What's Your Resting HR?

[Fetus]

I've been reading the book SERIOUS CYCLING by Edmund Burke lately and I recall reading a section stating that one of the best ways to establish your resting heart rate is to sleep with a HR monitor and record your HR in th morninig when you wake up.

I gave this a shot the other night and found my HR to be 30 bpm when I woke up. Is that actualy possible? I have checked my HR monitor against other monitors and have found it to be quite accurate, I've even gone as far as timing my HR and checking it against the HR monitor to see if it was accurate.
I'm 24 years old, I use to be more of an athlete but have been pretty sedintary lately (especially since I've been injured).

On the opposite end of the scale, my max HR is about 206 from what I've seen. I've been taking a few spin classes lately and I've noticed that when we do Zone training I can sustain riding within 10 bpm of my max HR for 5+ minutes at a time without feeling much lactic build up (the instructors don't actualy have us do this but I suck at maintaining my HR within a few beats in a certain range). Does that mean that I'm way out of shape? Is that even normal? It's kinda freakin me out

I appreciate any advice and answers.

By the way... what's the lowest you've seen your resting HR?

 

[Hookyrider]

yep it's possible. I went the the hospital just this past Monday, I pulled a muscle between some ribs and it hurt like hell to breath. The gismo they hooked me up to read 34 bpm and the alarm went off because it didn't like the low number, I was sitting up and talking with the doc..

I have a histroy of very low resting HRs, so I'm not sure how many normal people have HR in the 30's

lowest ever was when I was 19 and had to wear a special HR monitor to record my HR for 24 hours continuously, the number was under 30 and if memeory serves me correctly it was like 28 or 29. I had HRs recorded as low as 35 while eating and watching TV - so that's pretty much in line with Monday's Hospital visit, only thing is I'm 35 now

Also normally when I am starting a workout/ride my resting/starting HR is noramally below 55, this is after getting dressed, filling bottles, hoping on the bike and pedaling a bit.

HR

 

[shaybh]

My lowest measured HR is 38 and I'm nearly 38 years of age.

 

[YMCA]

~48
lowest ever was 42

 

[Fetus]

Those are pretty good. Now I'm not feeling so scared.

 

[PolishPostal]

44bpm

10bpm of your 206bpm MHR (95% of MHR) should be well above your LT. My LT is at 89% of MHR.

 

[Hookyrider]

Those are pretty good. Now I'm not feeling so scared.

if you experience lightheadedness, and stuff you should get checked out.

HR

 

[flipper]

38 bpm...measured whilst lying in bed reading. I do this test a couple of times a week and 38 is where it usually ends up. I have no idea what it gets to during the night but I've been told that it could drop another 5. Oh, and I'm 39.

 

[Fetus]

if you experience lightheadedness, and stuff you should get checked out.

HR

I get lightheaded every once in a while... but I think it might be related more to being a little dehydrated?

 

[Fetus]

10bpm of your 206bpm MHR (95% of MHR) should be well above your LT. My LT is at 89% of MHR.

That's what's throwing me off. I can ride within about 5-10 bpm of my max for a peroid of 5+ minutes. I don't feel a lot of lactic acid in my legs at all, but toward the end of the effort I deffinately feel exhausted. I'm currious if that's an indication of anything? Maybe I'm just not in very good shape?

 

[FatguyRacer]

RHR of 37 about two months ago. My max is 183. Im 42. I just kicked off the winter training after taking some time off. Years ago, I used to freak out my spin class buddies by getting my HR into the mid 40's while standing up and talking to them after doing a Spinerval session. Man i miss those days of great fittness.

 

[moto]

That's what's throwing me off. I can ride within about 5-10 bpm of my max for a peroid of 5+ minutes. I don't feel a lot of lactic acid in my legs at all, but toward the end of the effort I deffinately feel exhausted. I'm currious if that's an indication of anything? Maybe I'm just not in very good shape?

Perhaps this is saying that your legs are more fit than your cardio vascular system?

I find the opposite when doing a new activity...like paddling my sufboard my heart rate isn't climbing yet I am so fatigued I can't lift my arms...

 

[Onemoresnoopy]

I've been reading the book SERIOUS CYCLING by Edmund Burke lately and I recall reading a section stating that one of the best ways to establish your resting heart rate is to sleep with a HR monitor and record your HR in th morninig when you wake up.

I gave this a shot the other night and found my HR to be 30 bpm when I woke up. Is that actualy possible? I have checked my HR monitor against other monitors and have found it to be quite accurate, I've even gone as far as timing my HR and checking it against the HR monitor to see if it was accurate.
I'm 24 years old, I use to be more of an athlete but have been pretty sedintary lately (especially since I've been injured).

