Maximum heart rate: different for women?

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-07-2003
Maximum heart rate: different for women?
2
Mon, 07-11-2005 - 12:35pm

Hi all,

I recently got a Polar heart rate monitor (yay!). This works great: i now can see where i was spiking my heart rate too high or where i was going too easy in my workouts.

However, are there gender differences for how Maximum Heart Rate is calculated? The Polar booklet that comes with the monitor uses the formula 220 minus age, and the booklet has a chart of heart rate ranges for ages based on this calculation. However, the Walking Site has a note that the formula is 226 minus age for women (at http://www.thewalkingsite.com/thr.html).

Do you gals generally use 226 or 220 as your starting number? Now that i've invested my money i want to make sure i'm using this monitor correctly!

many thanks, in advance...
fuchsia




Edited 7/11/2005 12:36 pm ET ET by fuchsia_g
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-20-2003
Mon, 07-11-2005 - 1:22pm

There are a couple of formulas.






iVillage Member
Registered: 03-11-2004
Mon, 07-11-2005 - 1:50pm
i think the formula is such a rough approximation anyway that it doesn't really matter if you use a special formula for women or not. as you get more accustomed to your heart rate and your perceived exertion, you'll figure out for yourself what target heart rate you want to shoot for.