Another heart rate question

[mikeymo]

I'm a bit new to this and have never been into monitoring my heart but as I age I'm willing to learn a bit more --
Question 1
Presuming you can measure your heart rate accurately, how does one go about measuring ones maximum heart rate?
Question 2
Does it have to be done by/in the presence of doctors or can you do it yourself ?

Caveat - I have no medical training.

1. I have a Polar chest strap heart rate monitor, reputedly accurate. Going up a local hill I registered a heart rate of 183. I'm 62. So that's way over the 220-age thing. A few months later I tried the "go up a hill hard 4 times" method outlined here:

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/fitness/training/training-zones-what-are-they-and-why-do-they-matter-180110#:~:text=A%20popular%20method%20for%20finding,the%20original%20220%20minus%20age.

That gave me a MHR of 173. Actually I didn't get as far as four times, I was spent after three.

2. In preparation for a drugs trial a couple of years ago I had fairly thorough health testing. The consultant said - "I wish I had your blood pressure" and pronounced all aspects of my CV system very good. So I was fairly relaxed about the "four hills" method. You might not feel as confident.

[Cowsham]

Yes I think it would be wiser to do it in a medical facility the first time though I've pushed myself the the limit many times before and recently ( 58 yr old ) so fairly confident in my fitness but I still don't know which limits the readings are taken -- according to that wiki link info there's specific changes that are picked up by the heart monitor but it'll probably be different when it's my turn to do it. Don't think it's wise to go mad every time I'm out. I think it's actually better for long term health to be a bit more gentle but for longer and more regular times especially as we age.