My GPS with additional HR strap recorded a max bpm of 196 on Sunday, as I’m almost 48 my max HR ‘should’ be somewhere in the low 170’s.
So how accurate are such devices, especially at the higher range?

As has been said before the HR Max limit is just a very rough and ready guide. Individuals may have very different HR maxes. I’m 52 and mine is about 185. There is no reason why yours couldn’t be what the monitor says. If in doubt check your pulse yourself.

As above but I’ve also had some rubbish readings from a chest strap once it gets high unless I’ve kept it clean and it is fitting me well. I also have a Scosche wrist/arm one and it nearly always gives wrong readings 🙁

Generally accurate, but there are things that throw them out. I find if you wet the contacts they work better but can still register bollox readings in high wind, clothes with static or before you are sweating.

I mainly run, but often mine over read for the first mile.

All that said my max is 192 and I am 39

Can you not just stick it on Strava and look at the profile – if it was a gradual increase to 196 on a climb when you were really pushing then it’s probably right.

If it was a sudden spike while you were riding along it wasn’t.

You’re over thinking it.

I’d heard they were unreliable at the higher ranges, don’t know how true that is though.
Always wet the contacts before fitting etc, I suspect the high reading was when I was climbing the Trough of Bowland so understandable that it was high.

Just looked on my Mioshare page & the 196bpm spike is right when I’m on the Trough – the steepest climb of the day. Maybe it was that high after all.

That’s shit. Those “guideline” Max HR numbers are just that, a guess. I was regularly seeing 196 when I was bothering to monitor my HR and I was older than 48.

Is it a spike though, or merely the biggest value attained? Ie unless you had a massive sampling rate you’ll have 195/194 as well. If it jumped from 180 then it’s anomylous.

No reason they’re inaccurate.

Here’s the data :-

https://www.mioshare.com/recording/detail/2889910

The purple line is the HR and,as you can see, it appear to spend quite a lot of time over 150bpm over the earlier part of the ride.

I’ve just replaced my old garmin HRM with one of the newer premium ones. I used to see a max of 202 occassionally and would hit 198 most hard rides. The max I’ve seen this year, since the new monitor is 198. So by swapping monitors I’ve changed by 4bpm or approx 2%. Or you could say its early in the season and I haven’t truely buried myself yet…

the whole 220 minus age thing is a rule of thumb, so plenty of people will be either higher or lower than that.

I’m 36 so using the rule I should be 184. My mate who is a year younger, very similar in fitness / pace terms maxs in the mid 170s.

The reading of 196bpm looks reasonable from that data.

Max HR is very individual and isn’t a marker of fitness. Each individual’s max HR does go down with age, however, eg mine was 196bpm when I was 27, and is now 192bpm at the age of 32. My friend, who is also 32 and of similar fitness, has a max HR of 155bpm. Weird.

Just get a bit worried when I see numbers like that at my age!

If you didn’t die, it’s probably fine 🙂

I’m pretty convinced that with polar ones riding under or next to power lines causes odd spikes

In answer to your original question, chest strap HR monitors are very accurate*, optical wrist ones less so.

The purple line is the HR and,as you can see, it appear to spend quite a lot of time over 150bpm over the earlier part of the ride.

*although only accurate with good electrical connection to your chest. Abnormally high readings early on in a ride/run are a typical sign of a lack of good connection. Once you’ve built up some sweat (and electrical connection) the problem goes away. Plenty of spit on the chest strap and chest solve this, or buy some conductive gel off ebay. High voltage pylons can also screw up the readings, but it’s mostly just lack of moisture between the strap and your chest.

If you see a high HR, ask yourself “Am I out of breath?”, if not, it’s just a garbage reading.

I’m a similar age and regularly get max heart rate just below or above 200. It’s been like that since I first started using a HRM in the early 90s. I don’t worry about it.

Seeing as I was riding up the Eastern side of the Trough of Bowland at the time I can guarantee I was out of breath!

muddydwarf – Member
Seeing as I was riding up the Eastern side of the Trough of Bowland at the time I can guarantee I was out of breath!

The Bowland Fells are my normal training rides so I can vouch for this !

its about consistency of the readings. If it stays in the range that you’ve seen. My garmin used to spike 240 and stay at 240+ on some rides which spooked me. Pinging the hrm reset it back and it didnt happen often enough for me to be that worried. In the end I changed it and have been ok since.

I’m another 190+ rider so you’re in good company. But you should listen to how your body feels and if there are any concerns always see a doctor.

Rode the same road the same way the day before you and just looked at my max up there which was 177 bpm. That’s probably 5-10 bpm below my MHR and I’m 40. I could probably do with testing properly though and would recommend it if you are interested in training using heart rate zones etc. There are loads on online guides as to how to do this.

as I’m almost 48 my max HR ‘should’ be somewhere in the low 170’s.

There is no good evidence for a fixed relationship between heart rate and age.

If it bothers you; stop measuring it

I didn’t know that! So this 220 – your age thing isn’t actually based on anything solid?

It’s just one method of calculating it for the population as a whole – it can only ever be an inspired guess for an individual.

If your HRM stops reading, don’t assume your heart has stopped beating.

That’s lucky, I’ve been dying repeatedly during rides lately, mine’s clearly playing up!

I’m 50 next Monday and last night I did a night ride with the ‘boys’ which was my 3rd ride since 8th Oct 2014 (damaged arm has kept me off the bike) and I hit 180 bpm.

Age does factor in but HR is fairly individual, look at post on here for resting heart rate, it really varies a lot per person.

I can average >190 for 2 hours, I’m 28, but my max ‘should’ be about 192, it’s more like 205.

The original publication is Max HR = 220 – Age +/- 20 bpm

Everyone ignores the last part. The study was not done in trained athletes. It’s not a bad guide, but a bit like saying the average salary for age is XXX, but I earn YYY.

Mine’s 192 and I’m 47. Still within the bounds, but only just.