168 Beats Per Minute

You are training your heart just like any other muscle. I used to race mountain bikes for long distances and we would do heart rate zone training, what’s happening is your body is adapting and your heart is getting stronger and more efficient allowing it to beat faster for longer, you’re doing great. Keep it up. The benefits are tremendous, especially for the enhanced athlete. Just like any other muscle, don’t overdo it. Your resting Heart rate will start to creep down, but you might have to take it before your coffee.

Indeed.
Aside from rhr, his heart rate will also start to come down faster, at the end of the effort. That’s another sign of improved cardiac efficiency.
Didn't know you ride.
I love it. I can live without many things, but the bike is something I cannot do without, whether it's indoors or outdoors.
It does as much for the mind as it does for the body.

Mr Malfeasance's aim is to achieve the rhr of a turtle, in case you missed previous posts, and live to the ripe old age of 175, looking as handsome as he currently does.
This man always brings it, so success is on the cards.

Good to see you.
Have a good Saturday
 
What are you using to measure your heart rate? I used to get some strange readings from my watch until I started using a chest strap.
 
You ever heard of Andy Galpin? Is sports science researcher. Great content on all kinds of topics. I bring him up because about a month ago I listened to a podcast specifically about cardiovascular, adaptations, endurance, health etc. He's doing podcast now that you can get on Spotify etc. Really good information from a professional, not click bait bullshit.


He also has some very good topic discussions on the Huberman podcast.

IMO jacking your heart rate up to a very high level briefly is actually quite good as long as you don't get pain or side effects from. I wouldn't want to keep it peaked long periods of time but briefly peeking heart rate is excellent for cardiovascular health.
 
Aside from rhr, his heart rate will also start to come down faster, at the end of the effort. That’s another sign of improved cardiac efficiency.

I notice that whenever I start up cardio after a break. My heart rate comes down every workout.

Maybe I just ramped up faster than my heart could adapt. I was on the highest level I had ever used and I added several minutes instead of my usual one or two minutes.

What are you using to measure your heart rate? I used to get some strange readings from my watch until I started using a chest strap.

Ah! Just the handles on the machine. I have a chest strap for riding a bicycle, but I haven't ridden in a long time. I have not worn the chest strap to see how it compares to the handles on the cardio machine. Many years back I remember pushing my heart rate over 180 while riding with the chest strap on. I was younger then and did not really know anything about heart rates yet, other than to notice, since I was a beginner, how quickly my heart adapted. I still remember failing the first two times I rode up a big hill, and by the third time barely being able to keep pedaling, and the fourth time peddling at a more decent pace all the way up. It is amazing how fast an out of shape body can adapt to cardio exercise.
 
168 bpm at 57 yoa --> Thumbs up or thumbs down?
So you know I've been cycling a lot more in the last 10 years or so. I always wear a heart monitor and usually average around 125-135 bpm over the course of 1-3+ hours.

And during which I do "sprint" intervals every week of 1-2 minutes which sees my HR regularly spike to 160s and 170s and occasionally in the 180s which exceeds my estimated maximum heart rate based on age. Sometimes I do 5-10 minute intervals but not that frequently. HR always quickly returns to 120-130 range when the intervals are finished.

My cardiologist says my heart health is terrific with thumbs up for engaging in strenuous physical activities. Yet at the same time advises that I don't "push myself too hard".

Which I find as some kind of bullshit advice because that's the whole point for me and always has been to find those limits and push against them whether it's bodybuilding or cycling.

I'm not really giving a thumbs up or thumbs down for you. I can relate to the questions you are asking. And just sharing my own experience. I think the whole idea of "don't push too far" is that if there are any vulnerabilities you are more likely to encounter it hence more risk... at any age.
 
Whew! Ok, thanks, guys. That makes me feel better. I started out just making sure I had an extended time over 140. As I got into better shape, I started pushing it over 150. That is when I started looking up the heart rate zones and all of that, and it seemed ok for my age. At first, any time over 150 was uncomfortable, but as I kept at it, it became more comfortable.

I have been pushing over 160, up to about 162 or so. Today was the first time at 168, but I added a bunch of minutes at once instead of one minute at at time (LOL). I was shocked to see 168, and it stayed there for a long time, but it did not feel uncomfortable, other than I hate cardio. I did not have that feeling I had when I first started breaking 150 regularly. Honestly felt pretty good to be doing it.
I read research about cholesterol that says above 140 is basically where you want it if you’re a middle aged healthy man if you’re trying to get better HDL/LDL etc and that is where it has a significantly good effect on it. Don’t think anything is wrong with what you’re doing and that kind of cardio is definitely what most guys should be doing especially if they are using gear. Not sure why pushing a bit harder would be bad. Maybe has some diminishing returns in regard to positive effects on health though, but idk
 
Checked the ol’ ticker this AM and had a whopping 50BPM RHR after eating a lot and quite a bit of caffeine & test base. Was before a nice ephedrine injection though
Bull Terrier Dog GIF
 
So you know I've been cycling a lot more in the last 10 years or so. I always wear a heart monitor and usually average around 125-135 bpm over the course of 1-3+ hours.

And during which I do "sprint" intervals every week of 1-2 minutes which sees my HR regularly spike to 160s and 170s and occasionally in the 180s which exceeds my estimated maximum heart rate based on age. Sometimes I do 5-10 minute intervals but not that frequently. HR always quickly returns to 120-130 range when the intervals are finished.

My cardiologist says my heart health is terrific with thumbs up for engaging in strenuous physical activities. Yet at the same time advises that I don't "push myself too hard".

Which I find as some kind of bullshit advice because that's the whole point for me and always has been to find those limits and push against them whether it's bodybuilding or cycling.

