bob cardone

I have read recently on this newsgroup that older people are sometimes
told by their Doctor that they should stay in a range of let's say 65%
to 85% of Max heart rate. The assumption would be that if you got
close to 100% of your max that bad things might happen.

My question is , what bad things? Is it an issue of the heart muscle
not getting enough blood flow for the work that it is doing at this
high heart rate, causing damage to the heart muscle, or a cramping of
the muscle, caused by narrowed coronary arteries ( Ischemia I guess is
the term) ?

Or possibly is it due to the very high Heart Rate triggering some kind
of Arrhythmia that could be life threatening, or stress on the heart
valves, or blood pressure that gets too high causing a problem ,at
that heart rate or maybe all of the above. Just curious. I find
myself watching my heart rate and perceived exertion lately and don't
push myself like I use to, but I never now quite why I am being this
careful.

Bob

brad

Bob,

Unless there are medical reasons not to there should be no problem in
exercising at greater than 85% of max. At 85% you should be getting
most of the benefits of cardio - going to 100% would give you a bit
more, but at much greater strain. My max is about 170 (I'm 55) and on
my "hard" days I get my pulse up to 150. I preceive that as "heavy"
and have to push myself. for me, getting up to 100% is very, very
heavy - almost like a sprint. I'd suggest reviewing the Dr. Mirkin
site http://www.drmirkin.com He has a big section on fitness, and he
literally work the book on Sportsmedicine.