what should my heart rate be when I am on treadmill, 5 miles an hour

[provi]

I am just starting my exercise program, trying for 10,000 steps a day on treadmill....an hour and ten minutes....what should my heart rate stay around.....it is about 124 range give or take a couple of points.

[pbruce706]

Your target heart rate should be in the 60-85% range of your maximum heart rate. Your maximum heart rate is 220 - your age. I'm 46 so my max heart rate is 174 BPM, and when doing my cardio I try to keep it around 136 - 141.

Check out this article for more info: WebMD Heart Rate Calculator

[Dominique]

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@pbruce706 wrote:

Your maximum heart rate is 220 - your age. I'm 46 so my max heart rate is 174 BPM

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Actually, not necessarily. I'm 53, but my max. HR is 184 bpm. I determined it by performing the Cooper's running test. See this blog post:

http://blog.digifit.com/2012/07/why-should-you-know-your-personal-heart-rate-zones/

[Macca]

Given your walking on a treadmill I would say that 124 BPM is good for weight loss so keep it at this if you feel comfortable & increase it if you want more of a cardio workout, but for weight loss 124 is fine.

[Dominique]

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@provi wrote:

I am just starting my exercise program, trying for 10,000 steps a day on treadmill....an hour and ten minutes....what should my heart rate stay around.....it is about 124 range give or take a couple of points.

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Do you mean 10,000 steps is what you get out of your 70 minute workout on the treadmill? Or is it your total daily steps, including your 70-minute workout?

10,000 steps in 70 minutes is about 8600 steps per hour. It's more or less what I get with brisk walking (about 4.3 mph) outdoors. My average HR is quite lower than 124 bpm at that speed.

There is no way to tell whether 124 bpm is adequate or not in absolute terms. It all depends on your age, your fitness level and what you're trying to achieve.

[Macca · Accepted solution]

The way to look at it is any exercise above siiting down doing nothing is good for you, so just walking & bringing your HR up a little is adequate if that is what you enjoy doing.

Don't get too caught up in numbers if weight loss is your main goal you cant go wrong doing any kind of activity any activity is adequate.

[Boneca49]

I am having problems with my fitbit, it doesn't read the calories or distance I worked on the treadmill.  Today I was on the treadmill for 40 minutes, according with my workout summary, I walked 2.9 miles, and burt 650 and my fitbit shows that I have walked 1.36 miles and have been very active for 9 minutes.

[gerrymcd]

There is an option to make your fitbit more 'sensitive' to movement.  

650 calories for walking 2.9 miles also sounds a bit 'off' -- unless you had the treadmill cranked up to a really high hill.  Generally speaking, I've usually heard 100 calories per mile is the norm on flat ground. 

[Dominique]

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@gerrymcd wrote:

There is an option to make your fitbit more 'sensitive' to movement. 

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My understanding is this option only affects sleep tracking, not tracking of your daily activities.

[Dominique]

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@Boneca49 wrote:

I am having problems with my fitbit, it doesn't read the calories or distance I worked on the treadmill.  Today I was on the treadmill for 40 minutes, according with my workout summary, I walked 2.9 miles, and burt 650 and my fitbit shows that I have walked 1.36 miles and have been very active for 9 minutes.

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Who said you walked 2.9 miles and burned 650 calories? Your treadmill?

2.9 miles in 40 minutes is 4.35 mph or 7 km/h. It's brisk walking for which you should have gotten more than 9 VAM's. 1.36 miles in 40 minutes is only 2 mph or 3.3 m/h. It's a very leisurely walking pace. You should be able to tell which matched what you really did.

How many steps did you get from your 40 minute walk, as per Fitbit? Fitbit trackers are pedometers, ie. they excel at counting steps. Distance is an approximation, since it's number of steps x stride length.

And what Fitbit model do you have, btw?

[Cybertekkno]

Did you set your stride length in your Fitbit settings? If not, then your Fitbit may not be correctly counting your steps.  To learn how to set your stride length check out this page: https://help.fitbit.com/customer/portal/articles/176045-how-do-i-measure-and-adjust-my-stride-length...

If you are getting your calorie burn and mileage information from your treadmill, it is important to know that many treadmills calorie burn estimations are as much as 30% off from the correct number.  As a matter of fact, the treadmill I have gives me calorie burn information that is as much as 32% off from the calorie burn number my Heart Rate Monitor gives me.  Also, if the treadmill is not regularly calibrated the speed it is running at may be off as well, so this can throw off your mileage information.  I do not see how you could have burned that many calories in such a short workout unless you were doing an all-out run the entire time you were on the treadmill.

[Dominique]

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@Cybertekkno wrote:

Did you set your stride length in your Fitbit settings? If not, then your Fitbit may not be correctly counting your steps.

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Actually,. I believe your stride length affects distances (and possibly calories + VAM's), not your steps. Your steps are what they are, after all your Fitbit is a pedometer. They are mostly affected by the location of your Fitbit, which should be worn where and as intended. For instance, you would get an incorrect step count if you wore a Fitbit One on your wrist or your ankle (it is intended to be worn against your torso or on your waist).