What is your resting heart rate?

MozBiker

Hi

I was wondering what some of you guys' resting heart rate is. Would be interesting to see where most cyclists are sitting. The lower the better obviously. Please share yours.

Mine is between 48-51 beat per minute. Don't know how good/bad that is in comparison. So would be interesting to see yours.

Cheers
Mozzie

Escher303

32 bpm, I have quite a big stroke volume. I am reasonably fit but it being very low is more of a genetic thing I think.

markhewitt1978

Resting HR doesn't actually tell you very much. In general lower is better but that isn't the full picture. Mine is 60bpm at the moment, sat at work. But it can vary quite a lot, before I took up cycling it averaged at 90bpm, and regularly goes up to 70-80bpm if I have significant time off the bike.

BTW I don't consider myself particularly fit!

Alex99

MozBiker wrote:

Hi

I was wondering what some of you guys' resting heart rate is. Would be interesting to see where most cyclists are sitting. The lower the better obviously. Please share yours.

Mine is between 48-51 beat per minute. Don't know how good/bad that is in comparison. So would be interesting to see yours.

Cheers
Mozzie

About the same as you. Don't think there is a good and bad as such.

tangled_metal

Isn't RHR the reading you get shortly after waking up naturally (without alarms or sudden noises). At other times it's not as accurate I thought. I've got a Fitbit tracker that has a supposedly good RHR algorithm and occasionally check my RHR by wearing it overnight. My figure is 58 or 59bpm but rises to almost 70bpm when I'm run down, got a cold or similar infection or excessively tired due to lack of sleep.

It's ok as a kind of track of the stress on your system I think but personally I get nothing from it that I didn't know already. Listen to your body. You'll recognise infections / colds before RHR shows it.

markhewitt1978

Yeah, DC Rainmaker explained that RHR is just that, resting, while awake. It's not your lowest HR which is often while you're asleep.

I don't use a fitbit but I occasionally use an iPhone app to check and generally I'm my lowest sat at work, home is usually a bit higher - 2 kids gotta do that to you! And putting on my HR strap before riding I'm usually 90-100bpm before I even start.

tangled_metal

My hr goes to 90+ just before going out for a ride. Guess your body knows what's coming and gets ready.

craigus89

Mine is about 52 when measured when I've woken up. Now sat at desk at work it's about 65 but I've literally just had an espresso which usually makes mine spike. When I'm sat on my bike about to set off it is around 95, but that isn't resting, I've just been carrying the bike downstairs etc.

I think 60-80 is the so called 'healthy' range.

term1te

Mine is currently 40 BPM, but sitting at my desk it is normally in the 38 - 45 range. It seems to be lower if I'm standing up, don't know if that is normal? The lowest I've recorded recently was 34 whilst standing next to the bike aimlessly looking at a spider on my handlebars. I thought the Garmin reading was wrong, so counted it the old fashioned way, and it was correct. I get quite bad postural hypotension, and have wondered whether it is related to a low resing HR, and therefore if the low HR is that healthy?

ugo.santalucia

There is a correlation between heart rate at rest and cardiovascular disease, but we are talking about very unfit often obese people who have a rest rate in excess of 90.
Other than that, the number is meaningless... it will go down as you increase your level of fitness... I'd say below 40-45 needs to be reported to your GP... bradycardia can be just as dangerous as tachycardia, although in most cases it is perfectly normal.

BeaconRuth

Just measured mine at 48bpm right now. Been sitting at my desk working quietly for a couple of hours.

I agree it doesn't mean a great deal although there is a tendency for it to be lower if you're fitter. Many cyclists tell tales of setting off medical alarm systems in hospitals when their HR drops lower than is normally expected.

What I find amazing is that there are many people whose HR never drops below 70-80bpm, even when they're fully at rest. Just think how much harder their hearts are having to work to keep normal body functions going compared to someone whose resting HR is 50bpm or lower!

Ruth

markhewitt1978

ugo.santalucia wrote:

There is a correlation between heart rate at rest and cardiovascular disease, but we are talking about very unfit often obese people who have a rest rate in excess of 90.
Other than that, the number is meaningless... it will go down as you increase your level of fitness... I'd say below 40-45 needs to be reported to your GP... bradycardia can be just as dangerous as tachycardia, although in most cases it is perfectly normal.

