Okay, okay, I'm tired of arguing weight with Aquageek and company...and Centaur brought up a very neat idea.
So answer me this, if you're so inclined to: What's your resting heartrate? There are a few who say theirs is below 55, and some who say it's right around 60.
To try and get a slightly less askew measurement, try taking it while you're sitting right here, reading this. Hopefully, you're on the computer during the day, either at work (shame on you for being on the boards at work!) or at home (I won't question that), or somewhere, and you sit down for a few minutes at least. Take your heartrate, and answer the poll, and we'll see what we come up with.
I'd start by telling you mine, but I had an asthma attack this morning, and as a result, my resting heart rate is higher, around 68 bpm's. Typically, it's 54. Stupid asthma. Makes me feel like I've been hit by a truck. :(
A few quick notes here.
1) some elite athletes have indeed had very low resting heart rates. Bjorn Borg's was once measured at 29; I know this will sound crazy, but there was a female marathoner whose resting h.r. was 18 or 19.
2) The latter example nothwithstanding, women tend, on average, to have higher heart rates than men--I think I've seen ranges akin to 60-80 for males; 70-90 for females (untrained.). These ranges aren't resting in the sense described below (i.e., upon first awakening, without getting out of bed.)
3) Aerobic training enlarges the inner volume of your heart's pumping chambers, allowing a single beat to move more blood--hence the training effect of lowering heart rates as you get in better shape. (You also begin to produce more plasma, so your blood volume increases--again, a slower but larger stroke volume circulates the blood you need.)
4) Anerobic training (heavy wt. lifting in particular) enlarges the thickness of the walls of the heart--an adaptation to the sometimes frighteningly high (albeit very short lived) blood pressures generated during maximal resistance exertion. One cardiac researcher told me that a world class wt. lifter had had his bp measured mid lift, and it was close to 500/300--amazing he didn't explode. (Note: bp also climbs significantly during hard aerobic exercise, but not nearly so much as with lifting. The rise is temporary and doesn't pose a health problem for otherwise healthy people--in fact, regular exercise can slightly lower resting and other non-exercising bp.)
Finally, I think a lot of this stuff has a strong genetic component. My father was in pretty good shape, but he was by no means an elite athlete--tennis a couple times a week, and that was about it. His resting heart rate was in the low 40s.
My own heart rate p.r. was 38--but I got excited about breaking the record, and I think it sped up a few beats towards the end of the minute I recorded it! I concur about measuring this first thing upon awakening, before you stand up or begin in any way to stress yourself out with the demands of the day.
I don't have brachycardia, I am pretty sure!
A few quick notes here.
1) some elite athletes have indeed had very low resting heart rates. Bjorn Borg's was once measured at 29; I know this will sound crazy, but there was a female marathoner whose resting h.r. was 18 or 19.
2) The latter example nothwithstanding, women tend, on average, to have higher heart rates than men--I think I've seen ranges akin to 60-80 for males; 70-90 for females (untrained.). These ranges aren't resting in the sense described below (i.e., upon first awakening, without getting out of bed.)
3) Aerobic training enlarges the inner volume of your heart's pumping chambers, allowing a single beat to move more blood--hence the training effect of lowering heart rates as you get in better shape. (You also begin to produce more plasma, so your blood volume increases--again, a slower but larger stroke volume circulates the blood you need.)
4) Anerobic training (heavy wt. lifting in particular) enlarges the thickness of the walls of the heart--an adaptation to the sometimes frighteningly high (albeit very short lived) blood pressures generated during maximal resistance exertion. One cardiac researcher told me that a world class wt. lifter had had his bp measured mid lift, and it was close to 500/300--amazing he didn't explode. (Note: bp also climbs significantly during hard aerobic exercise, but not nearly so much as with lifting. The rise is temporary and doesn't pose a health problem for otherwise healthy people--in fact, regular exercise can slightly lower resting and other non-exercising bp.)
Finally, I think a lot of this stuff has a strong genetic component. My father was in pretty good shape, but he was by no means an elite athlete--tennis a couple times a week, and that was about it. His resting heart rate was in the low 40s.
My own heart rate p.r. was 38--but I got excited about breaking the record, and I think it sped up a few beats towards the end of the minute I recorded it! I concur about measuring this first thing upon awakening, before you stand up or begin in any way to stress yourself out with the demands of the day.
I don't have brachycardia, I am pretty sure!
