Resting heart rate?

[gospeedracer]

Does anyone know what their resting heart rate is? TTRGuy and I sat down at one of those machines today that measure your blood pressure and resting heart rate. It states that 130 over 80 (I think) is "Normal".
My BP was 119/74 and my resting heart rate was 88!
TTRGuy was 130/86 but his resting heart rate was only 44!!

Soooo, I'm guessing a RHR of 88 is bad. :confused:

Okay....... I'm going to set the couch on fire now......

This new job couldn't have come soon enough. I thought I would be more active since I had all this time off while I wasn't working but it didn't turn out that way. :ugg: With the heat around here I hardly leave the house, besides, it's not like I know anyone around here, I know, I know excuses, excuses. It's going to be really hard to get back into shape. I guess I don't have any choice but to join a gym around here. :(

 

[truespode]

My resting hr is in the 70's and I'm fat and out of shape. In high school I had a resting hr in the 60's but I ran 10 miles a day and was 125lbs at 18 and 6' tall.

I'd say 88 isn't good.

Ivan

 

[Rich Rohrich]

When I'm in bicycle racing shape and I'm fully recovered from a previous days workout my waking heartrate is about 55-60 most days it's closer to 65-70 while recovering from the previous days activity. Lately it's been closer to the mid to high 70s. If I train hard enough I should have it back in the low 60s by DW02.

Keep in mind some really fit people never have their resting rate drop below 60, and some giant pump freaks like Miguel Indurain have resting rates in the low 30s . The variability of humans is STAGGERING.

How fast your pulse drop to a normal level after a hard effort is a much better indicator of fitness for most people.

 

[Lemming]

I don't think that there's anything to worry about without more data. If you were walking around, nervous about taking your pulse, or just feeling uppity, then your pulse may have been elevated. Tomorrow morning before getting out of bed take it again (this will require a watch with a second hand, and the ability to find your pulse; go for the jugular). Rich is correct and excellent indicator is how quickly your pulse comes down after exercise.

 

[Patman]

Subtract the Mt. Dew and triple expresso caffene multiplier and your more like 6 BMP Speedy.

 

[Okiewan]

How fast your pulse drop to a normal level after a hard effort is a much better indicator of fitness for most people.

That is a fact... the speed at which you reach "rest" is key.

Keep in mind, it takes some time to get to "rest". Laynig down, no talking, clear mind... a lot of stuff affects your heart rate. That being said, when I'm in what I feel is "good" shape, it's around 70-73 (best since I started paying attention).

 

[MrLuckey]

ok!

 

[gospeedracer]

Originally posted by Rich Rohrich
How fast your pulse drop to a normal level after a hard effort is a much better indicator of fitness for most people.

Sooo, I run around the block 10 times, (ya right) get my heart rate really up there then chill out. What's a good time frame for it to come back down to a reasonable resting rate? 6, 12 hours? ;)

 

[Rich Rohrich]

My point was, unless you have a guage to compare against yourself it's difficult to say if a certain resting rate is good or bad. Heavy caffiene users tend to have higher rates during the day than first thing in the morning, and it's pretty easy to screw up hydration when you are full of caffiene which is going to screw up your reading as well.
Find a morning baseline over a couple of weeks and watching what happens to it over time and how workouts effect your waking pulse the next morning will tell you a ton about your fitness and general recovery. The resting pulse of an admitted caffiene freak like Speedy is a pretty tough call. A 20oz Diet Pepsi bounces my rate up 8-12 beats. Without the caffiene Speedy's resting rate is probably 20 :)

One of the best 40k time trialers I ever met never had his resting rate go below 70, but the guy had incredible VO2 max and could generate incredible wattage on the test equipment for amazing long periods. My peak heartrate is only supposed to be in the 180s according to the conventional wisdom but it's been measured at 208 on a number of occasions, but even in my most fit state it never gets as low as I thought it should at rest. I have one of those fast beat setups. Hanging around with bicycle racers and seeing the differences between seemingly similar body types and age ranges convinced me that generalizations about humans are usually to general to be useful.

There are some really good books on training with Lactate threshold and pulse rate that go into great detail on how the system works. Once I read a few of those I quit worrying about the specific base number and started paying more attention to some of the other indicators. It's a pretty trick engine we have inside of us, and trying to hot rod it is really pretty fun :)

 

[Rich Rohrich]

Originally posted by gospeedracer
What's a good time frame for it to come back down to a reasonable resting rate? 6, 12 hours? ;)

Considering your caffiene intake, probably :confused:

 

[oldguy]

Dam speedy my resting rate is 46 and I am old, fat, and out of shape. but then again I am sure you don't want my heart right now

 

[biglou]

Try reading "The Heartrate Monitor Book" by Dr. Sally Edwards. A few years ago, back inthe cycling days, I was at 47. That is measured first thing in the morning, as soon as I wake up and before I get out of bed. But that was back when I used to be the engine for my two-wheeld machine...