As ever it depends on the context. For someone training every day 40bpm is nothing to be concerned about. Whereas my 70 year old Mum who only walks for 20 mins a day it's a health issue which needs to be monitored carefully.

lincolndave

I've just taken mine, resting 51 bpm, that was taken on an app on the phone, not sure how reliable it is

norvernrob

Around 50bpm resting, 90-100 before a ride and it hardly ever drops below 130 when I'm riding, usually averaging around 150-160bpm - I don't get out often enough to do 'easy' riding!

bigmitch41

Currently 45, usually around 42-46. Glad to see im not the only one in this range.

keef66

RHR (awake, healthy, slumped at my desk at work, bored, and checking my pulse by the big clock on the wall) is generally between 60 and 70. That information means nothing on it's own; some fit people have a high RHR, some unfit ones have a low RHR etc etc. It might alert me if it suddenly goes up or down...
Was doing that quite a lot about a month ago because I was having extended bouts of palpitations - hours at a time, and I could feel the skipped beats in my radial pulse. It all felt a bit weird, but did confirm the fluttering in my chest was actually something to do with my heart. Annoyingly hooking me up to an ECG at the GP seemed to stop them and after half an hour they'd recorded only one ectopic beat, and the blood tests didn't throw up anything that might explain it.

Thankfully they've virtually stopped now; probably a good job since the referral to a cardiologist has failed to materialise :roll:

darkhairedlord

If i focus I can get it down to about 30. By the time a run down to the shed and check it on the garmin it's gone back up though.

MozBiker

I agree. A lot of trained athletes will have a RHR of around 40. So it shouldn't be a concern if you your RHR has come down with time. Before I started cycling it was around 62 bpm.

A HR of 30 shouldn't be a worry. I am also a freediver and spearfisher so I can consciously drop my heart rate while I'm diving. I can get it down to about 37 bpm when I am focusing and holding my breath. So it is quite possible to bring it down by focusing.

It would be interesting to see if there is a correlation between VO2 max and RHR. It would probably not be too reliable however. Like it has been said genetics definitely play a role.

chrisaonabike

Mine's about 48, with BP about 120/70, sitting at my desk before coffee in the morning. By the end of a stressful day it tends to go up to about 60, with BP more like 140/75

I'm 53, and FWIW my MHR on the bike I estimate to be a little over 160 (on the basis that I start to feel quite ill if it gets up to 160; normally a hard hill effort gets it to about 155 and then it's just uncomfortable to work any harder so I don't).

step83

Resting while at work currently 67, first thing in the morning was 57, average pedalling is around 135 an peaks around 188, Did spike the other week to 205 while I decided to do the semi local Bison hill (23% gradient) as a sprint an nearly had a whitey at the top of it... Because Strava!

jscl

It generally means little in sporting terms, but can mean a lot in health terms if you're being assessed.

On several occasions I've had a doctor concerned about my low RHR. I'm around the 90kg mark and I have a typical RHR around the 40bpm mark. It's a marker for assessing your range too.

But there's so many factors. If you've had a coffee, your RHR is going to be lifted. Your age and diet, for example, can also be factors.

aberdeenal

Mine is 53 according to my Fitbit and my MHR is 168

bflk

Mine is usually in the mid 40s when I test it late evening. I'm on a drug to lower it but it was sub 50 before that anway so doesn't make much difference. I've done all night tests with my Polar HRM which can record every single beat and seen it briefly go sub 30.

chrisaonabike

bflk wrote:

Mine is usually in the mid 40s when I test it late evening. I'm on a drug to lower it but it was sub 50 before that anway so doesn't make much difference.

Mind if I ask why you're on meds to lower an already low RHR??

peteco

Low 40's when asleep. Mid 40's during the day.

When I go for a medical I sometimes get referred to a consultant because my heart rate is "so low" but the consultant just says it's fine as I am reasonably fit apparently. Max is 192.

Pete

ajmitchell

Its around 30-32 resting in the day but HRmax rarely above 170. so HRreserve around 140.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =3&theater

ajmitchell

AberdeenAl wrote:

Mine is 53 according to my Fitbit and my MHR is 168

Better to test manually or with HR strap.

bflk

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

bflk wrote:

Mine is usually in the mid 40s when I test it late evening. I'm on a drug to lower it but it was sub 50 before that anway so doesn't make much difference.

Mind if I ask why you're on meds to lower an already low RHR??

Cardiac arrest and double bypass a few years ago. This is what I'm on

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivabradine

The Rookie

My RHR is highish at circa 65 - but at moderate excersize it's a fairly normal 120ish, but I have lowish blood pressure, mid 90's over 70 ish isn't unusual and my lowest was 80 over 45 (why I can't jump straight up after resting as the BP isn't enough to keep my brain supplied and I can pass out).

aberdeenal

ajmitchell wrote:

AberdeenAl wrote:

Mine is 53 according to my Fitbit and my MHR is 168

Better to test manually or with HR strap.

My max HR was tested with an HR strap ;-)

keef66

The Rookie wrote:

My RHR is highish at circa 65 - but at moderate excersize it's a fairly normal 120ish, but I have lowish blood pressure, mid 90's over 70 ish isn't unusual and my lowest was 80 over 45 (why I can't jump straight up after resting as the BP isn't enough to keep my brain supplied and I can pass out).

That RHR is not highish, it's bang in the middle of the 'normal' 60-80 range. Anything below 60 is technically classed as brachycrdia.