The game of the blood pressure machine

Turbo Mcfloat

Well-Known Member
A little background first. I'm currently 6'1" and 205 pounds. I have been working out at the gym and doing lots of running and cycling for the past 3 months, on average 6 days a week. I'm also eating a ton more healthy. I had prehypertension blood pressure levels before I started being truly active everyday, around 130/90'ish but I don't really remember. Now when I sit on one of the BP machines you find at the grocery store pharmacy, or in my case at work, it showed me in the normal range at 120/80 and HR of 56 today.

My question is, what is an optimal blood pressure level to achieve? Is a lower blood pressure level better or is the normal range as good as it gets? How far down will pressure go with continued exercise and a healthy diet? I love to see my heart rate go down, especially when it was pushing 80 before.
 
A little background first. I'm currently 6'1" and 205 pounds. I have been working out at the gym and doing lots of running and cycling for the past 3 months, on average 6 days a week. I'm also eating a ton more healthy. I had prehypertension blood pressure levels before I started being truly active everyday, around 130/90'ish but I don't really remember. Now when I sit on one of the BP machines you find at the grocery store pharmacy, or in my case at work, it showed me in the normal range at 120/80 and HR of 56 today.

My question is, what is an optimal blood pressure level to achieve? Is a lower blood pressure level better or is the normal range as good as it gets? How far down will pressure go with continued exercise and a healthy diet? I love to see my heart rate go down, especially when it was pushing 80 before.

most of the stuff I have read is that 120/80 is normal. factors such as stress, medication, injury, etc will elevate that.

heart rate is another factor and a resting heart rate below 60 seems to get attention as a sure indicator of fitness. when mine was in the mid 40s it caused some concern with the doctor asking if anyone else in my family had 'bradycardia' or a slow heart rate. I explained i was training for a half marathon so questions were dropped.

you obviously have a heart monitor that I assume you use while exercising. keep track of that info and you will get some good clues as to when you may be pushing your training too hard or are coming down with an illness.
 
My question is, what is an optimal blood pressure level to achieve?

"Blood pressure below 120 over 80 mmHg (millimeters of mercury) is considered optimal for adults. A systolic pressure of 120 to 139 mmHg or a diastolic pressure of 80 to 89 mmHg is considered "prehypertension" and needs to be watched carefully. A blood pressure reading of 140 over 90 or higher is considered elevated (high)."

source: http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4473
 
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