Is it ok to train at 95% of your maximum heart rate?
when I do cardio my average hear rate for 1 hour is 160bpm. My bp at doc last week was 123/71 with 60bpm heart rate. What I would like to know is – is it ok to train at say 95% of max heart rate? sometimes when i go flat our for a less than a minute etc I can get my heart rate up to 180 but can’t sustain it… am I doing damage to my heart if I train at say 95% o f heart rate 3 days week?
I agree with Karin and others that the Karvonnen method of calculating “maximum heart rate” will yield a more conservative number. However I also have known of so many cases where an apparently healthy person with no ‘obvious” heart issues have had exercise-related ‘issues.’ I ALWAYS err on the side of safety – particularly when no doing so could be very costly. Since you are seeing your physician fairly regularly, and he/she is doing basic blood pressure and resting heart rate testing, I would ask him/her this question. Your regular physician will have much more information about your current physical condition and any latent issues, if any, that you may have, so is in a much better position to answer this question for you.
See your doc!!!
LaRue, CSCS
www.lecffitness.com
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