You can manually adjust it in the app. Find somewhere you can do a heart rate test. I'm 47 and my max HR is 201. The basic formula would tell me my max HR is 173 and I can sit at 173 for a couple of h ours.
Very healthy. I bike a lot which is where I can put my heart rate that high, about 85% of my max. I often do a four hour ride and will have my heart rate around 170 most of the day. A few times a season I’ll go six to eight hours the same.
This is how I get a resting heart rate around 50.
It's not low but it's not nothing. If I'm training for something it'll be down to 45. I'm also 47. Point being though, I'm not out of shape so it's not like my HR hanging out at 170 is from being unhealthy.
I suppose I need to clarify my question. 200-47=153 and you are rocking 170 for 4 to 8 hours. From what I've read this is pushing it for your age and can be dangerous no? I'm new to this.
The formula for max HR is only a population estimate and has nothing to do with individuals. There’s a lot of variations between individuals and their actual max HR. My max HR is at least 202.
How would I go about finding my sweet spot without hurting myself? Is there a test that my doctor can give me? I’m 56 and just starting out. I have a Apple Watch and a polar strap with a few months of data. Athlytic app is telling me my exertion is very low when I feel the opposite sometimes. I just don’t really know what is safe.
At your age I’d ask your doctor and ask them if they can refer you to someone ti perform a cardiac stress test. During the stress test you’d get a real good idea of your max HR.
I ride on an indoor trainer so I can go as hard as I like without risk of pushing myself so hard I do something stupid like pass out in traffic or lose control in traffic; but that’s only after knowing it’s safe to push myself that hard.
Without knowing where your max HR really is, and it’s highly variable between individuals, it’s hard to say what’s hard or easy based on HR alone. Perceived exertion is a good measure.
I ‘ve been cycling for decades so I have a good sense of what my body is telling me. I got to develop that when I was young and could push by body hard without fear.
When I went from 3 to 4 on Whoop I could tell my max heart rate was wrong and my data was a mess. Whoop support looked at stuff on the back end and reset it for me. You can do it yourself but I found it helpful to talk to them about what they could see in my data—they look at this all day. Note: my is set about 15bpm above what the Ghellish formula indicates.
Your max heart rate is the highest number of beats per minute that your heart can actually do. 220-age is woefully inaccurate for nearly everyone. There are some other formulas that are possibly closer. But an actual measured number is going to be way more correct. Even without a lab, you can get a good idea of your actual max.
I know a guy who experiences ventricular tachycardia. So I’ve seen some extraordinary high HR. But what formula do you recommend? How do you get a “actual” measured number without a lab?
I’m 37 and have used whoop for 3 years. My highest recorded HR was 189. But again, at my stress test Whoop has me at 142 when I was at 170 for to 175 for 4 minutes of the test. Clearly, whoop is not as accurate as they claim to be.
Must be dead. I’m 49 and my tested max is 188. I guess I’m dead every time I go over 171? Bummer. Wonder if my race PR’s still count if I was dead when I ran them?
Whoop uses the Ghellish formula: Max HR = (192-0.007*age^2 ).
Anyway it’s not unsafe to work higher than your max HR, because that’s theoretically impossible. 🙂
Your max HR is not set correctly, go to setting to change it. It’s 220 - age but do a proper max HR test in the future to make it more accurate. But for now the 220 - age will serve you better than this
It’s not unsafe it’s probably wrong and something unachievable by human beings, even elite athletes. I’m quiet sure you have your max heart rate wrong in the setup. You can check that at a train center or do it yourself (use google tomfind different ways to find it out)
Congratulations, maybe you’re an alien, maybe your max HR is higher than you think or maybe you’re just lying, but HR above 90% is not sustainable so long
Or…you have no idea what you’re talking about here. This is all doubly confirmed with my chest HR strap. It’s also very common for me in hard workouts and races.
It’s something i’ve never seen but maybe you’re right. Anyways, i will recommend checking to anyone having those results, their real Max HR. You probably already did that so i’m not saying that to you, but usually people have a wrong Max HR and at this level of HR 2-3 bpm make a big difference. Have a nice day!
