How do they manage to lower the resting heart rate (heart rate in the 30s for example)? Is it the years of training or do they have a different physiology? My resting heart rate tends to be in the 90s so I find this shocking.
The resting heart rate should be taken when you have spent at least an hour doing nothing. Mine comes in at 47bpm but it is around 90bpm just after doing normal stuff like walking around. I have a fitness watch and a proper blood pressure/heart rate monitor and they both give me the same readings.
Before I started commuting, it was around 65 to 70bpm and it dropped as my heart got stronger. When I started doing the big hiils, my heart went like the clappers and felt as though it was going to burst out of my chest. It also took quite a while to normalise after I stopped cycling.
Now, the hills are easier, my heart rate doesn't get so high and my breathing is more relaxed.
The harder you push yourself, the fitter you will get.