What's your resting heart rate?

[youngoldbloke]

RHR is a baseline measurement and a quick search will give the advice that it is best measured on waking, as any activity, and the intake of food, tea or coffee etc will effect it. Measuring HR after resting after activity will not produce a useful baseline result for calculating HR zones.
(But as Doyler states, may be useful in measuring recovery).

 

[Bill Gates]

The difference is simple rhr is when you rest after any activity and should be taken as you indicate 2o mins etc. Whr is when you wake up before you partake in any activity, I thought it was quite obvious.

The first indicates your fitness level the second indicates impending problems you may have during the day due to the night or day before I.e bad nights sleep or some activity eating etc. Or impending illness.

I must be thick then because I've never heard the term "waking heart rate" used before. As far as I'm concerned my RHR is when I wake up and take it first thing in the morning. The rest of the time my HR is subject to what activity I've done or am doing that day and will vary accordingly.

 

[youngoldbloke]

I must be thick then because I've never heard the term "waking heart rate" used before. As far as I'm concerned my RHR is when I wake up and take it first thing in the morning. The rest of the time my HR is subject to what activity I've done or am doing that day and will vary accordingly.

+1

- this from the Polar website:

"How to determine resting heart rate
Resting heart rate can be measured either with a heart rate monitor or by palpating. Using a heart rate monitor is more feasible and gives a more accurate measurement. The measurement should be performed in supine position in the morning immediately after awakening. Take the measurements on five consecutive days and calculate the average resting heart rate. In addition to fitness, resting heart rate is affected by several factors such as recovery from the previous exercise, the quality of sleep, and mental stress level, so perform the measurement only when you are healthy and feeling well.

• When measured with a heart rate monitor, put it on after waking up and start measuring.

• When measured by palpation, you can find your pulse at the base of your thumb at your wrist, or at your neck just to the side of your windpipe. Use your index and middle fingers to find your pulse, and count the beats in 15 seconds. Count the first beat you feel as zero. Multiply the number of beats you feel in 15 seconds by 4 to arrive at your heart rate per minute."

- they should know shouldn't they?

 

[Fiona N]

If you've got a HRM which stores a HR file for download, it's really quite informative to wear it overnight and record your HR during sleep.
I did it for about 20 nights during a period when I was very fit (resting HR on waking 31-33 over the same period) and found there was quite a variation in HR during sleep. In particular, there was a gradual decrease for 4 or 5 hours after going to bed/sleep (not necessarily the same thing for many people), then there are regular cycles about 2-2.5 hours long which I believe correspond to the REM/non-REM sleep intervals where you can see the difference between these sleep types in terms of effect on HR (5+ bpm higher in REM sleep for my case). There were numerous irregular spikes of 10-15 bpm above the base which again I believe correspond to movement in bed, turning over etc. Also the baseline started to rise from about 1 hour before I woke up (possibly in response to light - it was about dawn). Furthermore the minimum HR recorded (excluding 'blips') was usually at least 4 or 5 bpm lower than the resting HR measured on waking. I found this minimum HR was a good indicator of health as a virus (just a normal cold) at the end of the period resulted in a more than 10bpm rise in the minimum but only a roughly 2 bpm rise in the resting HR on waking.

Try it and see what you discover about yourself

 

[Fiona N]

P.S. I forgot to add - I'm a scientist and I think resting heart rate measured randomly during the day is basically just a random number influenced by what exercise you've taken already that day or are recovering from previously, caffeine intake, period since last meal, stress level etc. etc. etc. Resting HR on waking isn't fool-proof but at least you've controlled some of the variables and from day to day should see some sort of overall trends. How you interpret the trends is, of course, a whole other can of worms.

 

[lukesdad]

We re starting to get there. When you are taking these readings they have got to be spot on when you take them and as suggeted all variables must be controlled. This is why I only take my rhr once a month whr time diet and effort are taken into account and replicated I take it 25 mins after an exact turbo session.

The importance of taking your whr every day is to collate the rest of your days information from your training. If you dont know what condition your in when you start the day, how do you gauge that days results. Or is it I had a bad/good/ indifferent/same as yesterday day type thing.....er sort of.

