I know this post is a little old, but I'm having the same issue while playing Pickleball. I'm 59 and had a CABG eight years ago and am doing great. My resting heart rate is high 50s. My blood pressure is 105/65. I work out twice a week with a trainer, I hike (usually 8 miles with 1,000' of climbing involved), I run, ski in the East and in the mountains out West, and…I love to play Pickleball! 😃. While running, I will walk if I hit the low 160s, but it seems like my heart rate likes to stay a little high while I run. I also just had a stress test two months ago where I hit 12.9 mets. Having said all that…
I just started playing Pickleball this summer, and, when I play, I wear a fairly new Garmin sports watch. Initially, I didn't look at my watch because I was having fun and felt great. It just didn't seem necessary to pay attention to it. Then one hot humid morning, I felt a pretty tired after a fairly aggressive game, and sat down to rest after the game. When I got home, I downloaded my stats into my phone, and, holy cow(!), I was playing in the 170s (with a spike to 182!). I had no idea. Btw, my watch is programmed to pick up AFIB, and I received no alerts. I then looked back at all the times I played this summer, and, yep, 170s. Note that the high heart rate wasn't immediate, it took a few games to get there and would settle down quickly between games. During my annual checkup two weeks ago, I talked to my Dr about it and he wasn't too phased due to my overall good health and activity level, but he said to rest and cool down when it got high like that.
Part of me thinks there is a quirk in the watch that causes it to read high during this fast twitch muscle stuff. So I'm going to try wearing a chest strap to see if the readings are consistent.
Otherwise, I can't explain it. It gets really high, but I'm not that out of breath (not like when I'm running and it gets in the low 160s). It now weirds me out a bit, and so, as my Dr instructed, when my heart rate climbs up I'll finish a game and just sit a bit till my heart rate comes down (which it does pretty quickly), and then play again.
Does anyone else have this happen to them?
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Nick Bentley
Fleetwood PA
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-16-2021 17:34
From: Grayson Robbins
Subject: Maximum Heart Rate
Post Op some 24 years .... I had triple bypass at 40 and am now 64. I remain active, take my meds, and work towards eating correctly, although slightly overweight. Playing Pickleball, my heart rate sometimes reaches the high 140's, however, today's play on a warm sunny court it hit 171 and remained above 155 for an extended period of time. This greatly exceeds 100% of recommended maximum HR (145) for vigorous activity for my age. I've not minded getting it in the 150 area but today's high near 170 got my attention.
Does anyone have recommendations for greatly exceeding max HR? Is it dangerous? Or better yet, at what point should exceeding one's max HR be considered dangerous?
Thank in advance from Mississippi!
G
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Grayson Robbins
Tupelo MS
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