heart rate

[yardman999]

Hi I'm 60 years old, 198 pounds and diabetic (30 years) I have just taken early retirement from Scotland Yard and want to stay relatively fit so I wondered what sort of figures I should be heading for.My resting heart rate is 61bpm.After a brisk 15 minute walk my heartrate goes upto 84bpm but returns to 61bpm after approx 30 seconds.Will this keep me reasonably fit, or should I be looking for lower figures ? Any help gratfully received.Thanks

[Anxious4ever]

If I'm correct you target heart rate would be 136 BPM.

I'm not saying to go out and hit that right away, work up to it and make sure you Dr knows that you are working out a bit.

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/PhysicalActivity/FitnessBasics/Target-Heart-Rates_UCM_434341_Article.jsp

[itdood]

Just my humble opinion, using heart rate as a key performance indicator for cardio health is useless.     When I was in the worst shape of my life my resting pulse was low 50s.  It doesn't mean anything, there are so many factors that go into resting heart rate.  It will also vary throughout the day (at least it should).

When I run, I use pace and/or cadence to measure performance.  I also set my target goals on pace/cadence.  Same with biking.  

If you have a smartphone with GPS, try an app like mapmywalk.  It will give you pace, and you can target that instead of heart rate.