Exercise Rate

Great info. My setting is:50 and 140. When i exercise i wonder if my pulse goes to 140 or above what happens? I get it up to high 130's Thanks
Ist time. 2nd degree probably went to a 3rd degree after a afib zap. 76 yrs old. Had pm 3 yrs.
Thanks for any info.

5 Comments

Effects of reaching upper limit

by jkatcl - 2011-09-27 01:09:17

Thanks Frank

The doc that installed the pm only wants to see me if there is something wrong with the pm. He never explained to me what the settings actually do.
There is no reason to exceed 140 at my age,but I like the benefits of hitting the 120-135 for awhile.
This is a great place for info.

Jerry

Effect of reaching Upper limit

by ElectricFrank - 2011-09-27 02:09:13

The only way the pacer can enforce the upper limit is by skipping ventricular beats. So when you try to exceed 140 it will start erratically skipping beats to keep the average below 140. It can actually reach a point where it is skipping very other beat causing your HR to drop to70.

As you can guess this doesn't feel very good and in fact can cause your cardiac output to drop at time when you need it. Early on I had a bit of a flap when I insisted my upper limit be set to 150 (I'm 81yrs). My approach is to self limit my HR to something appropriate for my age by checking it on a monitor. It's a good idea to stay a bit below the upper setting because there is a tendency for HR to overshoot a bit when we stop exercise. If I'm climbing a trail at a HR of 130, and then stop for a rest it will often increase to 135 or so and then start back down.

Hope all this makes sense. If not get back to me.

frank

Exceeding Limit

by randall - 2011-10-05 05:10:01

I'm 70 years old.

Pacemaker - 2004

Pacemaker / Defribrullator - 2006

My upper limit is set at 140. What I can tell you is that I took a stress test and watched the HR climb to 140, then to 146 for a split second and then back to 140.

The way it was explained to me that the device acts as a "governor' and will not let you exceed the limit set.

Made sense to me. Otherwise, why set a limit?




Randall

Exceeding Limit

by jkatcl - 2011-10-05 11:10:35

Thanks Randall. This makes sense.

Jerry

Oxygen Debt

by Tattoo Man - 2011-12-09 06:12:40

T-Man here.In my experience, and of most active/sports people, heart rate always spikes after excercise is halted or stopped. Its an oxygen-debt effect, an over-compensation if you like. When training/excercising to the limit, in my view, stopping after extreme effort is not a good idea for your heart or your muscles. Tapering off the effort is the advise from pro coaches. Exercise bikes and treadmills if holding high HR need ideally 10 mins of gradually tapering effort to reduce HR by degrees using diminishing loads/speeds/gears, right down to walking HR. Ideally get off the Treadmill when you can breath normally. This also gives muscles a head start re getting lactic acid out.

Second point, why are people still using the tired old equation of Max HR = 220 minus Age ?
Maybe advisable for people who are not fit. I am a fit 61 yr old so my Max should be 220-61=159...wrong, I saw 170 on my Turbo last night and that was no where near my max. My PM has a range of 60-165 but allows me to sail past without hinder.

As ever, consult the Cardios but question them backed with a little knowledge...its entirely understandable that they will always 'play safe'

The Greek motto "Know Thyself" fits in nicely here.

Take care..Tattoo Man

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