Thursday, April 29, 2010

Recovery Heart Rate

I was TRYING to tell fellow 'junkie', Kimbo, all about Resting heart rates this morning and how they correlate with your fitness level and weight loss. Seems so complicated. All I know is my heart heart rate monitor has really changed the way I work out! I went home and researched what a healthy RHR should be. Of course, the answer varies. Mostly what I read is typically the healthier you are/become the lower your RHR will and should be. However, that is not always the case. The best time to check you RHR is right when you get out of bed in the morning to get a more accurate indication {p.s. don't check it at a stressful point like trying to get your children to stop coloring on the kitchen wall}. I read this ACE {American Council on Exercise} answer in case any of you wanted to know what yours may be. I have read articles that say you are "normal" if you are 65-80 beats per minute. Mine is about 58-60. Lance Armstrong's is 32.


I also read that a better indicator of your fitness level could depend on your recovery heart rate. The recovery heart rate is a measurement of how well your heart recovers after exercise. It is measured one minute after exercise and is the rate at which your heart beats drop each minute. People who are very fit will see that their heart rate drops very quckly after exercise. It recovers well. This is a much better measurement of one’s fitness.

Do any of you experts {Lindsey, Marisa}, have any thoughts on this? I would love to know!

I know I harp on and on about this, but I think a Heart rate monitor is SUCH a good idea to have {Mother's Day gift, hint, hint}! I am so fascinated with the science and art of excercise. I should have changed my major earlier. So now, 3 of the 4 junkies have our heart rate monitors and I am so excited about it!

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for the shout out, Nic! I love being considered an "expert" although I am far from it! :) And before I get to the question, I just have to say that I love that you have Groove is in the Heart on your playlist! You do love R29 now, don't you?!

    Okay to the good stuff...

    1) "The best time to check you RHR is right when you get out of bed in the morning to get a more accurate indication." We were always told that yes, RHR should be taken before you get out of bed, BUT that it should be taken when you wake up naturally (i.e. not to an alarm...or in your case, possibly a kid jumping on you in your bed). If you take your HR after waking up to anything alarming then it will be higher than your true RHR. Also, you should try and take it multiple days in a row (at least 3) and then take the average for your RHR.

    2) "The healthier you are/become the lower your RHR will and should be." Yes. This is mostly influenced by cardiovascular exercise (all you junkies should be good at this!). Every time you get your heart pumping, you are strengthening it and increasing your stroke volume. Stroke volume (SV) is the amount of blood pumped by the heart in one beat; therefore the higher your stroke volume the less your heart needs to beat to supply the same amount of blood to your body. Persons with a greater SV will (should) have a lower resting and exercise HR. I say should in parenthesis because there is always an exception, but for the average adult this holds true. Stephen P's RHR is low 40s. Watch out Lance Armstrong! :)

    3) "I also read that a better indicator of your fitness level could depend on your recovery heart rate." Right again. In fact, one of the easiest, most common heart rate recovery tests is the YMCA 3 Minute Step Test (YMCA represent!). If you went to Baylor and took HED 1145 (health class) I'm sure you probably did this test and remember the annoying "up, up, down, down, up, up, down, down" tape recording. Here is a link that explains the test and what the results mean.
    http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_articles.asp?id=1115

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  2. I also forgot to mention one more thing about RHR. At work, we do RHR for some clients and we say that average is 65-75 bpm. Once your RHR starts getting up in the 90s or higher then you should think about consulting your doctor. This is, of course, if it is chronically in the 90s. Don't freak about a one time reading in the 90s because it could be a number of things. Just keep checking it consistently over the next week or two and then if it stays up then that's when you'll want to talk to your doctor.

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  3. there is nothing more to say because Lindsey ROCKS! She pretty much summed it up and made it very easy to understand! The only comment that I am able to add is that heart rate monitors are AMAZING, you feel SO much more in tune with your body! Would make a great Mother's Day Gift and as for the monitors, they have some awesome ones out on the market right now! Happy Heart Monitoring!!

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