What's your resting heart rate?

[Riverman]

Mine varies abit. If I sit on my exercise bike really still I can get it down to 48-53.

But really it's probably more like 55-60

I have a BMI over 27 and am 29, so I think that's not too bad.


Oh and lastly, how high do you allow your heart rate to go? On an exercise bike I haven't gone above 190. Seems like abit of a danger zone although I imagine I go over 190bpm all the time on the road as there is a lot more grinding involved.

 

[Globalti]

Was 52 for years when I was just an MTB rider; now I'm road riding it's dropped to 50.

 

[Garz]

As with riverman sitting down it's 55-60.

 

[Riverman]

Cool.

This whole heart rate monitoring milarky is interesting. My heart rate is struggling to go below 80 after exercise, would be interesting to see what my recovery heart rate is and how it improves as I try and lose another two stone.

I'm worried I'm going to overdo things on an exercise bike. There's this tendency to spin like crazy and go over 100rpm.

For death, it has been hypothesized* that a delayed fall in the heart rate after exercise might be an important prognostic marker. Less than 30 bpm reduction at one minute after stopping hard exercise was a predictor of heart attack. More than 50 bpm reduction showed reduced risk of heart attack

That first bit is slightly worrying. I'm really enjoying this whole exercise bike thing, work up a massive sweat and seem to spin a lot more than I do on the road.

I'm even using my laptop at the same time lol, and was playing guitar yesterday! lol

 

[PpPete]

Mine varies abit. If I sit on my exercise bike really still I can get it down to 48-53.

.

Isn't resting heart rate supposed to be taken lying down in bed, first thing in morning, before 1st cup of tea/coffee/cigarette/stimulant of your choice?

 

[Riverman]

hmmm would be abit scary if it was lower!

 

[ColinJ]

When I was slimmer and fitter, my RHR was about 34 bpm but it has probably gone up to about 50 bpm now that I'm overweight and not getting out on my bikes so often.

I think I'll add "Get RHR back down to mid-30s" as one of my targets for 2010. I need to get new batteries for my pulse rate monitor

If I get back down to a low RHR, I must remember to get one of those medical dog tags to make a note of it somewhere obvious. I don't want some paramedic sticking paddles on my chest and zapping my heart if I fall off my bike and knock myself out!

There's not a lot of point in comparing figures from one person to another but I think monitoring your own RHR is a good way of keeping track of your health and fitness. When mine is 34 bpm I'm slim, fit and healthy. If it rises up from that over a period of days, I'm either tired or getting ill. Similarly, when I'm not so slim, not so fit, but still healthy, it would be about 50 bpm but would rise towards 60 bpm if I was overtrained or getting ill.

As for maximum pulse rate... That decreases steadily with age. I last measured mine when I was about 40 and it was just shy of 200 bpm. I hit that riding up the steep hill shown below. I refused to get off and walk, even though my lack of fitness and low gearing probably suggested that I should!

It might be down to about 180-185 bpm now. I'll check it when I have the pulse rate monitor working again.

 

[yenrod]

I'm getting a new HRM...


..these are crap:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/X-Train_V3_20_Function_Heart_Rate_Monitor/5360024608/

But, getting a Polar soon...

So i should be more intricate in the bumpety bump dept !

- It used to be about 55-60...

 

[Stephen-D]

Silly question but is there any other way for me to measure heart rate apart from buying a HRM?? just wondering as i dont have one at the moment?

 

[Garz]

Hold wrist, count beats over 15 seconds then multiply it by four to get rough bpm.

 

[Fiona N]

Are we related ColinJ?
I only ask because I come from Huddersfield and you've described pretty accurately my HR at the moment (overweight, not fully fit) and when fully fit. HR max is pretty similar - 192 is the most I've seen this summer (on Kirkstone on a road bike) since the last 'proper' measurement (i.e. ramp test Spring 2007 when it was 198).

I'd only add that I was told, when I was in my mid 20's and my RHR was not much higher (28), that RHR increases with age, possibly because you can't get to the same level of cardio-fitness as you get older.

 

[Fiona N]

Stephen-D
If you're measuring RHR, counting for a minute is usually better if your RHR is low, as an error of 1 bpm in 15 secs means an error of +/- 4 which is a lot if your RHR is in the 30-40 range.

 

[numbnuts]

58 year old fart sat at the computer...52 bpm

 

[Stephen-D]

Ok cool, i dont this sitting at work and i got a resting heart rate of 64 which seems not to bad! i think getting better measuring devices like a HRM might be a good idea, that one that your getting Yenrod looks like the a pretty decent one with a good price, im sure it was reviewed in a cycling magazine.

 

[ColinJ]

PS I measured my RHR lying very still in bed. If I was sat upright and moving at all it would be about 5-10 bpm higher