Q & A: Am I out of shape? Why is my heart pounding when I workout?
Last week a client had to take a break between sets of exercises. That’s when she asked me,
Q: “Am I out of shape? Why is my heart pounding? My heart rate still gets super high when I workout… I thought that would stop as I got into better shape, right?”
A: You’re heart rate only stops going up when you stop working hard. In other words, getting winded and tired during your workouts is a good thing, not a sign you are in poor shape. Being in better shape just means (1) it takes harder things to get your heart going, and (2) you recover faster. I pointed out that she went from winded to being able to speak in clear sentences in about 30 seconds, which is a clear sign that your heart and lungs are very fit and very healthy.
What’s A Healthy Heart? Why is my heart pounding?
A healthy and fit cardiovascular system are responsive. Responsive means they quickly respond to the demands of your muscles. For example, if you are doing a challenging set of squats, the muscles of your lower body will require much oxygen and fuel, and they will need it quickly. Those muscles will also create lactate and carbon dioxide that needs to be shuttled (via your blood) to your liver and lungs respectively.
A responsive heart and lungs can rise to the challenge (squats in this case) very quickly, which means your heart & breathing rate rise quickly. A responsive heart and lungs are also able to do the job quickly, which means your heart and breathing rate come down pretty fast.
Healthy hearts (controlled by your autonomic nervous system) also have large capacity – meaning they can up very high (beats per minute) and then get pretty low at rest. By contrast, an unhealthy and unfit heart is stuck in the middle – the heart beats somewhat fast at rest, and it can’t go up very high when needed. The low capacity, and low responsiveness of an unhealthy and unfit cardiovascular system leads to long periods of being out of breath, dizziness, etc.
The good news is that you are in charge of your fitness, and you can always improve the capacity of your heart, lungs, muscles, etc; and you will be better for it.
The idea that “fit people’s hearts don’t pound” is toxic because it makes people feel bad about doing the very thing required to be healthy and fit.
Bottom Line for the next time you’re wondering, “Why is my heart pounding?”
Healthy hearts (1) go up quickly, (2) have the ability to get very high, and (3) come back down quickly as well.
An unhealthy and unfit cardiovascular system has a heart rate that (1) rises slowly – too slow to fuel the needs of hard working muscles, (2) lowers slowly – it has a hard time shifting gears from work to rest, and (3) doesn’t go high enough – you want your heart to have the ability to beat rapidly, and decades of sedentary living cause our hearts to lose this capacity.
There is an old myth in fitness that the fitter you get the less your heart rate goes up. This is only true if you do exactly the same exercises at the same intensity levels on day 1 and day 365… but, if your don’t challenge your body it will not change for the better… and that also sounds super boring.
The client who asked the question had (1) just completed a pair of very challenging lower body exercises. Our leg muscles are the largest in the body, and therefore consume the most oxygen and cause the greatest spike in heart rate. (2) She was also pushing herself hard enough to improve her fitness… so, of course her heart rate was high her muscles needed it to be. (3) Her heart rate came down enough in 30 seconds that she could easily ask me this multi sentence question without gasping for air… in other words, she is doing awesome.
You’ll find True 180 Personal Training conveniently located at 15235-F John J Delaney Drive, just off Johnston Road near Charlotte Commons and Ballantyne Village.
There’s plenty of parking available, and our studio is tucked away from the chaos of big-box gyms — perfect for women who want a focused, personal environment. Whether you’re coming in before work, after school drop-off, or on your lunch break, getting here is easy for your personal training sessions.
Josef Brandenburg, best selling author, is the co-owner and a coach at True 180 Personal Training, Charlotte’s most effective personal training studio for women since 2016. With decades of experience and multiple certifications, he shares his expertise with you. Please let us know what other questions you have!