Revision to max heart rate calculation for woman

In the February, 2011 issue of Better Homes and Gardens, there is an article called "Ladies First - After decades of being overlooked in heart research, women are finally getting some attention - and rewriting the rules on cardiovascular health." by Melinda Wenner Moyer. In the body of the article it says that the long "accepted" calculation for maximum heart rate during exercise (220-minus age) only applies to men. A better calculation for woman is supposed to be 206-80% of age. A recent study in the journal Circulation is cited.
Perhaps others have more accurate information but thought it was an interesting concept to share.
Cyndie

BTW, for me, a 56 year woman, the max heart rate by previous calculation is 164 bpm and 161 bpm for the proposed calculation.

Cyndie,

I'm very glad that women are starting to get studies :-) However, when you are exercising at that level, is the 3 bpm difference that much?

This comes from someone who used to bicycle very long distances on tour. While training, I didn't consider HR or anything else, other than how many miles I covered, so I could be able to do the tour when vacation time rolled around. Granted, this was before all the monitors were available. My husband, Mike, and I thought that the fact that we had digital speedometers was high tech.

How many people, even now, are monitoring their HR to that degree when training to that level?

lisa

Lisa
Yes, I agree that the difference is small and perhaps not profound. I did find it encouraging that differences are acknowledged and hoping for more progress. And I never work near my maximum either.
Cyndie

Those formulas are a general indication of max heart rate, however there is very significant individual variation.

There are a number of different formulae.

Also max heart rate will vary depending upon the exercise performed during testing. That is running gives a different answer than bicycling or swimming for the same individual.

At 55 the 220-age gives 165. I've recently pushed it past 176 on a treadmill test, and I wasn't really maxed out. My female friend at 57 can push her HR over 180.

In general, female heart rates tend to be higher than males, but again there is very significant individual variation.

So don't pay too much attention to the formulas.

George

Cyndie,

Please note that max. heart rate is not the same as your target rate for exercise. The American Heart Association recommends that your target exercise rate be between 50 and 75% of your max. rate. So, in the case of a max. heart rate of 164 bpm your target rate for exercise should be between 82 and 123 bpm. Most people would probably benefit from being closer to the 75% target rate.

Hans