According to many fitness experts a resting heart rate (RHR) of about seventy beats per minute upon waking is a indication of a healthy heart. It means your heart is doing it's job and you probably are an active individual and have decent eating habits. Between forty five and sixty beats a minute at rest, is a sure shot that you are living a fitness lifestyle with way above average training, conditioning and eating( correct foods and the correct amounts ) knowledge under your belt.
As low as forty beats per minute according to most exercise professionals, this puts you in an elite athlete's category. Simple find your pulse and count your heart beats for one minute once you wake first thing in the morning. Try to do the same after an intense set of exercises grouped together in a super-set fashion. Take notice of how long it will take your heart rate to return to normal. If you find you are breathing hard and doing some huffing and puffing, you have some work to do. It's OK you can do it. With some planning and consistency, you will have a well conditioned heart.
Come on, test yourself
STEP 1: TEST YOURSELF It's a simple matter of taking your pulse at several key times.
Check your resting heart rate Do this on a nonstressful morning, before you've had any coffee. Sit quietly for five minutes, breathing deeply, and then take your pulse. Count the beats for a minute.
Check your max heart rate Do the exercises found in my H.I.G.T program to failure, found on these pages below. Immediately check your heart rate. It's easiest to do this with a heart-rate monitor. However, if you take your pulse manually, count for just 15 seconds this time and multiply by four.
Check your recovery rate Now sit, rest for a minute, and check your heart rate again. Subtract this number from your max rate. This is your recovery rate.
Get the difference between your max and resting rates Simply subtract your resting rate from your max heart rate.
STEP 2: SCORE YOURSELF Award yourself points based on the following:
Resting heart rate More than 75: 3.5 points; 75Ð70: 2.5 points; 69Ð65: 2 points; 64Ð60: 1.5 points; less than 60: 1
Recovery heart rate Less than 25: 2 points; 25Ð35: 1.5 points; more than 35: 1 point
Difference between high and resting rates Less than 89: 4 points; 89Ð113: 2.5 points; more than 113: 1 point
One of your parents suffered a heart attack and died within an hour Yes: 1 point; no: 0 points
STEP 3: LOOK INTO YOUR FUTURE Approximate your risk of a fatal heart attack.
Add up your heart rate scores, divide by three, and add in the parental history Each point represents your estimated added risk of a fatal heart attack, extrapolated from the numbers in the NEJM study. Any number above 1 is the percentage increase of your risk (i.e., a 1.5 means you're about 50 percent more likely to die from a heart attack than a guy with a 1). Not happy with your score? Give yourself a month on this plan and recompute. Again good luck, and remember this is a way to gauge your heart's production.
Richard