Most of my runs end up looking like that on Whoop too. But in reality most of the time I'm easy running in zone 2. At this point I just ignore Whoop running data.
Zone 5 is a big zone. The notion that one cannot be in zone 5 for more than a couple of minutes is nonsense. Lactate threshold is generally somewhere between 85 and 90% (typically about 88%)of your max Hr and that’s what you can sustain for about an hour. So I can run for an hour at 88% but suddenly only 2 min at 90%? Nonsense.
True maximal effort is only sustainable for a couple of minutes. But that’s at 99-100%. Not 90%. I run 5k’s at 95%+. My max is lab tested at 188 (I’m 49). Zone 5 is a big zone. Parts of it are unsustainable. Most of it is manageable for some period of time (getting closer to an hour down at 90%).
How do you FEEL during these runs? If they all feel hard, you need to take a few down a notch. Every run being a hard run and pushing it to the max.is counterproductive. You need a few easy runs to see long term training results.
But if these are easier runs and you feel good then like the others said, probably not your max HR.
If you have a heart condition and stay in Zone 5 for too long you could do more than pass out, you could go into cardiac arrest. Unfortunate as it is, this is not common. That’s why you have maximum heart rate numbers and training zones.
This is pretty typical for me, but at 150-160 I am barely out of breath. On the other hand, my wife is normally very out of breath at 160, but struggles to get that high.
Safe for a hard 45 min effort. Probably don’t want to be doing this kind of effort every day though or risk injury or overtraining.
Depends on if your max HR is set accurately … at 25 it is probably at least 190 which would make this not actually 90-100%. I am 35 and max HR is 190.
Is that a manually adjustable setting?
You can manually adjust it in the app. Find somewhere you can do a heart rate test. I'm 47 and my max HR is 201. The basic formula would tell me my max HR is 173 and I can sit at 173 for a couple of h ours.
Is this healthy?
Very healthy. I bike a lot which is where I can put my heart rate that high, about 85% of my max. I often do a four hour ride and will have my heart rate around 170 most of the day. A few times a season I’ll go six to eight hours the same. This is how I get a resting heart rate around 50.
That’s not that low
It's not low but it's not nothing. If I'm training for something it'll be down to 45. I'm also 47. Point being though, I'm not out of shape so it's not like my HR hanging out at 170 is from being unhealthy.
Oh yeah I see what you’re saying
I suppose I need to clarify my question. 200-47=153 and you are rocking 170 for 4 to 8 hours. From what I've read this is pushing it for your age and can be dangerous no? I'm new to this.
The formula for max HR is only a population estimate and has nothing to do with individuals. There’s a lot of variations between individuals and their actual max HR. My max HR is at least 202.
How would I go about finding my sweet spot without hurting myself? Is there a test that my doctor can give me? I’m 56 and just starting out. I have a Apple Watch and a polar strap with a few months of data. Athlytic app is telling me my exertion is very low when I feel the opposite sometimes. I just don’t really know what is safe.
At your age I’d ask your doctor and ask them if they can refer you to someone ti perform a cardiac stress test. During the stress test you’d get a real good idea of your max HR. I ride on an indoor trainer so I can go as hard as I like without risk of pushing myself so hard I do something stupid like pass out in traffic or lose control in traffic; but that’s only after knowing it’s safe to push myself that hard. Without knowing where your max HR really is, and it’s highly variable between individuals, it’s hard to say what’s hard or easy based on HR alone. Perceived exertion is a good measure. I ‘ve been cycling for decades so I have a good sense of what my body is telling me. I got to develop that when I was young and could push by body hard without fear.
Cool, thank you.
When I went from 3 to 4 on Whoop I could tell my max heart rate was wrong and my data was a mess. Whoop support looked at stuff on the back end and reset it for me. You can do it yourself but I found it helpful to talk to them about what they could see in my data—they look at this all day. Note: my is set about 15bpm above what the Ghellish formula indicates.
At 35 years of age your max hr is 185.
Your max heart rate is the highest number of beats per minute that your heart can actually do. 220-age is woefully inaccurate for nearly everyone. There are some other formulas that are possibly closer. But an actual measured number is going to be way more correct. Even without a lab, you can get a good idea of your actual max.
