Heart rate, age & exercise

[Littlemiss74]

I was reading on the BHF website how to calculate your max heart rate based on your age - mine works out at 175.

I then read about what your target heart rate should be when exercising and mine worked out at:
a 45 year old person should aim to exercise with their heart rate between 87.5 and 122.50 bpm

This seems quite low to me & I know when I’ve been for a jog my heart rate has easily gone above 122.50.

Am I understanding this right?

I've been wondering about this too. I'm a "fit" person, exercise 5/6 days a week, a mix of HiiT, strength, cycling and running but my "ideal" heart rate for running apparently shouldn't be more that 152, but it's often 165/170 and that doesn't feel like I'm pushing myself flat out.

Yeah your ideal work out heart rate is around 70% of your maximum heart rate.

its a bit like bmi.. its good for general population but realistically everyone is different and you should find out your actual max heart rate properly.
do a few sprints with limited few seconds rest and see how high you actually get it, it will probably be higher than your supposed max , then you can work out where your real 70% is.

There are different zones of heart rates for exercise

But everyone is different and using a mathematical equation that is supposed to be the same for every 45 year old isn’t going to be correct

You need to work out your own maximum heart rate and your resting heart rate

Then work out your zones inbetween
Much written on the internet about how to do this

The most important thing is that you exercise and enjoy it

Ideal for what, exactly?

I use a chest strap heart monitor but rarely for the purpose of trying to keep to a particular zone. I use it to monitor how fast my heart rate returns to resting (the faster the better) as this is a way to measure fitness ongoing. If I reach 100% and can sustain that for more than a couple of minutes then the monitor automatically adjusts the heart rate upwards as it is no longer a measure of my true max capability.

Another way of using it is to check what my heart rate tends to be over time when performing a particular exercise. If on any given day the heart rate is inexplicably on the high side for the same exercises then I know I am under par health-wise or have trained too much and I can dial back for a couple of days.

I take suggested heart rates very loosely. My ideal for running should be around 130, my max 186...