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From maxing out to slowing down, how much do heart rates vary across sports?
By Theresa Larkin, Associate professor of Medical Sciences, University of WollongongGregory Peoples, Senior Lecturer - Physiology, University of Wollongong,
16 hours ago
A classic image of the Olympics and Paralympics is an athlete at the end of a race struggling for breath, their heart obviously racing.
But at the other end of the scale are athletes such as archers and shooters, who need to slow their heart rates down as much as possible.
Athletes in speed and endurance events regularly push their heart rate to the maximum. But these athletes usually have low heart rates at rest.
What causes our heart rates and respiratory (breathing) rates to change so much, and is this healthy?
When heart rates and respiratory rates rise
If you are still and calm as you read this, your heart is probably beating 60–100 times per minute and you are likely breathing 12–20 times per minute.
During physical activity when muscles are contracting, the muscles need more oxygen to provide them with energy to work.
To deliver this extra oxygen ( carried in our blood ), our heart pumps blood faster. In other words, our heart rate increases.
We also breathe faster to get more oxygen into our lungs to be delivered to the exercising muscles.
How fast can our heart rate get during exercise?
Aerobic means “with oxygen”. In aerobic exercise (“cardio”) you use large muscles repetitively and rhythmically. For example, walking, running, cycling, swimming and rowing.
Muscles that are contracting during aerobic exercise use a lot of energy and need ten times more oxygen than at rest .
High intensity aerobic events that involve large muscles or the entire body cause the highest heart rates.
An estimate of maximum heart rate (beats per minute) is 220 minus your age. This equates to 195 beats per minute for a 25-year-old – close to the average age of the Australian Olympic team of 26.5 years.
Athletes competing in Olympic events of endurance or speed will reach their maximum heart rate.
You can usually only maintain maximum heart rate for a few minutes. But in a 2000-metre rowing race, the rowers maintain intense effort at close to maximum heart rate for 6–8 minutes.
This is one of the toughest events for the heart. It’s no wonder rowers often collapse in the boat as they cross the finish line .
Highly trained endurance athletes can have a maximum heart rate higher than expected for their age. Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya is considered the greatest marathon runner of all time. During his world record run in the 2022 Berlin marathon, he ran with a heart rate of around 180 beats per minute for almost the entire race.
How does breathing change with exercise?
Our breathing changes with exercise to increase oxygen uptake from the air.
At low-to-moderate intensity exercise, you start to take deeper breaths. This brings in more air and oxygen with each breath. However, there is a limit to how much the chest can expand.
With higher intensity exercise, respiratory rate increases to increase oxygen intake.
Regular moderate-to-vigorous intensity aerobic exercise makes the heart stronger and more efficient . A stronger heart pumps more blood per beat, which means it doesn’t need to beat as often.
A large review found endurance training and yoga were the best exercises to reduce resting heart rate. But training needs to be maintained to keep resting heart rate low.
So it is healthy to do activities that increase your heart rate in the short-term, whether as an Olympian or Paralympian competing, or a fan with your heart racing watching a gold medal event.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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