I'm in my mid-40s and I do cardio 3x weekly, and during my sessions, it's basically HIIT training. I try to keep my HR above 150 during my sessions, but it peaks in the low 180s intermittently.
Is this okay? My doctor noted potential concerns with getting my HR up that high, but it could be fine, she wasn't sure. I don't get any dizziness or anything (generally that happens if I sustain a heart rate above 185 for a bit). I'm not staying at 180 bpm, that's just the peak, I'm targeting an average HR of around 150-155 for my workouts.
In a 60 minute workout, I'll probably spend 10-15 minutes with my HR between 166 and 182 range.
Not sure if I should scale it down a bit or take it easier, or if this is fine.
If you're not feeling dizzy, having chest pains or getting blurred or tunnel vision you're fine.
Add, if you are recovering to a lower heart rate quickly, you are also fine. After finishing cardio how long does it take you to get below 99 and how long to base rate? You should be back under 99 in 5mins.
Checked with tonight's workout and watched my HR after. Workout ended at 140 bpm, took under 4 minutes to drop to 105, but 9 minutes to drop to 100. I'm about 15 minutes post-cardio now, heart rate is still bouncing between 90 and 105, but slowly trending down. Currently 98 bpm.
Not sure how long it takes to get back to base rate, usually after workouts my heart rate is a bit higher than normal for the rest of the night, though it doesn't seem to affect my resting heart rate. I'll probably be in the high 70s to 80s for the next hour or two at least based on past experience.
Tonight's workout I took it a little easier. My HR did peak at 186, but only briefly, and my average bpm for the workout was 143 (it's usually over 150).
Usually after a workout my heart rate is still elevated for a while (like mid-80s to 90), but drops down to around 95-105 pretty quickly. I usually do a cooldown toward the last few minutes of the workout and end it with my heart rate around 135-140, and then after so long as I’m idle it drops from there.
I’ll monitor my next session and check with a timer.