Resting Heart Rate

Part One of the Cardio Series

The rise of smart devices has changed the way a lot of people look at their workouts. It is important for people to understand what each number means, and how it can be affected by activity, or lack thereof. This week, we’ll focus on resting heart rate.

While “Calories Burned” takes a lot of real estate, heart rate can tell us a lot about not only how we are exercising, but how we are recovering, and how effective those workouts are.

The normal range for resting heart rate is 60-100 beats per minute. In the medical world, anything below 60 at rest is labeled bradycardic (or slow) and anything about 100 is called tachycardic (or fast).

That doesn’t mean having a resting heart rate below 60 is a sign of something awry; for most people who partake in regular cardiovascular or endurance activities, a resting rate below 60 can be perfectly normal! And from a physiological standpoint, a resting heart rate that decreases as you train can be a sign of a stronger heart….

Fundamentally, the heart is a muscle, but let’s think about the biceps for a second. If you are trying to make your biceps stronger, you may start by measuring your one-rep-max, or testing how much you can lift at baseline. After some training and time, you may be able to lift more weight than you were at the start, so your one-rep-max has increased.

Back to the heart - each time your heart beats, it pumps blood out into the body. Think of this as its one-rep-max. The stronger muscle, the stronger the pump, which means it can pump more blood out into the body with one beat.

Therefor in theory, if you are increasing the amount of cardiovascular work you do effectively, your heart muscle will get stronger and be able to beat more efficiently. Over time, this looks like a decrease in resting heart rate because of the increased power of each heart beat!