# What should heart rate be when excercising?



## Carina1962 (Jul 31, 2010)

I went to the gym yesterday afternoon and i was on the cross trainer machine, my heart rate was showing up as being up to 153 - is this good or bad?  what should it be?


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## Copepod (Jul 31, 2010)

Hi Carina

You'll have to work out your own maximum heart rate (MHR), depending on your age and sex. Then decide what to aim for - general recommendation is to reach 80% of your MHR. Example of  calculations at http://www.brianmac.co.uk/maxhr.htm Or aks the staff at the gym - that's one of the reasons they're there.


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## Northerner (Jul 31, 2010)

A simple calculation is 220 - your age for your maximum heart rate. If you are running (for example) aerobically then you need to operate at around 60-80% of this. 

Knowing your resting heart rate is also very useful, as this gives a very good measure of your fitness. For example, if your MHR is 180 and your resting heart rate (RHR) is 90, this means you can only exercise to double the effort before reaching the max. If, however, your RHR is 45 (a sign of being very fit!), then you can manage 4 times the effort before reaching the max - or to look at it another way, you can easily manage to double your heart rate without getting anywhere near maximum effort.

You can easily measure your RHR by taking your pulse, counting the number of beats in 15 seconds, then multiplying by 4.


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## Carina1962 (Jul 31, 2010)

thanks for info.  I also have a blood pressure monitor for home use and i've noticed that when i'm having the reading done, whilst it's doing it there is a heart symbol flashing with a figure next to it (ie 75) would this be my heart rate beating per minute?


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## Copepod (Jul 31, 2010)

Yes, 75 would be your pulse - 75 is OK for resting, but would be good if you could get it a bit lower. Ideally you should sit down for 10 mins before taking blood pressure and avoid crossing your legs when taking it. If you take pulse without monitor, use fingers to grip opposite wrist and take for 10 secs and multiply by 6 or 15 secs and multiply by 4 to get pulse per min.


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