Resting and Recovery Heart Rate

Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Seniors/fit, Youth/fit | (0) Comments

Dr. Mirkin has some good info on his blog about the significance of resting and recovery heart rate. Basically, if your resting heart rate is higher than 70, you should get checked out by a doctor for a number of possible causes. This is  significant because high resting heart rates increase your chance for a heart attack.

He also describes how to check your recovery heart rate after exercising and explains its significance.

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Your “Recovery Heart Rate” is likely to be even more important. Recovery Heart Rate is a measure of fitness and a slow recovery from exercise means that you are out of shape. This test can cause irregular heart beats in people with damaged hearts, so check with your physician before you try it.

To measure recovery heart rate, you exercise on a treadmill (or any other activity) until you are breathing hard, record your heart rate, and hold that pace for at least a minute. Then stop, and measure your pulse rate exactly one minute after stopping. If your heart does not slow down at least thirty beats in the first minute, you are in poor shape and at increased risk for a heart attack. If your heart rate slows down more than fifty beats in the first minute, you are in excellent shape.