What's your resting heart rate?

[yakdiver]

63 year old with a resting HR at 63

[Mick F]

What I don't know how to do, is how to take the HR readings.

I did have a Garmin 705 and HR strap, and once tried switching the 705 on set to GPS off and recording on the bedside table, and wearing the HR strap all night so I would get a full record of my HR throughout the night. That way, I would see my lowest HR whilst asleep.

Trouble was, the HR strap was uncomfortable plus it needs sweat to keep contact, so it was a useless experiment!
I never tried again, but the idea has merit.

[reohn2]

Mine's high 40's,that's relaxed lying down.

[al_yrpal]

What I don't know how to do, is how to take the HR readings.

I did have a Garmin 705 and HR strap, and once tried switching the 705 on set to GPS off and recording on the bedside table, and wearing the HR strap all night so I would get a full record of my HR throughout the night. That way, I would see my lowest HR whilst asleep.

Trouble was, the HR strap was uncomfortable plus it needs sweat to keep contact, so it was a useless experiment!
I never tried again, but the idea has merit.

We have one of these... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Omron-Basic-Blo ... on+monitor

Easy

Al

[Merry_Wanderer]

Dunno what my resting heart-rate is but sitting at my desk I have just measured mine at 60 bpm. I'm 47 and cycle 40 - 50 miles per week commuting with a longer weekend ride.

Mrs M_W was diagnosed with an under-active thyroid last year. Before she started taking thyroxin her heart-rate was just over 30 bpm sitting in a chair. Nowadays its similar to mine

[RickH]

What I don't know how to do, is how to take the HR readings.

I use a watch with a second hand & 2 fingers on my wrist pulse.

Depending on how accurate I want to be I'll count beats for part or all of a minute.

(If I want to measure my cadence on the bike I use a similar technique.)

Rick.

[Flite]

Checking pulse rate is fine, but I'd be interested in checking my HR while riding/running. As Mick says, the chest straps are so uncomfortable.
Has anyone found a more comfortable one? Or tried the newer wrist sensors?

[anniesboy]

I have to say I have never found chest the chest strap on my Polar HR monitor uncomfortable when riding, never tried sleeping with it on.

Im sure most TDF riders wear them although they may well a different product to my ancient monitor.

[Mick F]

I suppose my question is a matter of "measuring" and how you do it and any validity in the measurement.

If I were to wake up and stretch over to switch the bedside light on, put my glasses on, pick up a stopwatch, find a pulse on a wrist, wake up enough to count pulse-beats, wake up enough the see the stopwatch, wake up enough to memorise the result then put everything back and switch the light off ............ the figure recorded would be completely invalid. Dunno about anyone else, but my HR varies a great deal just by moving. Believe me, I've studied it via my Garmin 705.

Having worn a chest strap in the evening relaxing and looking at my HR as a matter of interest, I can see it increasing and decreasing just by lifting/moving just an arm. Any movement, any effort, any slight stress or movement, can alter the HR by quite an appreciable extent. At least it does for me!

What is needed IMHO, is for someone to take/measure your HR whilst you are unknowing ..... and asleep.

I bought a Lidl blood pressure monitor, and you fit a velcro strap on your arm. The pump inflates the strap thingy and it squeezes your arm quite tightly. This is sufficient to increase the BP on its own as it actually hurts!

Try it at night?
Good grief NO.

[Tonyf33]

I'm 45, my resting when everything is okay probs about 60, I'm a stone overweight plus I have Crohn's so I know that can effect heart rate (quite dramatically when you're really unwell). Exactly how/why I'm not interested, I have enough things to worry about. I do know it has always taken me a long time to recover my heart rate after exersize even when I was a youth and in the army. Tbh though, it isn't something I've ever worried about, I go out and cycle, sometimes liesurely, sometimes moderately, sometimes really hard with most rides a mix of intensity. when it's too much I slow down or stop..it's that simple for me really. I don't compete, never being interested in it (nor good enough..lol) so for me knowing my HR is completely irrelevant.

If you feel ok, then you're very likely ok, if you don't feel okay, then probably you need to seek expert help

Re chest straps, I've tried a Polar one(it came with a bike I bought my son ages ago) and it was very comfortable..

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
Been using a chest strap for three or more years and I only find in a problem when I have worn it continuously for more than 24 hrs, gives me a rash.

