What Is an Unfit Persons Heart Rate While Exercising?

Your heart rate automatically increases when you exercise. It does so to adapt to the increase in activity. Based upon your age, your heart rate varies from one age group to the next. An unfit person has a higher heart rate than a fit person. It is important to get fit to keep your heart rate down during exercise routines and prevent health problems.

Being unable to breath and perspiring with minimal exertion indicate that you are unfit. A fit person may climb three flights of stairs without sweating, and should be able to talk to someone the entire way up, according to David Jacoby in the "Encyclopedia of Family Health." Furthermore, a fit person can normally manage a four-mile walk, even if at a slow pace. If you are unfit, the most important body parts to improve are the heart and lungs, which will allow you to improve your heart rate.

As you begin to exercise, your body produces more carbon dioxide, which causes you to breathe more quickly. Your heart responds by pumping harder to produce more oxygen. Next, your blood pressure increases and your arteries widen, which brings more blood to your heart. This action causes the heart to beat even more. An unfit person has a higher heart rate than a fit person because his body works harder during this process. Often, the arteries are clogged and the blood pressure is high, forcing the heart to beat faster than normal.

Each person's heart rate will differ slightly due to age restraints. Determine your target heart rate by subtracting your age from 220 and then multiply it by 70 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. An unfit person will be closer to the maximum heart rate range during exercise. This number is also based on age. To find this number, take 220 and subtract your age. According the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the heart rate for a 50-year-old performing moderate activity will be between 85 and 119. An unfit person will be closer to 119 in this circumstance.

When you compare the heart rates of fit and unfit persons during exercise, you will notice differences. First, the unfit person begins to exercise with a higher resting heart rate. Once the unfit person begins exercising, the heart rate will rise quicker to a total heart rate higher than that of the fit person. The unhealthy person's heart rate will then take longer to slow down than the average person, balancing out to a higher resting heart rate once again.

Among diseases, Americans are more likely to die of heart disease or related heart problems than other afflictions, according to David Jacoby. A fit person delays the diseases that cause problems with the heart and blood vessels. They show fewer symptoms and live longer.