Help - am I fit or unfit?

Former Member over 5 years ago

Both Garmin and Fitbit think I’m pretty fit - Vo2 max of 43 and 48 respectively and a resting heart rate of 50 or so. So far so good. But when I exercise my heart rate seems to increase very quickly and to a high level - 2 hours of tennis and my average hr (with Garmin chest strap) is 164 and max 193. That’s not good for a 60 year old if I use the 220 - age formula!! I smoked for 35 years but quit 10 years ago. Maybe my heart is good but lungs poor? So anyway am I fit or unfit, can anyone explain the high exercise hr but low RHR and good Vo2 max?

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Daniel_Ilg over 5 years ago +1

I try to :-)

First of all, tennis is requiring a lot of sprints, stops and changes of direction. So tennis is very demanding for your muscular and metabolic system. Additionally, tennis is normally played…

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0 nghpmc over 5 years ago in reply to subra

The heart rate zones is a "personal thing" , so you can't compare yourself (or anybody else) to age based zones as such.

There is a decline over years on the personal max heart rate , but any formula is just an average picture... Not your picture !

( my exampel age ~62,5 and max HR ~ 180 bpm , resting HR ~45)

0 subra over 5 years ago in reply to nghpmc

nghpmc said:
( my exampel age ~62,5 and max HR ~ 180 bpm , resting HR ~45)

And how long can you sustain your maxHR? Usually not more as a few min.

But OP sustain it more than 30min, as shown in the first chart.

nghpmc said:
any formula is just an average picture

Yes, for a healthy athlete. And additionally OP has smoked 35 years.

I think it's not so bad to check this by a doc. Be sure you're on the safe site.

0 schneeleopard over 5 years ago

Hi David, I'm about your age and my heart rate diagram looks quite similar. You might have a look at this article:

https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/health/injury/a760723/qa-im-40-is-a-maximum-heart-rate-of-202-safe/

0 Elbo over 5 years ago in reply to subra

subra said:
But OP sustain it more than 30min, as shown in the first chart.

How do you know the OP max heart rate? You assumed it from a graph.

Your advice to see a doc (a specialized in sports one) every now and then is a solid advice. For every athlete above.. let say 50 (but maybe a bit younger ones also)

This sport doc can figure out the max heart rate and give advice in which zones to train. For here it is just assuming from the (helpful) readers.

0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to schneeleopard

Thanks, I enjoyed reading it!!