During maximum exercise, how does the maximal heart rate of trained individuals compare to that of untrained individuals of the same age?

During maximum exercise, how does the maximal heart rate of trained individuals compare to that of untrained individuals of the same age?

• A. Trained individuals have a much higher max heart rate.
• B. Trained individuals have about the same max heart rate as untrained.
• C. Untrained individuals have a much higher max heart rate.
• D. Max heart rate is unpredictable and varies with training.

Answer: (B)

Maximal heart rate is driven mainly by age and genetic factors, not by how trained you are. When you push to your limit, the rate the heart can reach is governed by the heart’s electrical system and autonomic control, which don’t change much with training. What training does change is how much blood you can move with each beat—stroke volume—so a trained person can sustain a higher workload at roughly the same max heart rate as an untrained person of the same age. In other words, endurance training boosts efficiency and cardiac output through greater stroke volume, not by raising the ceiling of heart rate. Therefore, two individuals of the same age reach about the same maximal heart rate, though the trained person may perform more work at that effort.

Maximal heart rate is driven mainly by age and genetic factors, not by how trained you are. When you push to your limit, the rate the heart can reach is governed by the heart’s electrical system and autonomic control, which don’t change much with training. What training does change is how much blood you can move with each beat—stroke volume—so a trained person can sustain a higher workload at roughly the same max heart rate as an untrained person of the same age. In other words, endurance training boosts efficiency and cardiac output through greater stroke volume, not by raising the ceiling of heart rate. Therefore, two individuals of the same age reach about the same maximal heart rate, though the trained person may perform more work at that effort.