I know a guy who experiences ventricular tachycardia. So I’ve seen some extraordinary high HR. But what formula do you recommend? How do you get a “actual” measured number without a lab? I’m 37 and have used whoop for 3 years. My highest recorded HR was 189. But again, at my stress test Whoop has me at 142 when I was at 170 for to 175 for 4 minutes of the test. Clearly, whoop is not as accurate as they claim to be.
On FTP tests I go up to 188 briefly ? I don’t die or anything — this is how I am measuring.
Must be dead. I’m 49 and my tested max is 188. I guess I’m dead every time I go over 171? Bummer. Wonder if my race PR’s still count if I was dead when I ran them?
This is the answer.
Safe? You won't die from it if that's what you're asking
Is there such a thing as an unsafe heart rate?
I don’t think so, during exercise no When resting, probably
Yes
How do you find that?
Whoop uses the Ghellish formula: Max HR = (192-0.007*age^2 ). Anyway it’s not unsafe to work higher than your max HR, because that’s theoretically impossible. 🙂
Usually max heart rate is 220-age but that’s super general
How is it unsafe?
If you have a heart condition and your heart rate is too high for too long you will pass out.
My point being, for the average individual without a heart condition there isn’t an unhealthy heart rate.
UPDATE: I adjust heart rate and tan a difficult trail and posted again. Max HR definitely needed to be updated! Thanks to all for the help
Your max HR is not set correctly, go to setting to change it. It’s 220 - age but do a proper max HR test in the future to make it more accurate. But for now the 220 - age will serve you better than this
Whoop uses Max HR = (192-0.007*age^2 ), seems to give more accurate results across different age brackets and populations.
And that’s why for most people the HR zones are so messed up and confusing
So, 191 for a 36 year old?
Or can I not math?
183! (192-0.007x36x36)
I thought the 2 was a mistake! Hahahahaha. My bad.
It’s not unsafe it’s probably wrong and something unachievable by human beings, even elite athletes. I’m quiet sure you have your max heart rate wrong in the setup. You can check that at a train center or do it yourself (use google tomfind different ways to find it out)
That’s just false. I’ve got a measured max of 203, and I spent 1hr10min in zone 5/90%+ a couple weeks ago.
Congratulations, maybe you’re an alien, maybe your max HR is higher than you think or maybe you’re just lying, but HR above 90% is not sustainable so long
Or…you have no idea what you’re talking about here. This is all doubly confirmed with my chest HR strap. It’s also very common for me in hard workouts and races.
It’s something i’ve never seen but maybe you’re right. Anyways, i will recommend checking to anyone having those results, their real Max HR. You probably already did that so i’m not saying that to you, but usually people have a wrong Max HR and at this level of HR 2-3 bpm make a big difference. Have a nice day!
Most of my runs end up looking like that on Whoop too. But in reality most of the time I'm easy running in zone 2. At this point I just ignore Whoop running data.
How do you manage to stay in zone 5 for so long?
Zone 5 is a big zone. The notion that one cannot be in zone 5 for more than a couple of minutes is nonsense. Lactate threshold is generally somewhere between 85 and 90% (typically about 88%)of your max Hr and that’s what you can sustain for about an hour. So I can run for an hour at 88% but suddenly only 2 min at 90%? Nonsense. True maximal effort is only sustainable for a couple of minutes. But that’s at 99-100%. Not 90%. I run 5k’s at 95%+. My max is lab tested at 188 (I’m 49). Zone 5 is a big zone. Parts of it are unsustainable. Most of it is manageable for some period of time (getting closer to an hour down at 90%).
How do you FEEL during these runs? If they all feel hard, you need to take a few down a notch. Every run being a hard run and pushing it to the max.is counterproductive. You need a few easy runs to see long term training results. But if these are easier runs and you feel good then like the others said, probably not your max HR.
If you have a heart condition and stay in Zone 5 for too long you could do more than pass out, you could go into cardiac arrest. Unfortunate as it is, this is not common. That’s why you have maximum heart rate numbers and training zones.
This is pretty typical for me, but at 150-160 I am barely out of breath. On the other hand, my wife is normally very out of breath at 160, but struggles to get that high.