Originally Posted by
spclark
There was something mentioned (elsewhere?) here about 220 - RHR calculation, maybe age-factored? Don't recall just now, need to fire up the Wayback.
Those formulas are guides, not hard & fast rules, apply to some more than others. Commonality being that as we grow older our capacities for various activities, and the energy we can bring to them, begins to diminish.
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No, disagree strongly. A "guide" that may apply to a population is in not necessarily a guide by which an individual should make a health or fitness evaluation.
If the general rule of MHR can be off easily by 20 bpm for an individual, it doesn't aid individual understanding at all.
Stating the obvious, that older people, as a group, aren't as fast or as strong as younger people, is not a particularly interesting thing that any of us need to be told.
Go to T&N and make the argument that reduced MHR with age correlates directly with an individual's "reduced capacities for various activities and energy". See what response you get.
Shorter: Don't use 220-age to judge anything about yourself. If MHR is something you care about, find a way to gauge it by direct measurement.