“At 68 years of age, male I ride bicycle a minimum of 15 miles, 5 days a week. On average 25 miles 5 days a week. My heart rate climbing hills is in the high 120’s and can be over 3 or 4 miles long. Often I am in the 130’s with short intervals into the 140’s. I am comfortable in the 120’s and am working, breathing somewhat harder in the 130’s. Am I overdoing it? I weigh 215, 6 ft 2 inches. 37 inch waist. I am mostly vegan (except for eggs) and 95% raw.”

Studies have shown that older adults can train their cardiovascular system as well as younger adults. A good training regimen for example would be 4 days a week at 80% of your maximum heart rate for 45 minutes a session.

If we use our heart rate to monitor our exercise intensity which is what you are doing, the American college of sports medicine (ACSM) recommends a training level of 60% to 85% of your maximum heart rate to develop and maintain cardiovascular fitness.

The formula for estimation uses 220 – age = your theoretical maximum heart rate. Interestingly, this is a general estimation and may not closely approximate your true individual maximum heart rate.

That is why we use other methods like the perceived exertion scale. For example the Borg revised scale is from 0 to 10. 0 is no exertion, 3 is moderate, 5 is strong, 7 is very strong, 10 is maximal. To use this method simply think of how you feel during your exercise. If it feels like you are exercising strong(5) to very strong(7-8), then you are in the correct level.

So in general, first exercise using the formula 220-age=heart rate maximum. Then take 80% of that to find how high your heart rate should be during exercise. Confirm if that is truly correct for you by how you feel on the 0 to 10 scale. If you feel you are exercising at a 9 or 10 then you are probably exercising to hard.