Never heard whr before. Let me help. Chris Charmichael or NASA ring any bells.

 

[Bill Gates]

We re starting to get there. When you are taking these readings they have got to be spot on when you take them and as suggeted all variables must be controlled. This is why I only take my rhr once a month whr time diet and effort are taken into account and replicated I take it 25 mins after an exact turbo session.

The importance of taking your whr every day is to collate the rest of your days information from your training. If you dont know what condition your in when you start the day, how do you gauge that days results. Or is it I had a bad/good/ indifferent/same as yesterday day type thing.....er sort of.

Never heard whr before. Let me help. Chris Charmichael or NASA ring any bells.

Speaking of bells who's the ding-a-ling?

Let's get this straight you take your whr every day because if you don't then you can't judge that day's results.

BUT

Your definition of whr is the what the rest of the world and his dog including the companies who manufacture HRM's, (except you, Chris Carmichael and NASA) actually call RHR i.e. taken on waking first thing in the morning.

RHR is RHR. Any other HR reading taken after whatever you've eaten be it a hamburger, banana or bag of crisps or 25 minutes after a turbo is not RHR.

What I need to know for training purposes is if I'm recovered enough from the previous day or well enough to train hard that day or should I take it easy. Taking my RHR (mine and everyone else's definition) first thing in the morning in bed is a pretty good indicator. The rest is of academic interest to see if my fitness is improving re recovery, but those readings are NOT RHR.

 

[lukesdad]

Speaking of bells who's the ding-a-ling?

Let's get this straight you take your whr every day because if you don't then you can't judge that day's results.

BUT

Your definition of whr is the what the rest of the world and his dog including the companies who manufacture HRM's, (except you, Chris Carmichael and NASA) actually call RHR i.e. taken on waking first thing in the morning.

RHR is RHR. Any other HR reading taken after whatever you've eaten be it a hamburger, banana or bag of crisps or 25 minutes after a turbo is not RHR.

What I need to know for training purposes is if I'm recovered enough from the previous day or well enough to train hard that day or should I take it easy. Taking my RHR (mine and everyone else's definition) first thing in the morning in bed is a pretty good indicator. The rest is of academic interest to see if my fitness is improving re recovery, but those readings are NOT RHR.

Better go and tell your GP that then Bill, because mine agrees with me he s a pretty serious cyclist too.

 

[youngoldbloke]

P.S. I forgot to add - I'm a scientist and I think resting heart rate measured randomly during the day is basically just a random number influenced by what exercise you've taken already that day or are recovering from previously, caffeine intake, period since last meal, stress level etc. etc. etc. Resting HR on waking isn't fool-proof but at least you've controlled some of the variables and from day to day should see some sort of overall trends. How you interpret the trends is, of course, a whole other can of worms.

I think this sums it up pretty well. Until I see more convincing evidence I will continue to follow the advice of Polar regarding the measurement of Resting Heart Rate on waking. It is possible for a GP to be mistaken, by the way.

 

[Bill Gates]

Better go and tell your GP that then Bill, because mine agrees with me he s a pretty serious cyclist too.

My GP is a tosser and so is yours by the sound of it.

 

[zacklaws]

I find it very difficult to get a RHR in a morning, by the time I have faffed about finding my HR monitor and fitting the strap or just looking for my watch my HR can be in the 60+'s, last night night when I went to bed I had a nice slow beat, which I never bothered checking, probably high 40's, low 50's.

As a rule now when I wake up, and providing I remember, I listen to my clock ticking and if I'm lucky and can hear my pulse beating on the pillow or can feel it, then I count the beats and ifs it slower than the seconds ticking on the clock then I'm happy.

 

[lukesdad]

There is nothing random about my test. It has to start with the same WHR after 9 hrs uninterupted sleep on a sunny day.( No stress levels) the same light b/fast 2hrs reading the exact turbo session 5 min shower 20mins lying down no variables.Whats random about that! Why bother with all that. Well firstly I only do it once a month. Its an accurate test of my fitness 12 times a year.

A WHR test cannot do this because you cannot control the variables. It is important for other reasons as previously stated.