 

[Vic]

FWIW- It's my understanding that smaller (physically) hearts generally beat faster.

Next time you test your resting rate, make sure Eddie is not around. Knowing how he makes your heart go all-a-flutter, you may not be able to get a useful reading with him sitting right next to you. :D

 

[yzguy15]

Rich, Big Mig isn't really a fair comparison to anybody. He was a machine, I mean, come on, what human has a lung capacity of 8 liters. That's crazy! But back to the question, my resting HR is about 56 when I wake up in the morning. I'm 16 and I lift and bike (on the road or at a spin class) at least 5 times a week.

 

[LoriKTM]

I wouldn't get too worked up over it, Aimee! (Yuk, yuk!) ;)

Conventional wisdom says that men typically have a lower RHR than women, and the best time to measure it is first thing in the morning, before you get out of bed. I'll bet yours will be significantly lower in the morning.

That said, I just checked mine here at work and I'm at 68 bpm. We need more responses from women, for a good comparison.

 

[Thump]

Just checked mine. I am at 52bpm after 1 full pot of coffee and a staff meeting. My guess is that I am in the low 40's first thing in the morning, but Rich is correct, how fast your pulse drop to a normal level after a hard effort is a much better indicator of fitness for most people. I have been running A LOT lately, I will check my BPM tonight before I run, after and incrementally till it is back to normal.

 

[XRpredator]

Just checked mine, and for a 280-something pound guy with a fairly sizeable beer-muscle who gets most of his exercise chasing his 4-year old daughter out of the street, I figure 72 ain't bad. The wife has been taking an EMT class here lately, and I'm pretty sure I saw in her book what RHR's should be. They have to know the low end so they can diagnose shock.

 

[oldguy]

Your rate would be inordinately low very first thing in the morning so I wouldn't call that a true evaluation. My 46 to 48 has been at the end of a work day sitting in the Drs office the last couple weeks. The cardiologist also emphasised that the rate at which you return to a resting rate after exercise is more important.

 

[Strick]

Originally posted by Okiewan
That is a fact... the speed at which you reach "rest" is key.

Keep in mind, it takes some time to get to "rest". Laynig down, no talking, clear mind... a lot of stuff affects your heart rate. That being said, when I'm in what I feel is "good" shape, it's around 70-73 (best since I started paying attention).

I'm with Okie on this one. The time it takes from going to Max Heart Rate to resting heart rate (mine is 54), is the best indicator of fitness. A quick example is (in reference to Eddie) my blood pressure on top is normal (126-128) the lower reading ia borderline low (56-58). This is nothing more than my genetic makeup. Eddie may just be blessed with good genetics. That is unless he was under the influence of something when you checked his heart rate :|

 

[Rich Rohrich]

Originally posted by oldguy
Your rate would be inordinately low very first thing in the morning so I wouldn't call that a true evaluation.

Dave - The reason waking pulse is routinely used for long term tracking is to limit the influence of outside variables (stimulants, stress, etc) . It's like any piece of data, in that you have to filter out the "noise" to get the real story.

Picking one pulse reading at random is like dyno testing without correcting for conditions. You get a number but it isn't worth a whole lot. :D

 

[Thump]

Conditions, 94 degrees at 6pm
Ran 7miles in 55min 8sec (7.86 minute mile pace)
Pre-run 54bpm
Post run 194bpm
15 minutes post run 100bpm
30 minutes post run 84bpm

Will give it another 15 and check back.

 

[SPD]

Well I tossed the mag away but what it was saying about the heart really blew me away. It said that the average heart weighs about 300 gram( the size of your fist). You can inlarge it to twice the size. By doing cardio 3 times a week for an hr each time. It will take about 6 weeks. But only takes 2 weeks of inactivity for it to get small again. It was saying the heart pumps like 51 gal of blood a day. You have 2 miles of veins and arteries in your body.

 

[gospeedracer]

Interesting info Thump. Does anyone have an idea what a good goal for getting your HR back down after a work out is?

Originally posted by Thump
Ran 7miles in 55min 8sec (7.86 minute mile pace)

LOL! TTRGuy always laughs at me when the the subject of my last known mile times comes up.
Picture it: Junior High.......PE........timed mile.......
Take off running
Feel like puking after 100 yards
Stop, hork up a lung
Start walking
gab with friends, jog a little, walk, gab, run, gab, walk.......
finish with average mile times between 13 to 15 minutes. :confused:
Hey, I think I got 10:13 once. :)

I hate running :ugg:

 

[Thump]

2.5 hours post run 56bpm... and going to bed. I have no iead if that is good or not but I feel pretty damn good.

 

[oldguy]

Hey Thump good or not I am willing to trade you