Cholesterol readings & higher max HR

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fatbelly33
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Joined: 6 Oct 2017, 10:33pm

Cholesterol readings & higher max HR

Post by fatbelly33 »

Hi Guys,
I've returned to cycling about 3 months ago and prior to that I've been doing a lot of CV exercise.
Since I started cycling I've noticed can now get my max HR up to 155 & find it easier to exercise at 130. Previously I could get a max of 140 and only maintain an average of 122 ish. Do these figures mean I'm getting CV fitter?

Also Ive had a cholesterol test at my GP and the figures are HDL 1.4 & LDL 2.5. What do these figures mean do you know? Receptionist said no further action but she didn't know what the figures meant and I didn't want to book an appt with my GP and waste her time.

I am aged 59 with heart disease which is now managed by meds and exercise.

Thanks
LollyKat
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Location: Scotland

Re: Cholesterol readings & higher max HR

Post by LollyKat »

Judging by the table half-way down this page those numbers look OK. But I am not a doctor.
david7591
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Joined: 29 Dec 2015, 11:02pm

Re: Cholesterol readings & higher max HR

Post by david7591 »

Great to hear of your return to cycling and efforts to get fitter. Well done.

The fact that you can sustain a HR of 130 compared to 122 previously could be a sign of greater fitness, especially if the effort at 130 feels similar to that previously experienced at 122. If it feels harder at 130, probably means you’re making a greater effort on the bike than on previous cv equipment. However, if that is the case, that too is good, because by working your heart regularly at 130 rather than 122, you will get fitter and stronger.


I wouldn’t assume your max HR is 155, just because that’s the highest you’ve recorded whilst cycling. To get a more accurate measure, short if it bring clinically tested, you’d have to complete a good steadily increasing warm-up of about an hour, get your HR up to about 150, then do a series of out and out efforts of two/three minutes with minimum recovery 20-30 seconds. Your max HR would be achieved after seven or eight efforts. But such an experiment is NOT recommended for someone with heart disease and on meds. SERIOUSLY YOU SHOULD NOT TRY IT. The point I’m making is to achieve maximum HR is very difficult and basicly means all out maximum efforts. Something not to be done lightly especially by those of us beyond the first flushes of youth.

Secondly, is it possible your maximum HR is affected by the medication? Quite possible I would think.

Also HR monitors may not record your max HR accuratey. I have just turned sixty. When aged 59 I was doing 5K park runs, and noticed my Garmin showing my HR peaking in excess of 200bpm, as high as 240 in one instance. I mentioned this to my GP when visiting on another matter, and showed him the results on the app on my phone. He arranged for me to have a 24 hour monitor fitted with instructions to go out and replicate the effect. Which I did, and duly recorded a HR in excess of 200bpm. However when graphical outputs were manually inspected by the consultant, his view was that both the hospital equipment and the Garmin were not recording accurately, as they could not cope with counting higher HRs and were over-estimating the bpm. When beats counted manually on graph, they showed a maximum of circa 180bpm, which the consultant told me was ‘normal’ for extreme activity for someone of my age and fitness, but warned me in no uncertain terms that it is not something I should be doing regularly.
Last edited by david7591 on 18 Oct 2017, 7:11pm, edited 2 times in total.
fatbelly33
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Joined: 6 Oct 2017, 10:33pm

Re: Cholesterol readings & higher max HR

Post by fatbelly33 »

Hi David,
Thanks so much for your comprehensive reply it is most helpful. I wont try and get my max heart rate. I think I'll just keep cycling & take things gradual.
Once again thanks :D
MikeF
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Re: Cholesterol readings & higher max HR

Post by MikeF »

According to the print out from my blood tests Serum HDL of 1.00-3.00mmol/L is OK and Serum LDL of 0.00-3.00mmol/L is OK. Do you have a printout of your blood test results? If not ask the receptionist for one. It should list your results and adjacent to them the limits. For the record mine were HDL 1.2 and LDL 2.8.
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rmurphy195
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Re: Cholesterol readings & higher max HR

Post by rmurphy195 »

Does no harm to see your GP just to get a heads-up on what the cholestorol figures mean next time you see him/her, or maybe a 5 minute chat with the practice nurse if the GP has a high workload. Or even your local pharmacy!

Always good to put yopur mind at rest via a face-face chat - it can help with your blood pressure readings!
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fatbelly33
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Joined: 6 Oct 2017, 10:33pm

Re: Cholesterol readings & higher max HR

Post by fatbelly33 »

Another question Guys.

I wear a Polar HRM when cycling, today I cycled for 65 minutes with an average HR of 125 & a max of 145. My Polar says that I used 680 calories, is this realistic? 680 does seem a lot. I have input my age, weight & height into the Polar.
softlips
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Re: Cholesterol readings & higher max HR

Post by softlips »

fatbelly33 wrote:Another question Guys.

I wear a Polar HRM when cycling, today I cycled for 65 minutes with an average HR of 125 & a max of 145. My Polar says that I used 680 calories, is this realistic? 680 does seem a lot. I have input my age, weight & height into the Polar.


It sounds roughly right, accurate enough to use as a figure for knowing how much to eat in order to lose weight.

It's impossible to get a perfect calculation on home equipment.
cotswolds
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Re: Cholesterol readings & higher max HR

Post by cotswolds »

It sounds a bit high to me. It is possible to burn 700 calories an hour cycling but you have to be going quite fast.

Coming back to your original question, your increased max HR is probably because of improved CV fitness, but a much better measure of this is resting heartrate before you get out of bed in the morning. Your base metabolic rate should be fairly constant at rest, and as your heart becomes fitter and more efficient it has to work less hard to meet basic functions. It does this by beating slower - elite athletes have very low resting heart rates compared to the general population.
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Paulatic
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Re: Cholesterol readings & higher max HR

Post by Paulatic »

cotswolds wrote:It sounds a bit high to me. It is possible to burn 700 calories an hour cycling but you have to be going quite fast.


I go quite fast down hills :D Am I burning more calories then?
No I think it’s more to do with workload and whilst the calories consumed does look high to me who knows what weight the OP is carrying around with him on his bike and thus increasing his workload.
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ianrobo
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Re: Cholesterol readings & higher max HR

Post by ianrobo »

fatbelly33 wrote:Another question Guys.

I wear a Polar HRM when cycling, today I cycled for 65 minutes with an average HR of 125 & a max of 145. My Polar says that I used 680 calories, is this realistic? 680 does seem a lot. I have input my age, weight & height into the Polar.


it is a very very rough estimate. Do not use its to measure you daily intake/outtake as often your food totals will be out but use to compare the same rides etc.

As some one says if your resting HR is coming down thats good and I would really advise on getting a monitor that reads Heart Rate Variability.

As for Cholesterol, I have said elsewhere I think that is the biggest con that the medical drug industry has ever done on people. However find those threads and read them rather than bung up this one :-)
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