What heart rate is too high during exercise?
During exercise, a rough ceiling for your heart rate is 220 minus your age. Working at 50 to 85 percent of that covers most goals, and being able to talk in short sentences is the practical test of moderate effort.
Going near maximum briefly is normal in hard training for healthy people. Red flags are different: chest pain, unusual breathlessness, lightheadedness or palpitations during exercise mean stop and get assessed before the next session.
If you take heart or blood pressure medicines, some cap your rate artificially, so effort and breath are better guides than the number alone.
See a doctor promptly if
- Palpitations or a racing heart with chest pain, breathlessness, fainting or near-fainting. Seek emergency care
- A resting heart rate persistently above 120 beats per minute, even without symptoms
- An irregular, chaotic pulse with no pattern, especially if new. This can be atrial fibrillation and needs assessment
- A heart rate below 40 beats per minute with dizziness, fatigue or blackouts
- A sustained unexplained rise in resting heart rate with fever, weight loss or night sweats
Your training zones by age, in beats per minute
| Result | In short | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Age 20 | Max about 200 | Moderate effort is roughly 100 to 140. Hard effort is 140 to 170. Above 170 is near your ceiling and fine in short bursts if you are well. |
| Age 30 | Max about 190 | Moderate is roughly 95 to 133. Hard is 133 to 162. 170 during a hard interval is normal here, not dangerous. |
| Age 40 | Max about 180 | Moderate is roughly 90 to 126. Hard is 126 to 153. A reading of 170 means you are working near your limit rather than past it. |
| Age 50 | Max about 170 | Moderate is roughly 85 to 119. Hard is 119 to 145. Sustained readings above 155 are hard training, not an emergency, in someone with no symptoms. |
| Age 60 | Max about 160 | Moderate is roughly 80 to 112. Hard is 112 to 136. Build the base before chasing the top of this range. |
| Age 70 | Max about 150 | Moderate is roughly 75 to 105. Hard is 105 to 128. Being able to talk in short sentences is a better guide than the watch. |
| Any age, with symptoms | Stop | Chest pain or pressure, unusual breathlessness, dizziness, fainting or a beat that feels irregular means stop and get checked, whatever the number says. |
| On a beta blocker | The number lies | These medicines cap heart rate, so the zones above do not apply. Effort and breathing are the guides, and your own doctor sets the ceiling. |
Age formulas are rough, and can be out by fifteen beats either way. How hard it feels, and whether you can speak, beats the number on the watch. Check it against the guidelines.
Check your resting pulse30 seconds, free, nothing to install
Look up another result
A result is rarely the only one on the page. Each of these gives the bands, in both unit systems, and what happens next.
- What each thyroid antibody6 bands
- What glucose on a urine dipstick5 bands
- What is worth doing, and how often6 bands
- What melatonin does, at what dose6 bands
- What tends to be behind it6 bands
- What tends to be driving them6 bands
- What the coating looks like, and what it usually is6 bands
- What the discharge looks like, and what it usually is6 bands
- What the evidence shows, by method6 bands
- What the node itself tells you9 bands
- What to carry, and what each one has to say7 bands
- Where to feel, and what each area drains6 bands
- Where you are, and what reverses it6 bands
- Where your reading sits7 bands
Answered by the AskDoc Medical Team · Medically reviewed under our Medical Director, MBBS · How we review
If you are buying a fitness tracker
Step count and resting heart rate are the two numbers that matter, and any major-brand band tracks both well. You do not need the expensive model to walk more.
Buying through this link supports the free library with a small commission. It never changes a pick.
Have your own result?
Send the report. A doctor explains every value in writing within 3 days.
People also ask
Health education, not medical advice.