I soon learnt not to mention this as it used to freak out the instructors

I had a similar question - just started using a HRM recently. It doesn't have a max feature, but I could see for a good portion of a 25 mile ride it was around 205 +/- 5bpm. This doesn't stack with the old 220-age (I'm 31) - but I've been doing a similar ride for around the last 4 months with no issues. Is this something I should worry about? I recently had a basic gym fitness test but I don't think that measured max hr - worth looking into or should I just stick to riding.....(I know what i think....:-)...)

Hmmm. I suggest consulting a doctor any time your working at 100% load on your heart.

Me, personally, at 6' 175 lbs. and 15%BP - I have a resting HR of 51 nowadays, I have issues forcing my heart above the 150 mark and have done several tests with professionals at my college (all of them think its funny that they have to increase the treadmill requirement more and more and I still have issues registering on their tests). 220 would scare the hell out of me enough to go see a doc though, honestly. YMMV obviously.

Hmmm. I suggest consulting a doctor any time your working at 100% load on your heart.

Me, personally, at 6' 175 lbs. and 15%BP - I have a resting HR of 51 nowadays, I have issues forcing my heart above the 150 mark and have done several tests with professionals at my college (all of them think its funny that they have to increase the treadmill requirement more and more and I still have issues registering on their tests). 220 would scare the hell out of me enough to go see a doc though, honestly. YMMV obviously.

220 may be high for you but may be perfectly fine for the OP. You don't know his max HR, therefore to bring up scare tactics, saying "100 load on your heart" is a bit dramatic. If you don't know the true max HR, you cannot know what "100% load" is.

I do agree that 220 seems a bit high, but if he's really seeing that and not dropping over dead, it only serves as further proof that the "220 minus age" formula is complete bunk. There's a story in one of the heart rate training zones book about an 87 year old man on a treadmill with a HR of 160 (by 'the formula' he'd be at 120% or something), no problems.

Wouldn't be a bad idea to get a formal test in a lab or similar to determine your true HR while cycling; possible you are getting some interference causing a false reading (I've seen 240 on mine!) or possible oddities in the heart (arrhythmia or such) but obviously you're okay so not to worry too much.

220 would scare the house out of me enough to go see a doc ...

See the word me not connected to the OP at all? Ya, that was my point. The only person who can answer the guys question is himself. Your Mileage May Very was the secondary part of the seperation between my opinion based on my HR and the OPs information which I would be clearly uninformed about beyond the limited data given by him.

Based off what he said, as did you - your talking about being over 100% load; even your analogy refers an 87 year-old man at 120% ... there is no stretching here, nor is there an intent to scare anybody.

And yes, I believe the 220-(age) formula is bunk; still doesn't mean that I would not go get OKd by a doc if I was not sure.

Sorry if it came across as anything but my opinion, there was no intent to cause fear in the OP.

My heart rate monitor automatically goes to 220 if I am around another heart rate monitor, if I pass an invisible electric fence, if I go under certain power lines, if I have to wait under a red traffic light, if I go near my laptop or television and they are on. When I first got it, it freaked me out because it would go from 140 to 220 for a block, then back to 140 on my route . . . until I discovered the yard I was passing had an invisible fence to keep deer out. Thought I would pass that on just in case.

Sandy

I have noticed my heart rate monitor read 210-220 durring warm-ups if I dont put some water(or spit) on the strap, maybe your getting false reading? Can you carry a conversation when it reads 220 or are you gasping?

I doubt it's a true 220, although many pros have maximum heart rates 210+.