Maximum Heart Rate

I've had a PM for 5 months and I THINK that I have finally got the settings right. I am a 73 yr old UK male who runs, cycles and plays tennis ..." fit for my age ", they keep telling me.... but it's the age bit that has been the problem from Day one

Brief history :-

- Implanted with PM which had ex-factory settings , max HR set at 130bpm . I could run for half a mile, then hit a wall of breathlessness.

- After much persuasion from me, PM max HR is raised to 140 bpm . I could run for a couple of miles and then hit the same wall.

- asked for the max to be raised and hit a wall of un-cooperation. I was told a load of nonsense " Your maximum heart rate shouldn't exceed 220 minus your age " which made it 147 bpm for me.

-PM max raised to 145 bpm ( and achieving that from my technician was like asking for the Crown Jewels.) ... still hitting a wall after 3 miles

- thanks to a comment from Electric Frank I demanded a treadmill test ( I could write a novel on getting this done on the NHS) and had it this morning. Medtronic has software which reads the treadmill results and optimises the settings.

- when I saw that the technician was wearing black leathers and carrying a whip , I should have known that she would put me through it .. and she did !! She set the treadmill so steep that I needed crampons to get up it ! but the outcome was :-

- they've raised the max HR to 165 bpm . I ran this afternoon and felt great !!

So the moral of this story is

- Don't accept "No" for an answer

- Don't accept any crazy formulas they give you like "220 minus your age ". We are all different and these catch -all formulae may not be right for you if you are fairly fit.

Cheers

Ian

6 Comments

Yes!!!!!!

by Pookie - 2012-03-05 09:03:29

That's great news Ian:) I'm so glad you didn't give up and pushed your doctors. These are the stories that give us all hope.

Smiling,
Pookie

Max BPM for for types

by Tattoo Man - 2012-03-06 05:03:58

Ian, may I add my best wishes to Pookies.

The arcane 220-Age rule should be kept at arms length... Its as useful as being told that if you have a pulse, then you are alive.

Facts:

Martha Gulati reckons that 206-0.88xAge is the answer.

For you Ian...Max 141 BPM

Londeree and Moeshberger go for 206.3-0.711xAge

For you Ian...Max 154 BPM

Whyte (UK ) 2008, concludes that for a fit runner the formula is 202-0.55xAge

For you Ian..Kerchinggg!...161 BPM !!

I am 61 and half-marathon fit..Kerchinggg!...169 BPM, easily acheivable for this 10 stone weakling.

Now it seems to me that the 28 BPM bandspread across tthe views of experts demonstrates exactly where the pitfalls lie in having a "little knowledge"

The Greek saying "Know Thyself and Nothing in Excess" might be a useful 'thought for the day'

Ian I'm really pleased that you have found what you knew to be true.

On a separate note, tomorrow will be the fifth anniversary of the morning when I woke up with a really bad backache and found that I had a total of twelve pipes and wires stuck in me. A few hours before, a really nice guy with a DeWalt jigsaw had sawed my sternum in half and dug into my heart to give me a new Aortic Valve.

For those who might think that Tattoo Man is just some kind of quaint clown, TM came round that morning to have confirmed that pretty well everything that we hold as..True..Sacred and Permanent is pretty darn hilarious. The only thing that is worth bothering about is Love, in everyone of its forms

Today, five years ago I was totally terrified..I learned to live when i had prepared myself for death

So, on that cheerful note, lets all have a great day, and find time for a bit of Loving and a lot of Laughing !!

Tattoo Man

thanks

by IAN MC - 2012-03-06 06:03:47

Pookie .. many thanks for your good wishes , I hope other people have some good outcomes that we can all learn from.

Tattoo Man .. Happy 5th anniversary. Are you absolutely certain that the guy who sawed your sternum in half was a Dr ? it could have been a mentally unbalanced hospital maintenance man and the hospital did a massive cover up !

You make good points re the HR formulas. The one they eventually used on me was :-

208 minus my inside leg measurement ( in inches) plus the number of my house minus the amount I've spent in hospital parking fees ( in £s)

It worked for me, but it might not work for everyone..we're all different.

Have a good day wherever you are

Ian

Way to go

by ElectricFrank - 2012-03-07 01:03:39

Sounds like you needed to wear black leathers and carry a whip.

One possibility is that your HR for a given level of exercise may start to drop a bit as you get back into shape. 5 months with a 130 limit can take some of it out of you.

Wait til you get to my 82 yrs and still tell them you want it set to 150. They will figure out some condition and meds to slow you down.

cheers,

frank

Thanks Frank

by IAN MC - 2012-03-07 07:03:43

I hope you're right about the drop in HR as I get fitter; interestingly I seem to feel less tired in the evenings as my max HR has been progressively raised.

How did you know how I dressed for the treadmill test ?
- so much for medical confidentiality !

Cheers

Ian

I hacked the treadmill

by ElectricFrank - 2012-03-08 12:03:48

We just have to train these people. How did we get along before needing the pacer. We had no limit at all other than what we wanted to do.

frank

You know you're wired when...

You invested in the Energizer battery company.

Member Quotes

I'm 44, active and have had my device for two years. I love it as I can run again and enjoy working out without feeling like I'm an old man.