Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Out of curiosity I started measuring mine daily over the last month. My fitness levels are decent, but I haven't done any endurance work (i.e > 50km for about a year). I'm currently @51 BPM, sometimes lower but that seems the norm for me.

I'd imagine some of you guys doing 300km+ per week would be getting in the low to mid 40s. I'm interested to see what other people are getting. What are your numbers? Here are mine:

Age: 31
BPM: 51
Training: Gym (weights), commuting (110km per week), 1-2 quick weekend rides (20-40km).

Use the template below.

Make sure you are at complete rest when you take your pulse (i.e. have been sitting very still for at least 30m to 1hr). There is a free android app called Instant Heart Rate that works pretty well (gives me the same results as my Polar heart rate monitor).

Age:44
BPM:29-30
Training: 12-15 hours per week
Extreme bradycardia according to my ECG 2 weeks ago, Doc says don't worry .

Woah, crazy low.

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Plenty of info (and even a poll!) in this thread viewtopic.php?f=49&t=14729&hilit=resting+heart+rate" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

toolonglegs wrote:Age:44
BPM:29-30
Training: 12-15 hours per week
Extreme bradycardia according to my ECG 2 weeks ago, Doc says don't worry .

Pretty similar.
BPM: 36. Although it was recorded lower in my earlier years at 32 bpm
Training: ATM honestly not as much as I should be maybe 10hrs

I have had a few scans and visits to specialists, they said my rhythm is fine just a slow heart.

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Age 38
BPM during the week around 60 (constant commuting means constant recovery- resting HR gets higher during the week)
BPM after full recovery (rest day/s) mid 40's
10-12 hours on bike per week
18 months ago resting BPM was around 70 after 10 years of feasting and low exercise

Age 41.
BPM 56 - but that was recorded in hospital right after my accident.
Cycle - was 10 to 15 hours per week before the accident.
Quit smoking Dec. 21 2010 after 20 years.

For maybe an hour or so post-ride low 70s.
Just mooching around, middle of the day low 60s.
Sat still for awhile in the evening low 50s.
Wake up first thing in the morning low 40s.

It's always been the same. My doctor says I have the heart of an athlete. A few years back I had a stress test and was told the same thing. Pity I don't have the skills/ability of an athlete to match ... hahaha

No idea of on-ride heart rate as I don't use HRM or whatever.

Semi-serious rider averaging about 150km wk/ 6000-7000km per year. 50 yrs old and resting HR about 66.

mine seems to vary - mid-high 40s to low 50s - about 50 then.

Age: 40
BPM: 50
Training: 10-15 hrs/wk

Mines pretty low but I'm a but younger than most of the other posters.

Age:27
BPM:32
Training: 250km a week or so plus 5 a side football.


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Age: 62
BPM: 40 Max seems to be 152.

When I was 40/45 it was around 35 BPM. Max back then was about 160.
Fit or not doesn't seem to make any difference.

My 10 year old Grandson was on the velodrome last week and I put my heart monitor on him, his max was 247 but he could have gone harder. He's very fit and been racing BMX for 5 years.

Not sure about mine, but when I went to a hospital for a 1-day stay (a gastroscopy) in October, the nurse taking my pulse asked me if I did triathlons .

Age: 38
RHR: low 40s
MHR: about 200

I measured my RHR at 37 BPM several times (ie repeatable) one night a few months ago, which I thought was surprisingly low. I knew it dropped under 50 (having been hooked up to a monitor in hospital once and repeatedly set the <50BPM alarm off), but that was lower than I had seen it.

I wore my HRM around a bit, watching what it did. Turns out I beat in the high 40s sitting at a desk, and can go under 50 just standing still. I just paused typing for half a minute and recorded 47 BPM (using a smartphone app). Proper resting drops lower - I guess lying prone puts less pressure demand on the heart, for starters.

I mentioned it to my doctor, and he just congratulated me . In absence of any negative symptoms, said to not worry about it. He's a competitive runner, and his RHR is about 40, so he's not hung up on the 60-to-90-is-normal rule.

One contributing factor (and I hate to bring it up yet again lest I be accused of evangelising) is that I don't eat for ~16 hours a day. Other fasters have also reported very low RHR, so there appears to be a correlation even if it's not causal (maybe a low RHR causes irreparable brain dysfunction and makes us more likely to fast ). I suspect my RHR was a little higher before I started the fasting thing... although the hospital monitor alarm thing was before, so I've obviously always been on the low HR side.

I commute 12km a day (2x15 minute rides) and try to get out for one, sometimes two, ~1 hour bunch rides during the week and/or a ~2hr bunch ride on the weekend.

Now I have a recording HRM, I really should try recording a whole night's sleep. It would be interesting to see what my HR does in a true restful state.

tim

You guys are all making me feel unfit! I need to up my endurance and get into the 40s.

FWIW, Miguel Indurian has a resting pulse of 28 bpm, Lance is 32.


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AP81 wrote:You guys are all making me feel unfit! I need to up my endurance and get into the 40s.

FWIW, Miguel Indurian has a resting pulse of 28 bpm, Lance is 32.

There are lots of things that affect RHR, and fitness is only one of them.

Genetics is a bigger one.

It could be that people with a tendency to having a low RHR are well suited to endurance sports such as cycling, and being naturally good at it (or at least better than average) we have stuck with it, making cyclists a self-selecting group of people with low HR. And then they are fairly fit on top of their natural tendency.

I would also question the possible effect of pharmaceuticals on RHR, in the cases of professional cyclists with extremely low numbers. There are lots of things about Lance Armstrong that would not be possible for an unmedicated person to achieve. Indurain? Never caught, as far as I'm aware, but look at what his contemporaries have been accused of using... I'd see his freakishly low HR as an indicator of things being generally abnormal in the man, genetic or drug-affected as the case may be.

tim

barefoot wrote:I would also question the possible effect of pharmaceuticals on RHR, in the cases of professional cyclists with extremely low numbers. There are lots of things about Lance Armstrong that would not be possible for an unmedicated person to achieve. Indurain? Never caught, as far as I'm aware, but look at what his contemporaries have been accused of using... I'd see his freakishly low HR as an indicator of things being generally abnormal in the man, genetic or drug-affected as the case may be.

they recently plugged Indurain back into a exercise machine thing and his numbers were apparently still stunningly high at age 40-something

Age 47
rhr 45
Max about 180
Ride about 220/wk

Age: 29
BPM: 59
Training: Out of action for 1 year. Previously baseball (burst activity), now started (as of yesterday) cycling to and from work, 35-40Kms total per day.

Age: 40
BPM: 34 - 38
Training: 550+ a week if I am not racing something serious on the weekends.

Resting pulse rate will always vary from individual to individual, so it is difficult to give a straight answer. In general however the lower the pulse rate correlates to an increased cardiovascular health. This basically boils down to the fact that if the heart can pump an equal amount of blood around the body in less contractions then each contraction is more efficient and hence the heart muscle is stronger and capable of deliver more oxygenated blood to the circulation when under stress.
Hope this helps, definitely a good idea to measure your pulse and BP on a regular basis for good health measures.

Age: 24
RHR: 42
Training: Vary it up with running/swimming/cycling for an hour every morning, followed by a combination on the weekend. Main interest in triathlons and long distance running.

Age 40
RHR 54-56...

Been cycling for almost 1yr. With the recent addition of a HRM my Max never gets near the formula (180), high 160's and I die off very quickly, mid 150's and I can puff along for ages. low 150's easy as! Q?

Age: 16
RHR: 42
Training: 12-15hrs riding per week

My heart beats only when I need it to.