I am not sure that resting heart rate is always a indication of fitness, but less than 60 male and 65 female is not bad.
BP is more important, with age comes a raised level, so a middle aged person might have 145 / 90, lower one is more critical, nearer 100 and it would be wise to see your GP.
Before I could afford a HRM it would peak above 200 going up Haytor 7% 3.6 miles on 42 / 22-24, measured when I stoped at top, faster than I could count above 3 / sec on my watch.

HRM's are useful for planned training in zones.
This year resting in the evening sitting low 40's, going up Haytor chasing a roadie on my skip trainer (23 kgs) 180, on the turbo 185 and three times a week in the week 170+, normally only hit 180 when I chase a roadie
Low 40's in a non pro could be attributed to over training at times, pro's could be doing / on anything, or you have a medical condition

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Pantani
"It was revealed that Pantani's name appeared on a file marked "Dblab", seized from Conconi's Biomedical Research Institute at Ferrara, which detailed athlete's hematocrit levels between 1993 and 1995. In 1994, his haematocrit values fluctuated from 40.7% on 16 March, early in the season, to 54.55% on 23 May, during the first stages of the Giro d'Italia. His values reached 58% on 8 June, after winning two stages of the race, and were 57.4% on 27 July, after the Tour de France. In March 1995, his hematocrit values had dropped to 45%, but they reached 56% in July during the Tour de France, where he won two stages; and over 60% in October, after the accident in the Milano–Torino"

Big Mig was tested positive for stimulants but nobody cared.
Pantani was wreckless.

[bikes4two]

Aged 63, have an under-active thyroid gland (treated with thyroxine), HR at rest (just after waking and reaching for BP meter to measure HR) is low 40's. Only problem appears to be occasional dizziness if I stand up too quickly after long period of sitting down.

[The fat commuter]

I tested my pulse a few months ago and was really surprised as it was very low for me - between 50 and 60. I was half asleep at the time and didn't notice that the reason it was so low was because I was 'skipping' beats. I would do about five beats and then 'miss' one. Went to the doctors and had an ECG - was told that I have something called Ectopic heartbeat. Basically, my heart beats normally but then does two beats really closely together so they feel like one beat and then has a rest (the skip).

Strange thing is these ectopic beats have only been noticed since I started cycling. However, they have (almost) stopped since I reduced caffeine by drinking decaff tea.

Regarding arrhythmia, my dad suffers from that, or is it Atrial Fibrillation, (he isn't a cyclist). He has to take rat poison now. His dad died of a stroke, the third one killed him. I am assuming that he had an arrhythmia/Atrial Fibrillation too. My worry is that this likely is genetic so I will at some point suffer from this too which will put me at higher risk of a stroke. I'm 47 btw

I was hoping that cycling was going to improve my heart fitness. From the information in this thread, that may not be so. That said, I'm sure that cycling ten miles a day (mostly uphill - work that out) in my commute does my heart more good than harm.

[cotswolds]

Checking pulse rate is fine, but I'd be interested in checking my HR while riding/running. As Mick says, the chest straps are so uncomfortable.
Has anyone found a more comfortable one? Or tried the newer wrist sensors?

They shouldn't need to be that tight, particularly for cycling where the body isn't moving up and down. If relevant, trimming hair on the part of the chest where the sensor goes may help, and you can get conductive gel to put on the back of the sensor. Also, I think they are turned on by body heat, so if you're using it fairly tight to get it going, you may find it works perfectly well slightly looser once you've warmed up. I used one for running until the watch packed up, and it didn't bother me. I used to put it on a little while before starting exercise to let it warm up.

[cotswolds]

Thanks for all the comments, I'm reassured that one or two 'ordinary' people have a similarly low figure. (I'm not reassured by the elite riders, I know what they do is just in a different league.)

My HRM watch broke, but I got a max of 185 a couple of years ago, and that wasn't on an all out effort, so I don't think there's any problem there. Blood pressure alas is slightly high. Every time the doctor takes it, he records the figure then pauses for a second to think but says nothing. A little lower and he wouldn't pause, a little higher and he'd start talking about medication, but I live in the in-between area.

I'd forgotten about the thyroid issue. I came across symptoms of underactive thyroid a few years back and as I tick a lot of the boxes (unusually low body temperature as well as low resting heart rate) I talked to my doctor about them. He did loads of tests and said everything was within range. I still think there's something sluggish about my metabolism, but I'm not like to die of it as I might from a heart arrhythmia, so I'm reassured.