As for HRM manfacturers there is a reason they advocate their test. Once you appreciate that your WHR will be considerably lower than the 20 min test mentioned (and advocated by most performance coaches) and applied to the formula to determine your training zones you will see that the BPM values are considerably lower......mmm I wonder why. It will also make your training zone values lower. Therefore incorrect.

No one is ever going to be 100% right or wrong but sometimes you have to think outside the box and not run with the herd.

 

[Bill Gates]

There is nothing random about my test. It has to start with the same WHR after 9 hrs uninterupted sleep on a sunny day.( No stress levels) the same light b/fast 2hrs reading the exact turbo session 5 min shower 20mins lying down no variables.Whats random about that! Why bother with all that. Well firstly I only do it once a month. Its an accurate test of my fitness 12 times a year.

A WHR test cannot do this because you cannot control the variables. It is important for other reasons as previously stated.

As for HRM manfacturers there is a reason they advocate their test. Once you appreciate that your WHR will be considerably lower than the 20 min test mentioned (and advocated by most performance coaches) and applied to the formula to determine your training zones you will see that the BPM values are considerably lower......mmm I wonder why. It will also make your training zone values lower. Therefore incorrect.

No one is ever going to be 100% right or wrong but sometimes you have to think outside the box and not run with the herd.

I don't even know where to start on this one. Now the whr has to be the same. Same as what exactly? and it's taken after 9 hours uninterrupted sleep on a sunny day.

So what if you take it in the winter like now? It doesn't get light until 7.30 so if you have to get up for work before 7.30 then you're stuffed until the weekend. and if it's cloudy at the weekend you're stuffed again. And if you wake up after 8 hours and not 9 hours then you're stuffed again.

It's all utter nonsense of course!

 

[doyler78]

There is nothing random about my test. It has to start with the same WHR after 9 hrs uninterupted sleep on a sunny day.( No stress levels) the same light b/fast 2hrs reading the exact turbo session 5 min shower 20mins lying down no variables.Whats random about that! Why bother with all that. Well firstly I only do it once a month. Its an accurate test of my fitness 12 times a year.

A WHR test cannot do this because you cannot control the variables. It is important for other reasons as previously stated.

As for HRM manfacturers there is a reason they advocate their test. Once you appreciate that your WHR will be considerably lower than the 20 min test mentioned (and advocated by most performance coaches) and applied to the formula to determine your training zones you will see that the BPM values are considerably lower......mmm I wonder why. It will also make your training zone values lower. Therefore incorrect.

No one is ever going to be 100% right or wrong but sometimes you have to think outside the box and not run with the herd.

Performance Coaches would strongly advise you to get a power meter.

Dr Andrew Coogan PhD uses Lactate Threshold Heart Rate to determine trianing intensities

Joe Friel uses the same measure to ascribe training intensities as Dr Coogan (though they differ in what way they assign the intensities)

British Cycling uses MaxHR to set trianing intensities

RST - Richard Stern Training - use MaxHr to set training intensities and finally

The CTS (Carmichael Training System) field test:

http://www.mastertheshift.com/masters/carmichael/workouts/downloads/chris-cts-test.pdf

Nothing at all about anything you have described so it seems Chris Carmichael does not do as you suggest he does when ascribing training intensities. So exactly what does he use it for?

 

[lukesdad]

Performance Coaches would strongly advise you to get a power meter.

Dr Andrew Coogan PhD uses Lactate Threshold Heart Rate to determine trianing intensities

Joe Friel uses the same measure to ascribe training intensities as Dr Coogan (though they differ in what way they assign the intensities)

British Cycling uses MaxHR to set trianing intensities

RST - Richard Stern Training - use MaxHr to set training intensities and finally

The CTS (Carmichael Training System) field test:

http://www.mastertheshift.com/masters/carmichael/workouts/downloads/chris-cts-test.pdf

Nothing at all about anything you have described so it seems Chris Carmichael does not do as you suggest he does when ascribing training intensities. So exactly what does he use it for?

I didnt say he did. You and Mr gates need to practice your reading skills, and stop trying to make my words fit your agenda.