Heart to Heart… Are You Exercising Too Hard?

The New Improved Maximum Heart Rate Calculator for Men and Women

Ironically…I have seen people lie about their age to their treadmills… but all this time it is your treadmill that has been lying to you.

Heart rate formulas are designed to help you understand your optimum heart rate training zone.

The popular age predicted maximum heart rate (MHR) formula:

Max Heart Rate = 220 – age  

Was created in 1970 yet remains widely referenced in exercise physiology textbooks, by personal trainers, and is the formula programmed in cardio machines and heart rate watches… but what may surprise you is that the equation was never actually validated by any clinical study.

Instead, the formula was created by two physicians – Dr. Haskell and Dr. Fox who were traveling on an airplane reviewing data from a hand full of studies in which people of various ages were tested to find their maximum heart rates.

The physicians noticed the limited amount of data fit neatly in a linear graph if they extrapolated the information to mean at age 20 max heart rate was 200, 180 at age 40 and 160 at age 60 and so on.

By 1982 a paper produced from University of Missouri Columbia suggested an alternative maximum heart rate (MHR) formula of

MHR = 206.3 – (0.711 × Age)

 Out With the Old… In With the New

In 2000, the University of Colorado Boulder considered a meta-analytic approach and collected MHR values from 351 studies involving 492 groups and 18,712 subjects and concurred that age was indeed a major contributing factor of decline in maximal heart rate but it was not linear. The clinical analysis illustrated that MHR could more accurately be predicted in “healthy” individuals (excluding smokers and those with heart disease) with the following formula:

MHR = 208 – (0.7 x age)

Many studies since have concluded similar outcomes, while others have made even further adjustments for physical condition / activity status and gender, all of which will be available in the Unified Lifestyle program design (coming soon).

There is a definitive clinical and societal need to understand maximum heart rate. While attaining maximum heart rate is both potentially dangerous and painful, estimating MHR will allow individuals to exercise safely and effectively in lesser heart rate zones. Generally speaking 65% MHR is considered to be the optimum oxygen rich fat burning zone, and 85% MHR is a target for improved cardiovascular conditioning (improving aerobic capacity / endurance).

Dialing in Women:

According to a recent study published in 2010 by researchers from Northwestern Medicine in Chicago announced a new adjusted formula for women based on a clinical treadmill test study of 5,437 women ranging from 35 to 93 years of age.

The revised and recommended formula for women is:

MHR = 206 – (0.88 x age)

To illustrate the difference citing just one example, using the old formula of 220 minus age, in the case of a 40-year-old women her maximum heart rate would be 180 (220-40=180), if her goal was improved endurance with a training zone of 85%, the old formula would equate to 153 beats per minute. Using the latest formula, MHR = 206 – (0.88 x age) maximum heart rate would be estimated to be 171 beats per minute of which 85% equals 145, a pace 8 beats a minute slower than the antiquated 1970 linear estimation.

While the difference of 8 beats per minute may not appear substantial, over the course of a workout every heartbeat counts. Training in an accurate heart-rate zone can mean difference between optimum efficiency and over training. In the case of new to exercise individuals could be the distinction between sticking with an exercise program or quitting from exhaustion and frustration.

Old Unisex: Max Heart Rate = 220 – age

New Men:  MHR = 208 – (0.7 x age)

New Women:  MHR = 206 – (0.88 x age)

© 2012 – Copyrights Grant Roberts, All Rights Reserved