On the opposite end of the scale, my max HR is about 206 from what I've seen. I've been taking a few spin classes lately and I've noticed that when we do Zone training I can sustain riding within 10 bpm of my max HR for 5+ minutes at a time without feeling much lactic build up (the instructors don't actualy have us do this but I suck at maintaining my HR within a few beats in a certain range). Does that mean that I'm way out of shape? Is that even normal? It's kinda freakin me out

I appreciate any advice and answers.

By the way... what's the lowest you've seen your resting HR?

I'm 51. Resting HR recorded by Doctor while doing an EKG was 42. He said it threw his equipment off because it was so much lower than "normal.: I've had it record 40 wearing the HRM to bed. I can hold 186-188 on hard climbs for about an hour.
So the moral of the story is use the books and charts as guidelines and determine your own max and target. DON'T get freaked out.http://www.cyclingforums.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

 

[Hookyrider]

Perhaps this is saying that your legs are more fit than your cardio vascular system?

I find the opposite when doing a new activity...like paddling my sufboard my heart rate isn't climbing yet I am so fatigued I can't lift my arms...

If your HR isn't climbing like normal, it can also be a sign of over exertion – it doesn’t make sense but it can happen that due to the heavy effort you HR can be “repressed” at least for a time.



Also when paddling your surfboard you are lying on your belly in a prone position – body position can and will have a dramatic effect on HR and HR reaction to activity.



This variability is one of the reasons using HR exclusively for your training data can have you “off”. HR data is very useful, but it is influenced by many things, ambient temperature, your ability to keep your self cool, hydration/or lack there of, body position/and activity (running, swimming, cycling, etc), and the list goes on.



So it’s important to learn your HR and normal reactions for each activity you do, and to make note of the things that can influence your HR so the data will make better sense.



RHR is a good indication of overall cardio fitness, but just because I or you have an ultra low RHR, it doesn’t mean your going to win the Boston marathon…



If you have a very low RHR, and you are experiencing dizziness, then you my have some low blood pressure issues that need attention, other than that I can’t say – I don’t have my PhD



HR

 

[runnerj]

35-60 depending on conditioning level. If I am fairly out-of-shape (30 minutes or less of training/day) I am close to 60. When I am in peak shape, I approach the mid 30s. Right now I am 40-42 so you can figure where I am in my training. Also, I find that the resting heart rate creeps up a bit if I am starting to overtrain and stays there until I back off some.

 

[RickF]

I'm 51. Resting HR recorded by Doctor while doing an EKG was 42. He said it threw his equipment off because it was so much lower than "normal.: I've had it record 40 wearing the HRM to bed. I can hold 186-188 on hard climbs for about an hour.
So the moral of the story is use the books and charts as guidelines and determine your own max and target. DON'T get freaked out.http://www.cyclingforums.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

I have seen this many times. Many of the parameters on an ECG are rate dependant, and the computers are designed for resting heart rates between 60 and 100 bpm. When you get to lower heart rates, what is normal is thought by the computer to be abnormal. When you get to higher heart rates, what is abnormal is thought by the computer to be normal.

I once did a healthy volunteer study where many of the volunteers were young (19 to 22 years old) cyclists. At rest, the computer thought they had right bundle branch block. I had them run up three flights of stairs, which brought their heart rates up to about 70, and the computer thought they were normal.

The lowest resting heart rate I ever saw in a healthy athlete was close to 20 BPM. The computer read that as sick sinus syndrome with three second pauses. In fact, it was perfectly normal for that individual.

What is even more important than resting heart rate is the difference between resting heart rate and maximum heart rate - the bigger the difference the better. It is easier to lower the resting heart rate through aerobic exercise than it is to increase maximum heart rate; thus, we are back to resting heart rate being a good indicator of cardiovascular fitness.

Thoroughbred horses have resting heart rates of about 20 and maximum heart rates above 200. They can run
1 1/4 miles in two minutes and change, but Jessie Owens once beat one in a 100 meter dash.

 

[K50]

When I was 19 I got it to about 55bpm during the day...so probably 50bpm in the morning.

PS I get the same thing, I can hammer at my max heart rate for a long time, and my legs feel exhausted after, but my cardiovascular system is okay. I can feel the lactic acid build up though...and that nice numb burning feeling you get when you push like mad..I can't wait until spring

 

[padawan]

I check almost every Saturday morning with my HRM before I get out of bed (Friday is my rest day!) - record is 39. Right now I'm at 40 but I hope to set a new record this season.