Recovering Heart Rate?

pkgirrl

I've been told that you heart rate recovery is the best way to gauge your cardiovascular fitness. So mine was 152 at the end of my workout, and then down to 84 a minute later. Is that good or average or bad? I tried to find some info online, but I'm still a little lost, so any info would be aweeesome! :flowerforyou:

Azdak

I've been told that you heart rate recovery is the best way to gauge your cardiovascular fitness. So mine was 152 at the end of my workout, and then down to 84 a minute later. Is that good or average or bad? I tried to find some info online, but I'm still a little lost, so any info would be aweeesome! :flowerforyou:

Recovery heart rate is an extremely vague and rough measure of fitness progress. It's something that was more popular 30-40 years ago, but is no longer viewed as a very accurate measure of fitness.

A beginner will see more of a difference; after a while there is less change, even when fitness level begins to improve.

The problem is that a number of variables can affect recovery heart rate: temperature, intensity of workout, length of workout, hydration level.

For example if you do a 20 min workout at 65% effort, recovery heart rate is going to be different from a 45 min workout, or even a 20 min workout at 75% effort.

The numbers you cite do not sound accurate. A relatively untrained person will see a 10-15 bpm drop in the first minute following an aerobic exercise session, a more fit person 20-30 bpm, and an extremely fit person 30 or more.

We did a max exercise test on one of my classmates in graduate school. He went from a max of 200 bpm to 100 bpm in one minute, but he was a collegiate distance runner who could easily run 20 mi/day, had a 10K PR of under 31 min and could run a sub-2:30 marathon.

SHBoss1673

generally speaking, most cardiovascular experts agree that a recovery heart rate of 30 bpm or better in the first minute is an indicator of sufficient health, 50+ means very good. But Azdak is right, it's only one of many indicators. You can use it as one of your gauges to increased health, but by no means should it be your only indicator.

Also to note, testing this 1 time is pretty useless, you need to take this a number of times and drop the high and low recovery numbers, then average the rest and use that as your recovery. I.E. measure recovery 7 times (every day for a week) with the same general maximal heart rate as a starting point, drop the biggest change, drop the smallest change, take the other five, add them together and divide by 5 and that should be relatively close to accurate. Even then, it's still only one of many factors in your fitness level.

pkgirrl

Aha okay, thanks guys, perhaps the fact that its extremely outdated explains why I couldn't find much myself. I just remember they always used to make us take it for " fitness testing" in gym.

I actually redid the math after (I use the count for 10 sec. x 6 method) my initial was 24b per 10 sec, then after it was 16. I used to run about 6 miles everyday, but I wasn't getting ny results, and I hated it, so I'm trying something different haha. Anyways that's only a difference of 52, but as you said, other factors. That was only 30 minutes in a cool basement at for what should be about have been 75% for me, but missing one beat , or over counting, can really throw things off, so I understand these are vague.

Anyways, thanks guys. I am trying to improve my cardio though, because I play a lot of sports, and while I can play a whole soccer game on midfeild (pretty much just back and forth across the field all game, very little sprinting though) I burn out really fast at anything that requires more intense levels of running. Any suggestions? And what would be a better way to track my progress? Just how I feel when doing the exercises? Or is there something more quantifiable? Thanks :flowerforyou:

SHBoss1673

Aha okay, thanks guys, perhaps the fact that its extremely outdated explains why I couldn't find much myself. I just remember they always used to make us take it for " fitness testing" in gym.

I actually redid the math after (I use the count for 10 sec. x 6 method) my initial was 24b per 10 sec, then after it was 16. I used to run about 6 miles everyday, but I wasn't getting ny results, and I hated it, so I'm trying something different haha. Anyways that's only a difference of 52, but as you said, other factors. That was only 30 minutes in a cool basement at for what should be about have been 75% for me, but missing one beat , or over counting, can really throw things off, so I understand these are vague.

Anyways, thanks guys. I am trying to improve my cardio though, because I play a lot of sports, and while I can play a whole soccer game on midfeild (pretty much just back and forth across the field all game, very little sprinting though) I burn out really fast at anything that requires more intense levels of running. Any suggestions? And what would be a better way to track my progress? Just how I feel when doing the exercises? Or is there something more quantifiable? Thanks :flowerforyou:

Look up Tabata protocol, it will increase your VO2 max by up to 15% within a matter of weeks. I warn you though, it's a brutal workout.

BrendaLee

Aha okay, thanks guys, perhaps the fact that its extremely outdated explains why I couldn't find much myself. I just remember they always used to make us take it for " fitness testing" in gym.

