By WilliamO.Roberts,MDPublished June16,2014

WhatisMyMaximumHeartRate?Maximumheartrateforageisanelusivenumber,especiallyforrunners.

HiDoc!

IstartedtrainingformarathonsfouryearsagoandImrunningmyfourththisfall.Myquestionishowhighistoohighforaheartrate?

I'malmost52yearsold,510and186lbs.Irunrelativelyslow(5:44marathonlastyear)andneverrandistancebeforeIstartedfouryearsago.

MostofthetimemyGarminshowsmeatabout160beatsperminuteduringaworkoutafewtimesitsinchedover170.IusetheGallowaywalkrunmethodandduringthewalkbreaksmyheartratedropsto140orbelow.

Mywife(notarunner)isconvincedI'mgoingtoblowupmyheartanddie.Canyousetherstraight?

Thanksforanyadviceyoucanoffer!

Pat

DearPat,

Maximumheartrateforageisanelusivenumber.Theusualequationis220age=maximumheartrate(MHR),butthatdoesnotplayoutwellwhenyoulookatindividualsasmanycantoleratehigherheartratesandotherscannotattaintheformuladrivennumber.Thisformulawasempiricallyderivedfromyoungathletes.AstudybyTanakain2001lookingatabroaderagedistributionshowedthatthisformulaoftenunderestimatedtheMHRinoldersubjectsandarevisedformulafittedtothedataresultedinthisformula:MHR=2080.7(age).AnotherlookatthisbyGellishin2007showedgoodcorrelationtostresstestingresultsusingMHR=2070.7(age)withapvalueof

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accuracyduringyourworkouts.

Tosummarize,youareunlikelytoblowupyourheartasyouhaveaprovenloadtolerance.Ifyourheartrateincreasesatthesameworkloadoryourexercisetolerancedropsoffunexpectedly,youshouldconsultwithyourphysician.Ifyoudevelopchestpain,poundingheartbeats,increasedheartrate,ordizzinessduringyourworkouts,youshouldstopandseekmedicaladvicebecausesomethinghaschanged.Itisneverabadideatodiscussyourexercise,health,andriskfactorswithyourphysicianandatage52,youshouldbemeetingwithyourphysicianeveryyearortwotolookathealthandpreventionissues.

Ihopethishelps.

Cheers,

Bill

HaveaquestionfortheSportsDoc?Emailhimatsportsdoc@rodale.com.NOTE:Duetothevolumeofmail,weregretthatDr.Robertscannotanswereveryemail.

HeartRate