I'm not really giving a thumbs up or thumbs down for you. I can relate to the questions you are asking. And just sharing my own experience. I think the whole idea of "don't push too far" is that if there are any vulnerabilities you are more likely to encounter it hence more risk... at any age.
I am paying attention, and reading your post carefully, although I think you are probably quite a bit younger than me, although exceeding the maximum is still exceeding the maximum, so I suppose it is still very relevant.

Your suspicion of your doctor's advice as being BS is kind of what prompted this quote. I had a feeling that the posters with heart rates in the gym were BS. How can I be endangering my heart if I felt fine at the time?
 
The traditional formula means I was OVER my maximum heart rate.

But that is the 220-age, and not a real test of my maximum heart rate in a lab on a treadmill and all of that, like the video at the end of the link in post # 17.

Individual max HR is what it is, the formula is just a rule of thumb. As humans age, the left ventricle tends to get stiff reducing stroke volume, lowering VO2Max especially in sedentary individuals, but this is also true for aging athletes.

In my experience, the recommendation is that athletes over 40 could potentially cause injury with excessive VO2Max training (90-95% Max HR). Practically speaking, this applies to only a very small portion of the population.

My current perspective of the literature is that older folks should try to hit Max HR once or twice a week, which could also include a couple of sessions of VO2Max specific training.

For reference, the most optimal VO2Max training is the "Norwegian protocol" which is 4 intervals of cardio exercise at the maximum intensity that can be sustained for 4 minutes. Many, many studies have shown this protocol to be more efficient than Tabata, etc.

tl;dr you're doing fine.
 
I had a feeling that the posters with heart rates in the gym were BS. How can I be endangering my heart if I felt fine at the time?
I am not overly concerned about training near max HR. Maybe it's the same as you - I feel great so how how could I possibly damage my heart?

But as with this and other situations, I've never be comfortable just going by feelz. I needed a lot of other data points about my (heart) health to feel confident going forward. It's just overall risk assessment.

And as at any age, but particularly as we get older, recovery is very important. Extreme training when fatigued, especial chronic fatigue, isn't good for long-term progress/performance at any age but it should be more of a priority for guys over 40.
 
In my experience, the recommendation is that athletes over 40 could potentially cause injury with excessive VO2Max training (90-95% Max HR). Practically speaking, this applies to only a very small portion of the population.

My current perspective of the literature is that older folks should try to hit Max HR once or twice a week, which could also include a couple of sessions of VO2Max specific training.
Very true - excessive VO2Max training is not something most people ever risk. Even following the Norwegian Protocol is usually too challenging.

Nonetheless, what type of injuries are we talking about? Thank you for your post and I would appreciate any study citations to catch up on the topic.
 
Nonetheless, what type of injuries are we talking about? Thank you for your post and I would appreciate any study citations to catch up on the topic.

Myocardial fibrosis:

Afib:

There's also some evidence of cardiac remodeling. I'll see if I can dig up more.
 
Found these a few days ago.
They offer a different perspective to the articles linked above, so I decided to include them, here.
Not looking for confirmation bias or anything... :)

I wanted to make a little summary of each.
However, I started looking at them at 1.30am on Friday and there is so much information in there.

In the end, I am afraid all you are getting is the link, the title, the year of publication and the "conclusion" bit at the end.

Maybe someone will be interested and give them a quick read.
A lot of the stuff is quite interesting and in depth.


"Absence of cardiac damage induced by long term intensive endurance exercise training: a cardiac magnetic resonance and exercise echo radiography analysis in masters athletes" (2021)

[Conclusion: Despite significant physiological cardiac remodelling, consistent with previous descriptions of athlete's heart, there was no evidence of myocardial fibrosis or exercise left or right ventricular dysfunction or cardiac fibrosis in endurance athletes. Our results are not supporting the hypothesis of deleterious cardiac effects induced by long term and intensive endurance exercise training].


"May Strenuous Endurance Sports Activity Damage the Cardiovascular System of Healthy Athletes? A Narrative Review" (2022)

[ In conclusion, our review suggests that very intense sports activity may cause reversible electrocardiographic changes, myocardial dysfunction, and troponin elevation with complete recovery within a few days. The theory that repeated bouts of acute stress on the heart may lead to chronic myocardial damage creating a potentially dangerous arrhythmogenic substrate remains to be demonstrated. However, male, middle-aged individuals with a long, athletic career show an increased prevalence of cardiovascular abnormalities such as electrical conduction delay, AF, myocardial LGE, and coronary calcifications compared to non-athletes. However, the cause–effect relationship between such abnormalities and exercise and, most importantly, their prognostic relevance remains to be established. Moreover, evidence of any exercise-related adverse effects on the hearts of female athletes is lacking.

Pending future studies, we believe that when advising athletes about the pros and cons of exercise, we should apply the old Latin aphorism dosis sola facit venenum (“only the dose makes the poison”). There is no doubt that exercise is a medicine, and the recent European Society of Cardiology guidelines emphasized that adapted physical activity is beneficial for all cardiovascular patients, not just healthy individuals [88]. However, an increased number of middle-aged individuals desire to challenge their physical limits by engaging in ultra-endurance sports. We should warn these subjects that such extreme physical activities might damage not only their tendons and joints but also their hearts].



"The heart of the ageing endurance athlete: the role of chronic coronary stress" (2021)

[Conclusion: Regular physical exercise is imperative for the maintenance of optimal health and longevity and should be globally encouraged. There is emerging evidence that a proportion of athletes show high CAC scores, a higher plaque burden and myocardial fibrosis compared with age- and Framingham-matched controls. The mechanism and significance of these findings are unclear. Current limited data find no association between a high CAC score and all-cause mortality in master athletes].
 
Back
Top