"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Caffeine and heart rate

I know caffeine and other stimulants affect your heart rate, but how much can a few cups of coffee raise you're max? I usually top out around 195 bpm, but I've gotten up to 205 when I was really, really wired hitting a big climb.

Does that sound realistic? I haven't really experienced radio interference with my HRM in that area before, but it could be a bad reading. Also, is something that raises your real-world max HR by 10 bpm even safe?

Go out and do a real max HR test with and without caffiene and tell us the results. The hr you hit going really hard on a climb is not likely to be your true max. I don't think caffiene should change it.

You can't change your max heart rate, it is a true biological physical limit. It will go down with age though. It seems like you are calling the highest number you've ever seen as your max - obviously it wasn't (assuming the 205 was a valid reading -and that probablly wasn't your max either).

I suppose it's possible that a big dose of caffeine could help you get closer to your max.

doper

Caffeine doesn't change your max heart rate. Caffeine (and other stimulants) merely raise your current heart rate to a rate closer to your max...

My Max HR is somewhere above 216 w/o any stimulant help. Coach had to back off a test and call it good cause it kept going up, lol!

Where does the conventional "220 minus age" number for max HR come from?

I had my tested at a lab. And my guess was spot on. 184.
Even with 2 gallons of coffee that's about where I max out sometimes. Cocaine is a different story.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/09/cocaine-production-united-nations-summit