What does your resting heart rate have to do with fitness levels?

Depending on age and gender a healthy resting heart will beat anything from 65-70 beats per minute so to answer the question – what does your resting heart rate have to do with fitness levels? Well the fitter you are the lower your resting heart rate.

Just like any of your other muscles within your body the heart responds to exercise and becomes more efficient the fitter you are, which means the fitter you are the less it needs to beat to get the same amount of blood around your body, which is good for your heart! We all know a fast beating heart isn’t something you want to walk around with every day of your life because it is just not good for you (unless it is beating fast because you are in love )

So you can increase the efficiency of your heart by simply exercising and improving your resting heart rate.

What is a good resting heart beat to have?

Well that really depends on your age, other things like whether you are taking medication, suffer from anxiety and your gender.  What follows next is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Please visit your doctor to get an accurate idea of how healthy your heart is based on the number of times it beats per minute.

The best time to check your resting heart rate is as soon as you wake up in the morning, you simply find your pulse and watch your clock or set a timer for 60 seconds.  To get an accurate reading you may want to take your resting heart beat over a few days and then average out your heart beat based on your results. So if over 5 days your heartbeat was

• Day 1 78
• Day 2 76
• Day 3 77
• Day 4 76
• Day 5 78

You can choose your resting heart beat to be 77 because it was always between 76 and 78

As a rough guide for testing your fitness level :

For Men. Aged 36-45

• A poor resting heart rate is 83+
• A good resting heart rate is 63-66
• An excellent healthy rate is 57-62 – at this stage you are physically fit

So you may want to aim for your resting heart rate to be between 55-66 bpm if you are aged 36-45 and you are a man

For Women. Aged 36-45

• A poor resting heart rate is 85+
• A good resting heart rate is 65-69
• An excellent healthy rate is 60-64

So you may want to aim for your resting heart rate to be between 62-66 bpm if you are aged 36-45 and you are a woman

See my image below

How do I take my resting heart beat?

You can use a heart rate monitor to take your heart beat but I find the manual method is more than suitable using your own fingers. The best place to take your heart beat is either on your wrist using the forefinger and middle finger only. Or the easiest place to find your pulse is on your neck just under your chin and towards your ear.

Again use your forefinger and middle finger and gently place them on your neck – you don’t have to push down – just place them there lightly.

Make sure you are completely rested (which is why first thing in the morning is best), place your fingers on your pulse and then have a clock or stop watch near by which counts the 60 seconds for you.

If you are looking at taking on exercise your resting heart beat – along with your weight and body measurements – are all great ways to get an idea of the progress you are making and it is quick and easy to take in the morning.

It can also act as a great incentive if after exercising regularly for a couple of weeks you find that your resting heart rate has improved.

How quickly your heart beats and recovers

Another way to measure how fit you are is to measure not only your heart as you rest but also how quickly your heart recovers after exercise and how fast your heart beats during exercise.

Again this information is for people without any heart problems. If you do have any heart problems, or had heart problems in the past, please consult your doctor to get your healthy numbers.

To get a good workout when walking (for example) you need to make sure your heart is between 60-85% of your maximal heart rate.

The next question you’re going to ask, is what your maximal heart rate is. Well, that all depends on your age. Your maximal heart rate is 220 (minus) -age. So for instance, someone who is 32 years old would have 188 as maximal heart rate, which is 220 – 32 = 188.

A workout in the so called fat burning zone (60-70% of MHR) would then be between 113 and 132bpm. A workout in the cardiovascular zone (75-85%) would be between 141 and 160bpm.

A workout in the cardiovascular zone will improve the function of your heart in the long run.

If you want to improve your cardiovascular fitness, I recommend buying a heart rate monitor, and working with it. Although most of the cardiovascular machines in the gym do read your heart rate when holding on to the sensors, when walking on the treadmill and holding on, you don’t simulate real walking. Do you really walk on the street and hold onto something (unless you’re doing your shopping in the supermarket) ?

I hope that now answers the question – what does your resting heart rate have to do with fitness levels.

Increasing your resting heart rate should be a bigger priority for you than focusing on losing weight and watching the scales. In terms of your health it gives a far more accurate picture as to how your body is doing.

My exercises classes in North London will help you increase your fitness levels which will impact your resting heart rate so please join me – your first class is free. Call me on the number below to register and attend.

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