My heart rate monitor is bad at maths!! HELP!! + Exercise question

Hey guys!! So, I need some advice. (Leesa? :D) My heart rate monitor is messing with my head and I don't know whether I'm pushing myself too hard during exercise.

A bit of background: I lost 17kg during the last year, mainly by changing my diet only. For the last 2 months I have been adding exercise to the mix. I walk for an hour every day (roughly 4km). I am now down to 90kg and thought I should take the exercise up a notch, so I started jogging. Today was the first day. I jogged for 5min, then walked for five minutes etc etc for about 45min.

Now, I used my heart rate monitor and measured my BPM every time before and after the "jog interval". So, my "resting heart rate" is normally between 75 and 85. When I go for my hour walk it is usually around 100-120. After my first "jogging interval (5min)" it was up to 187 :o and 99%. Well, I was shocked! I am obviously suuuuper unfit lol. I am 24 years old, so my maximum BPM should be 196, right? But my little heart rate monitor doesn't know that, so I forgive him for thinking that 187 is 99% :D. During my "walking interval" my heart rate is back to 140ish at 70something %. So then during my next run it says 185 at 55% :wtf: How does that work? And then it was 130 at 89% or something like that. Is my heart rate monitor broken? Should I just ignore the percentage and go by the BPM only? Also, 187 is soooo high! Am I pushing myself too hard? Or is that ok? Considering I'm still overweight I don't wanna get a heart attack whilst exercising! Should I maybe just jog for one minute and then walk for one, etc? What do the fitness experts say? I'm lost and confused! I think I'm just scared because I heard you shouldn't get your heart rate up so high. Also, a guy at my mum's gym just recently died of a heart attack during his exercise (he was very overweight). So, can anyone help me? I don't really wanna replace the heart rate monitor, it was a present from my mum :(

HELP!

Raupe, what brand is it?

The percentage thing does sound off. But double check the LIMITS you have it on as well. Sometimes that can impact on the percentage.

In relation to how high your going, some people just hit a high HR very quickly when they do strenuous exercise. It isn't always a good indicator of cardiovascular fitness. A much better way to monitor your cardiovascular health is to time how quickly your HR returns to your normal resting HR (RHR) after a work out.

Providing you're asymptomatic (not showing symptoms of distress) when your HR is that high WHILST EXERCISING, I wouldn't be too concerned. Unless it didn't come down quickly again after exercise. Do you get chest pain whilst exercising? Do you get light headed? Dizzy? Pins and needles or tingling in your fingers? They would be warning signs to back off.

I know it would have been scary to learn about the guy at your Mum's gym having a heart attack. But you know what? REALLY fit people have heart attacks exercising too. There are lots of risk factors for heart disease. And you're doing one of the best things for it - EXERCISING. The first thing a cardiologist is going to tell you to do is EXERCISE! Listen to your body.

My Polar HRM played up last year. It was 6 months old. I was getting very abnormal readings. It would read 50 then jump to 200 then down to 90 when I was exercising. I just thought it was a lose connection until I got a resting heart rate reading of 230 when I was sitting at the desk at work. I'd been sitting for 5 min! When I took it manually it was 60!!! I had tried everything including cleaning the connections, I thought maybe there was something wrong with my heart so had an ECG at work. But it was all clear and I sent my HRM off to Polar in SA to be checked out. Turned out the transmitter was faulty. I had it back within a week.

HTH

MG

No idea sorry Raupe, just wanted to saw wow, awesome work on 5 minute runs already!! I started on 60 sec intervals and nearly died at the time...

Thanks for your advice MG!! No dizziness or tingling, chest isn't hurting either. It's a bit harder to breathe and my lungs are burning somewhat, but I put that down to being unfit ;) I'm just going to keep the exercise the way it is now. :D Thanks so much!

Hehe, thanks appletree! Stalker! :p :hug:

Heya Raupe!

Yep - 196 is your top BPM.

What brand is it the monitor? Most have a + / - 20% accuracy - but you can always double check by taking your HR the 'old skool' way (finding pulse on your neck or wrist with your index finger. Make the first count 'zero' and count each beat from zero. At the end of 15 secs, double the number, and double THAT number - and there is your result).

Depends on how intense you want to work, and what you're training for. If you're wanting weight loss - work anywhere upwards of 60% of your maximum HR. If you stick to the 60% - 85% range you're in the 'fat loss zone'; 85% + range and welcome to the 'fitness training zone'.

To work that % out, here is an example:
80% of your max HR - 80/100 x 196 = 157 BPM (rounded up)

If you have a Polar HR you can set it to alarm if you want to keep under a certain % as MG said. I personally never set the alarm as I just worked sooo hard to lose those kg's that I looked forward to the surprise myself with the results of my training session :lol: - best motivation ever!

You can set some HRM's with your age, height, weight and your self assessed fitness level which can alter the number you see on the watch too - if you have a HRM that doesn't have that ability then just use the number as a guide and don't be too concerned in the event you see 99% pop up repeatedly.

FWIW, a good indication of fitness is your recovery time e.g. if you start out taking 5 mins to recover from a 5 min activity in week one; but then the following week it only takes you 3 mins to recover from that same 5 min exercise - you're getting fitter sista!!!! :D!

Thanks Leesa!!

That info was really helpful! Yep, you can't change the age, so I will just ignore the percentage display and just go by the BPM.
Off to exercise... Lol