I actually redid the math after (I use the count for 10 sec. x 6 method) my initial was 24b per 10 sec, then after it was 16. I used to run about 6 miles everyday, but I wasn't getting ny results, and I hated it, so I'm trying something different haha. Anyways that's only a difference of 52, but as you said, other factors. That was only 30 minutes in a cool basement at for what should be about have been 75% for me, but missing one beat , or over counting, can really throw things off, so I understand these are vague.

Anyways, thanks guys. I am trying to improve my cardio though, because I play a lot of sports, and while I can play a whole soccer game on midfeild (pretty much just back and forth across the field all game, very little sprinting though) I burn out really fast at anything that requires more intense levels of running. Any suggestions? And what would be a better way to track my progress? Just how I feel when doing the exercises? Or is there something more quantifiable? Thanks :flowerforyou:

Look up Tabata protocol, it will increase your VO2 max by up to 15% within a matter of weeks. I warn you though, it's a brutal workout.

I had never heard of Tabata, but one of my main goals is to be able to breathe better and have better endurance.

I just did this 4 minute Tabata style workout: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT1MMlSdJKg - it was enjoyable. Do you think it's an effective Tabata workout?

XFitMojoMom

I just did TaBATA jump rope
effective at getting your heart rate up!! I wouldn't replace your workouts
My HRM came back with 50 cals burned in the 4 minutes I did it for. I don't think I could've done 8 minutes! Need to work up my conditioning.

SHBoss1673

Aha okay, thanks guys, perhaps the fact that its extremely outdated explains why I couldn't find much myself. I just remember they always used to make us take it for " fitness testing" in gym.

I actually redid the math after (I use the count for 10 sec. x 6 method) my initial was 24b per 10 sec, then after it was 16. I used to run about 6 miles everyday, but I wasn't getting ny results, and I hated it, so I'm trying something different haha. Anyways that's only a difference of 52, but as you said, other factors. That was only 30 minutes in a cool basement at for what should be about have been 75% for me, but missing one beat , or over counting, can really throw things off, so I understand these are vague.

Anyways, thanks guys. I am trying to improve my cardio though, because I play a lot of sports, and while I can play a whole soccer game on midfeild (pretty much just back and forth across the field all game, very little sprinting though) I burn out really fast at anything that requires more intense levels of running. Any suggestions? And what would be a better way to track my progress? Just how I feel when doing the exercises? Or is there something more quantifiable? Thanks :flowerforyou:

Look up Tabata protocol, it will increase your VO2 max by up to 15% within a matter of weeks. I warn you though, it's a brutal workout.

I had never heard of Tabata, but one of my main goals is to be able to breathe better and have better endurance.

I just did this 4 minute Tabata style workout: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT1MMlSdJKg - it was enjoyable. Do you think it's an effective Tabata workout?

I can't look at Youtube at work. I'll check it out when I get home. Traditionally though, tabata protocol workouts consist of 5 minutes of warm up, 4 minutes of full tabata work, 1 minute rest, 4 more minutes of full tabata work, and a 5 minute cool down. Totaling 19 minutes. And when I do it, I burn about 450 calories. The calorie burn will differ for every one, and also, that's a TRUE professional tabata workout, which few people who are just starting can do off the bat (I.E. 20 seconds max effort, 10 seconds minimal effort...repeat 8 times). Most start with 20 seconds on, 30 seconds off and then move up to 20 seconds on 20 seconds off, then go to the 20/10 format when they feel they are ready. Remember, tabata protocol was designed for Olympic caliber cardio endurance athletes, so it's generally tough to start with a full workout.

XFitMojoMom

When you say rest - is it full on sit down rest? Or just slow it down rest?
It really did get me panting and my legs were burning. I was doing 20:10 ratio, didn't realize that beginners could do 20:30!! Well, good for me... maybe this time next week I'll be able to do 8 minutes Tabata.

SHBoss1673

When you say rest - is it full on sit down rest? Or just slow it down rest?
It really did get me panting and my legs were burning. I was doing 20:10 ratio, didn't realize that beginners could do 20:30!! Well, good for me... maybe this time next week I'll be able to do 8 minutes Tabata.

never tried it with jump rope, I'm not talented enough to be able to do a max effort with Jump rope, I'd just trip and fall. I usually do the traditional tabata (done on a spinning bike). Rest means VERY lite, but I usually just rest when I do tabata with the tread mill, cuz it's too much effort to keep raising and lowering the speeds and slopes.

XFitMojoMom

meant to thank you for the tip on Tabata. You're just a fountain of great information and killer workouts