Comments on: What is your highest maximum heart rate ever?

By: Roy

Roy — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:40:49 +0000

As a statistical outlier this is a subject that interests me… Regarding Chris’s comment above: (“Some of the people on this forum must have some defective equipment. I’m fairly confident that most people would go into cardiac arrest at heart rates in the 230 level”).

Whether I’ve used gym equipment or finger on pulse I’ve always (well since age 13 when my PE teacher wouldn’t believe my called out pulse reading “310….. don’t be ridiculous!”. Clearly I’m not “most people”. I’m 44 now – and the last time I checked (about a year ago) I could still hit the mid 250′s. I’m reasonably fit (5’11/180), play football (Soccer) once a week. These numbers only apply at peak exertion (the sort that you can only keep up for a minute or two), and drop off rapidly when I stop. (my resting rate is normal to low)
I know that sports-physio would say lower heart rate when exercising is good…. but something has to limit you the harder you push. The way I view it, in my case I’m motor-muscle limited rather than heart-rate limited. Perhaps there will come a time when my capacity to push blood round my body limits the capacity of muscles to burn fuel.

By: Glen

Glen — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:53:22 +0000

Interesting stuff…

I’m 46, 6’3″ and currently about 225lbs. During the peak of summer months I ride 250-300km a week, lots of it mountainous, and typically drop to about 215lbs. During the off-season I do weight-training, spin-bike, stair-climbing and elliptical training to stay in shape for biking.

As a cyclist I’m huge – great sprinter but horrible climber. (Great descender though…)

The highest heart-rate I’ve ever achieved this past year was while climbing, and is a true (not a mis-read) 204bpm. It was cycling from Calgary to Elbow Falls and back – the last hill is nearly 4km long and adjusts from 8% to 14% gradient. It’s both my favorite climb (due to the scenery) and my least-favorite (because of the altitude and energy-required to push my Clydesdale frame.)

… I started the hill at just under 170bpm and it kept steadily climbing… I was trying for a personal-best time to the location, so was giving it everything I had… Soon it was in the 180′s, 190′s and then pushed over 200bpm. The max hit 204 as I came over the top.

Until that ride, the highest I’d been is 196.

About 7 seconds after the summit, I puked – so I’m pretty sure that was my absolute maximum. I ended up cleaning my bike and my jersey with glacier-fed water from the Elbow River. Dang, that was cold… and nasty. On the plus side, I did get a PB for that ride, lol.

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:44:17 +0000

People have gone to the ER with heartrates over 400 bpm.This is of course unsafe but it happens.For reasons unknown the heart will take off and race usually due to an underlying anxiety but not always.A max heart rate of 230 would never send a healthy person into cardiac arrest or even 300 bpm for that matter.Now an unhealthy person,yes,.They could have a heart attack at 100 bpm depending on how bad they are.If you question my comment then please call an ER doctor and ask what they see.

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 17:10:25 +0000

Some of the people on this forum must have some defective equipment. I’m fairly confident that most people would go into cardiac arrest at heart rates in the 230 level. I do 40 miles a day (every day) on a stationary bike (one hour) and the max I’ve ever recorded is 188 and that was not for more than a couple minutes at the end when I was seriously pushing it. I know that we are all different but…

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 02:04:14 +0000

I’m 48 and a half, cycle about 61 miles a week and have a max HR of 199.5, RHR 46. Very easy for me to ride at high hr for extended periods. Last weekend climbed Holme Moss at 196-199 for a full 12 minutes with no I’ll effects. Didn’t look at the monitor on the way up but felt fine. If I ride at a pace I can keep up for years I’m usually at about 85% max.