My workout buddy was doing some cardio yesterday, and we were doing the stationary bikes. We were riding for 12 mins. His heart rate was 150 at one time, but it was constantly at 140 or higher. This can't be normal.. Mine was like at 116 to 120 and I was riding at a faster pace than he was.

He is about 204lbs now, he has lost 8 lbs since he started working out with me. He is 5ft 10 inches tall. Pretty stout guy, but has a big belly. And like I said, his heart rate was 150 at the highest. This was also right after we had been lifting for about an hour.

My stats are 5ft 11inches, and I weigh 172. And my Heart rate was 120 at its highest . So I am just curious about his safty.. Should I be concerned about this ? What can I do to help him, Or is this something that we need to monitor.


Thanks for your help.

Did you know that marathon runners have a sinigficantly lower resting heart rate than regular individuals.

It could be that you're in better shape that him. If he's 5'1 at that weight, his heart is having a hell of a time on the bike and doing a lot of other activities for that matter.

yeah it's just his 204lbs on a 5'1 frame - that is overweight to say the least - he's just out of shape that's all. It'll will lower the more he perfomrs cardio and sheds some lbs.

Fitness level, age, years of fitness training, body weight, the factors go on and on. Resting HR is a good indicator of fitness, but so is the ability to hold your heart rate at High levels and most importantly recovery time of your HR. Comparing the HR of two people is like comparing how much you can lift, it really depends on several factors that you have shaped throughout your life.

When I was morbidly overweight, running 4 mph on a treadmill feels the equivalent of doing all out sprints now. Definitely dependent on the fitness/weight of the individual. IMO, if you all are trying to get on the same page in terms of workouts, do cardio by targetting the same HR zone, rather than the same speed.

Wow, Sorry but I screwed up.. I had that he was 5 ft 1" tall... He is 5ft 10" tall. Guess I should have re-read it alittle better. ( Sorry )


Anyway, He is 5 ft 10 Inches tall. 204 lbs, and is 34 or 36 yrs old. Mostly just has a gut on hisself.

I figured it was because he was just out of shape, but he was worried, and I was kinda worried about him as well, So I figured It was better to be safe and ask for info than to be dumb and just ignore it.

So, Since I straightened his height out, please let me know if any of your opinions have changed..


Thanks

Originally Posted by Basso

Fitness level, age, years of fitness training, body weight, the factors go on and on. Resting HR is a good indicator of fitness, but so is the ability to hold your heart rate at High levels and most importantly recovery time of your HR. Comparing the HR of two people is like comparing how much you can lift, it really depends on several factors that you have shaped throughout your life.

textbook normal for an adult is 60-100 at rest but Basso is 100% correct it is affected by a lot of variables all of those he mentioned plus hydration staus has a big effect, dehydration really increases heart rate.As your friend's fitness level and weight improve his heart rate will drop.

He drinks alot of water all day long and while we are working out, Since he stopped drinking cokes.
And, I appreicate the info. I figured it would get better the more in shape he gets, but I figured I would ask..


Thanks again for your help.

One way to calculate a good aerobic training heart rate is to subtract his age from 220 and train at 85% of that. So that's 220 minus 35 = 185 times .85 = 157 beats per minute. He's training right under the maximum bpm by this method. Generally 70% of the 220 minus age is considered the minimum bpm for aerobic training effect. In this case the minimum would be 130 bpm.

Well, back when I got way out of shape my heartrate would jump up to 190-200bpm when I would run. My resting heartrate was anywhere from 90-110 (irradict). After getting back into running daily and lifting I was able to bring my resting heartrate down substantially. It now sits dead on the money at 44. Suffice to say that I couldn't get it to 200bpm on a run if I tried. So, what I'm saying in so many words is that I think your buddy's alright, he just needs to get in shape. If he feels any pains in his chest while exercising, or he gets dizzy, he should stop and take a break. Short of that, he needs to be in there bustin' ass. He'll bring his pulse down. No problem.

was he riding the bike at a higher level than you resistance speed etc? that could make a difference My coach likes me to have a resting hr of 70 or below but when I do my cardio I like to keep it over 140 2x my resting rate unless i'm just shedding fat

No, we were at the same resistance, and I was actually turning 100 RPM's and he was at like 80 to 85 maybe ...
Trust me, as long as he stays dedicated to lifting, I will have him busting his rear. Him and our other partner say I am trying to kill them in the gym.. I'm not, I just stay busy when I am working out. One station to the next, no messing around.

140 or even 150 isn't really that much cause for concern. If itreaches or surpass 200 then I might worry. Of course it depends on the level of activity, if his resting heart rate was 140 then there's obvious cause for concern. But if he's performing cardio an breaking a sweat then 140 isn't out of range. I remember getting a stress test/cardiogram and they decided I needed to hit 220 for whatever reason. They said they normally made patients hit 180-200, so I would assume this is still within a safe range.

I had the same issue recently. I just started working out again. I was running/jogging on a treadmill and had my heart rate upwards of 180 bpm. The thing that I noticed that made a significant difference was doing it everyday and keeping hydrated. I can hardly get my rate over 140 now.

Plus caffeine. That'll seriously boost the HR.

True, I was drinking 4 liters of Mountain Dew a day also.

Originally Posted by CallmeClark

It now sits dead on the money at 44. .

Wow thats low I assume the slower the heart rate the better. Mine is 57 to 65 and I only do moderate cardio, I'm 6'1" 180, I suume this is decent?

Yeah man, that's not bad at all.