Max Heart Rate higher than normal for age.

Same age same max heart rate. Never thought to go see a doctor. I thought it was common knowledge that heart rate is extremely variable among folks.

The estimated max represents the average of a distribution. Talented athletes and active people often have higher max HR that decline less rapidly.

I have heard of similar fitness in endurance athletes.

Mine was high teens around age 20.

My cycling coach years ago wanted me to be checked out. It’s odd because I see guys my age doing their easy runs with HR of 103-135 average for 6:45-7:00 min pace where my easy HR is under 150, my aerobic is up to 169, threshold up to 191

Same situation as you OP.

Heart rate will typically reach over 200 during halfs yet my resting every morning is between 36-42.

Anyone have any insight into these extremes? I've seen a lot of people with high max heart rates and their resting is also on the higher end. Less so for people with high max and super low resting.

TL;DNR: As others have said, the usual formula for max HR is wrong, and it only gives an average, which is lower than roughly 1/2 the population.

Some details:

1) There are plenty of studies showing that the standard formula for maximum heart rate is not accurate. Moreover, the standard formula gets worse with age; as people get older, max HR does not fall as fast as the formula predicts. This means the older you get, the more likely your max HR is above the predicted max HR

2) More importantly, any formula only gives the average max heart rate. Actual max HRs are spread out around that average in a bell curve. The variation (measured by the standard deviation) is quite large. Because the spread is pretty close to a bell curve, ½ of people have max HR above what the formula predicts.

PS A quick search for something like maximum+heart+rate+formula+study will tell you more than you want to know.

My max is ~215 at 53yo. Doesn't seem to be falling with age.

I regularly hit 200+ in workouts. Raced 10K at 200bpm average, and averaged 173bpm for 7h 20m in an ultra trail marathon, both in 2019.

My resting HR is average, 45-50, easy pace average too, about 130-135bpm. What's unusual is my big range between easy and all-out.

I don't worry about it, perform well for my age, but I am curious and would like to know more about high max HR outliers.

I have not looked at the heart rate research carefully in several years. When I did, the consensus seemed to be that how quickly your HR returned to normal after strenuous exercise was a much better measure of cardiac health than max HR. Does anyone know if this result has held up?

I've wondered about this as well since mine is a bit high. Any of you lift heavy weights in the past? Maybe the reduced stroke volume due to concentric heart muscle hypertrophy would explain it. Just a theory.

There is nothing to worry about having a high max HR. I’m 35 and my max is around 208. All my readings match with the corresponding training zones.

Max HR is highly variable.

I'm late 30s. When I was younger I could hold approx 200bpm for a hard but just holding onto "comfortable" exercise bike. My max was over 220 at the time. Now I think my max is high 190s. Resting is 32-33 when I'm fit and eating/sleeping well, and 38-40 when I'm unfit and eating/sleeping poorly.

Doctors aren't used to these numbers and don't know what to do with them.

To see how much measured max HR varies click on this link to see the results of a study of max HR in recreational marathon runners:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/core/lw/2.0/html/tileshop_pmc/tileshop_pmc_inline.html?title=Click%20on%20image%20to%20zoom&p=PMC3&id=5862813_fphys-09-00226-g0001.jpg

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29599724

HR is highly variable. 39 year old Friend of mine at had an average of 205 for the final 2k during a recent 10k. Ex military and always been in great shape, Drs have never found an issue.

My maximum heart rate is typically over 200 to 208 in time trials and races.

Also, it typically stays high for most of longer races, i.e. over 180 for most of a 10k.

I don't have a good way to measure my resting rate, but it's somewhere around 45 to 55.

I exercise for an hour or two every morning, and have good endurance and a good recovery.

Not to worry wrote:

To see how much measured max HR varies click on this link to see the results of a study of max HR in recreational marathon runners:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/core/lw/2.0/html/tileshop_pmc/tileshop_pmc_inline.html?title=Click%20on%20image%20to%20zoom&p=PMC3&id=5862813_fphys-09-00226-g0001.jpg

That study is fake, women have on average a MUCH higher max HR than man of the same age (there are outliers, but it is significant for the general population). This is scientifically proven, women's hearts are smaller than those of man.

Never trust a study that you didn't fake yourself!

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

That study is fake, women have on average a MUCH higher max HR than man of the same age (there are outliers, but it is significant for the general population). This is scientifically proven, women's hearts are smaller than those of man.

Citation?