Resting heartrate

[tonycollinet]

I've just done a blood pressure test (as I do every few months - never had a problem, but just to keep track). This time my resting heart rate is consistently around 50bpm

Which seems quite low.

What are other cyclists seeing?

[numbnuts]

Mines around 60+, but I'm an old fart with borderline high blood pressure

[perpetual dan]

Low compared to what in the past?

I measured 62, lying on my office floor, mid morning but not right after coffee. The first thing in the morning thing doesn't really work as my alarm clock is a four year old.

[tonycollinet]

I'm sure last time I checked, I was at between 60 and 70. That was probably around 1 year ago.

I've been doing more cycling this year (Pretty much every day) and am currently losing weight at slightly less than 1lb/week average.

[tatanab]

Sitting at the PC it is around 50.  Lying on the settee watching TV it is about 40.  Cyclist of over 40 years experience.

A low rate is not necessarily the sign of anything fantastic.  I am certainly not athletic and somebody I worked with who was a lazy, smoking, drinking slob had a rate in the mid 30s.

[TheLurker]

We had a thread along these lines a wee while ago, which I cannot be bothered to look for, and, IIRC, most of those who posted comments had heart rates in the region 45 to 60.  I think sub 60 resting bpm isn't uncommon for anyone who is reasonably active. 

[simonp]

Mid to high 50s. Climbs to 60 if I'm not cycling so regularly. Just below 50 if doing lots and lots and am well trained.

IIRC below 50 is considered low, except in well trained people.

[Hummers]

A low rate is not necessarily the sign of anything fantastic. 

This is true.

It strikes me that things like heart rate, blood pressure and cholesterol levels, whilst being indicators of underlying CV 'health' are influenced by genes as much as lifestyle.

My resting heart rate is 48 and drops to around 38 when lying down. When I was younger (4st lighter and definitely a lot fitter) I think the lowest it ever went to was under 30 but my dad also has a low heart rate suggesting this is hereditary.

My understanding is that one indicator of CV fitness is the recovery rate i.e. how long it takes for your heart to return to its resting heart rate after exercise.

H

[simonp]

Recovery heart rate < 12 bpm in a minute => increased heart attack risk.

Recovery Heart Rate

Mine is a wee bit higher than that. Probably not over 50 though I've not tested it properly.

[essexian]

Mine is currently 72 bpm. Not as low as most on here but then I weight upwards of 18 stone and have a BP of 180/100.

Whilst that's not great, its a darn sight better than it was two years ago when I weight 22 stone and my heart rate was on average 98 BPM. My "best" blood pressure was 220/140! It was then I decided to start cycling again or die "young."

[Euan Uzami]

I had mine checked on a recent "induction" for the gym and it was 50.

[Wowbagger]

When sitting at the computer my pulse rate is normally about 55.

Last week, I tore a heart rate monitor on a 75 mile ride. Unfortunately it was a cheap one which didn't record the extremes, but the highest I saw it get to was 140 bmp. As it happens at that point I had just been joined by my fit, 30-year-old nephew (a chance meeting) who is a doctor. His words were "120 to 140 is a good place to be when cycling." This was after about 63 miles and he had caught me up on a long climb.

I was very encouraged to watch the rate rise and fall directly in proportion to the road. However, I have noticed that after a day's riding, once I get back home my hr will stay aroundd the 70 mark for quite a long time before returning to somewhere between 50 and 60.

I'm 110kg (>17 stone) and 5' 10".

[Fixedwheelnut]

Recovery heart rate < 12 bpm in a minute => increased heart attack risk.

Recovery Heart Rate

Mine is a wee bit higher than that. Probably not over 50 though I've not tested it properly.

Can you really take somebody seriously when they are called Dr Merkin ?



 My resting rate is about 50-55bpm, a few years ago it was mid forties so I need to work on it

[Greenbank]

What are other cyclists seeing?

~45bpm about now. It drops to just under 40bpm when I'm properly fit. 5'9" and 83kg at the moment.

Recovery heart rate < 12 bpm in a minute => increased heart attack risk.

Recovery Heart Rate

Mine is a wee bit higher than that. Probably not over 50 though I've not tested it properly.

I dropped 67bpm in 60 seconds at the lights the other day on my commute, not a perfect test as I wasn't going steadily for at least a minute before that. The last time I did do a proper recovery rate test (on a treadmill) it was about 60bpm.

[Chris S]

...I have noticed that after a day's riding, once I get back home my hr will stay aroundd the 70 mark for quite a long time before returning to somewhere between 50 and 60.

This is quite likely in proportion to the amount of work you did when riding. My RHR can be slightly raised for up to a day or two after an audax - say >300km. There's a lot of repair work to do after an effort like that, and this shows in a slightly elevated RHR.

FWIW, my RHR is 49. Unless I've been audaxing or I'm fighting off a bug.

[Steve Kish]

Now about 46-48 when resting and not thinking about girls!

Was about 39-42 when I was racing in the 1980s.

[mattc]

It should be exactly:

80 - age + sqrt(weight/tonnes)

If not, you are very ill, and should get to A&E pronto.

[Jaded]

weight over tonnes? isn't that like googling google?

[mrcharly-YHT]

At my fittest, in my 20s, my resting heartrate was 60

It's about 75 now 

[Feline]

Mine is 80 this morning, higher than normal because my asthma is playing up and ICBA to go and get my salbutamol inhaler from the kitchen. I suspect my peak flow is down at 60% today. I will dose up with salbutamol before going out on my bike 

[Flying_Monkey]

Mine's in the high forties, but I also have a very fast recovery rate from max, which is more important. I also have quite low blood pressure. Apparently, according the nurses when I had my last check-up, this is not unexpected in cyclists.