Clarify Staying Within the Anaerobic Threshold

May 30, 2018 / Charles W. Lapp, MD / Ask The Doctor

A reader asked to clarify: if the fastest my heart can beat is 159 (based on age 71) then the AT I understand occurs at 95 beats per minute. If, after a 35 minute walk daily the heart rate immediately afterward is 100, does this equate to overdoing it, despite feeling fine?

Answer: The formula you used [Heart Rate at AT = 0.6 (230-age in years) ] provides the ESTIMATED heart rate at anaerobic threshold. Since you are doing fine at a steady rate higher than the estimated number, then you are in better shape than most people. The ACTUAL threshold can only be determined by Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing, which is expensive and not readily available. My advice to you is to keep up the walking and avoid prolonged periods of HR greater than 100. Another rule of thumb is to ask two questions after activity: (1) How do I feel afterward? (2) How do I feel the next day? Activity should not trigger post-exertional malaise. If activity triggers a flare, then reduce that activity by 50%.

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Dr. Hillman was born and reared in Utica, New York. He attended college at Clarkson University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering, and then spent two years toward a master’s degree in biochemistry/oncology at the University of Buffalo’s Roswell Park Division, where he did research in leukemia. Dr. Hillman attended St. George’s University School of Medicine, and completed his clinical years at the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, graduating in 1996. During the Summer of 1994 he also did research at the University of Buffalo Dental School using PCR technology on RNA subtyping of gram negative oral bacteria. Following medical school, Hillman went on to a Family Practice Residency at North Shore / Long Island Jewish Hospital in Bay Shore, NY.

After his residency, Dr. Hillman worked for the US Army at the West Point Military Academy (Keller Army Hospital family practice unit), worked in the Emergency Room and hospital admitting areas, and ran a private practice as well. From 2005-2006 he also worked at the Winn Army Hospital at Fort Stewart, GA, before setting up a private Family Practice in Huntersville, NC in 2007. In addition to his private practice Dr. Hillman also has an interest in helping clients with disabilities. He has worked for ProMed Urgent Care in Occupational Medicine and performed over 13,000 examinations for Social Security Disability.

Dr. Hillman has a family member with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, so he has a long standing interest and empathy with the disorder! He is married and has two sons and a daughter. The family lives in Huntersville.

Hunter-Hopkins Center, PLLC

Clarify Staying Within the Anaerobic Threshold

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