Well, if you can’t win the races, you’ve got to focus on other competitions. One of my personal favourites is the physical parameter: Low Resting Heart Rate. As I have described previously, your resting heart rate gets lower as your condition gets better.
You will probably already have noticed that your resting heart is lower when you are in good shape. This is because of a larger stroke volume or, more correctly, a bigger parasympathetic drive on the sinus node. It is easy to monitor your resting heart rate. Just put on your Polar rim when you wake up and relax for a couple of minutes.
Now I want to know: Who has had the lowest resting heart rate ever?
I’m not an athelete. My resting heart, as recorded by the holter (24-hour) around 5am during sleeping, is 22 bpm. Is this healthy?
i run half marathons weekly and my resting heart rate is 26bpm. i am 17 and training for olympic marathons.
well im a D1 college runner and last night i wore my suunto t6 to sleep for the first time in a year, and my rhr was about 35-38 in some parts of my sleep…
I’m 60 and am usually at 46 bpm in the a.m. shortly after I wake up.
I’m turning 33 soon and my resting heart rate is 47 bpm. My estimated VO2 MAX is 49. I wonder how well correlated resting heart rate actually is to VO2 MAX.
I see mine at 30bpm almost every day the lowest i’ve seen it is 27bpm. I have a low maximum of 170bpm. I’m a 40 year old male and recently run a 2.46 marathon.
I’m 67 and have exercised only spasmodically. I started cycling recently and my resting heart rate has gone from 54 to 46. The most I have cycled at once is 64km. 34km is a reasonable ride for me. I have a Polar Favor monitor.
Mine is 24-36 never been more or less than that and I’m 31 years old.. Doctors told me that I will live longer! yeyyaaa
What equipment are you guys using to measure your heart rates??? i can only find heart monitors that measure from 30 bpm upawrds??? i would love a monitor that caould measue the lower ranges. thanx Martin
im 13 and my heart rate is 52! just from running a few miles every day! 165lbs 7% bf
My resting heart rate 52-56 bpm. I’m 17 and a track and field athlete doing polevault, longjump and sprinting.
New record of 35 bpm the other day, I am a cyclist, 20 y.o., 70kg
My resting heart rate is usually 36-44> ive just had a few coffees and was outside walking around and its at 40 bpm…sometimes I have a bit of lightheaded feeling or cold hands feel as though theyre swollen or numb…I ve been tested and nothing wrong. I am a very fit person and play competitive squash…5 days a week. lowest RHR I’ve had is 30 when I get up in the morning.
According to wikipedia, Lance Armstrong has a resting heart rate of 32bpm – anyone who says theirs is lower may want to have their instruments calibrated. Not saying you are lying, just maybe your instrumentation is giving you a false diagnosis.
Ha, Lance is just being Lazy. I still got 2009 and 2010 guinness book of records for slowest heartbeat 🙂 befor me it was held by miguel indurain who had a heart rate of 28 bpm
“According to wikipedia, Lance Armstrong has a resting heart rate of 32bpm ”“ anyone who says theirs is lower may want to have their instruments calibrated.”
Actually, I have a slower resting heartrate. My name is Miguel Indurain, you might want to Google my name. 28 bpm.
I use an automatic digital blood pressure monitor, an idea I got from the wonderful Dr. Oz show! My resting heart rate is naturally low, but the lowest recorded was on March 15, 2010:
In bed, before getting up, at 9:05am
Blood Pressure 106/64
Pulse 33
Age 50
Hey Miguel. Being as i now beat you in Guinness book of records. how do you fancy a face to face challenge?? Something good natured for charity maybe??? let me know on this forum. cheers Martin
You realise that is not Miguel Indurain, the greatest grand tour rider of the 90’s, 5 time Tour De France winner and 2 time Giro d’Italia winner, plus a previous olympic and world time trial champion.
PS Martin are you an athlete of any kind or do you just happen to have a slow heart beat?
I am 22 Y.O and i dont exercize anymore, :/ i have gone through some things that have led to panic attacks, i found out that i have a pannic dissorder and a high level of anxity. my heart rate in the day is between 74-82 on a good day, some days its only 66-72 im always checking it. at 10:00pm right before i fall asleep my heart rate is between 48-60. when i wake up early 55-67. Also a different thing heart rate is lower when/if i take a nap around 47 bpm. im glad i found this website it makes me feel better, knowing im not the only one with a low heart rate i know im not going to die 🙂 thank you everyone!!
im 21 and only lightly exercise a couple of times a week.i used to exercise alot but havent had the time in the last year are two.my resting heart rate is about 45bpm on average.nice to know there is nothing wrong with me haha
I am sitting at my computer at work and my current resting heart rate is 33 bpm. I am 54 years old. I run and I bike. Been running for more than 37 years. I ran a 1/2 marathon yesterday but not very well. I have had some issues lately with Atrial flutter and am getting a holter monitor installed this afternoon.
Just wondering, my dr. says that i worry too much about my heart rate i never used to pay any attention to it until i had my first panic attack. i thought that i was having a heart attack at 22. i know now that i wasnt. just wondering when you started looking, checking, or monitoring your heart rate? what made you notice that something didnt feel right?
Nurses first noticed my heart rate when i was getting my “shakes” checked out. cheers Martin
Hey, does anyone know anything about low heart rate and metabolism? Here’s the scenario:
a) I am a relatively fit, 42 yo female (125 libs) and run about 20-25 miles a week when I am not training for a race.
b) Ran 2 full marathons (4:30) earlier in the winter and have had low heart rate (and low metabolism) since I started tracking 3 years ago. I am by no means an elite athlete so what gives???
c) Holter monitor assessment and cardiologist says I am ok just fit. I get frustrated that I have to work out so much harder than my friends to get 1/2 the calorie burn that they do even when I take time off from cardio for a weeks post race.
d) I know that I shouldn’t be comparing but really (?!!) only 1700 calories to hike 6 hours out of the Grand Canyon???. I first had my heart rate checked 6 years ago when I kept setting off hospital monitors while in recovery from out patient surgery.
e) I also have Raynaud’s and don’t know if that has any bearing.
f) Also noticed that my heart rate was higher after using an asthma inhaler following a bronchial irritation.
g) Resting heart rate upon waking is 30 and usually around 45-50 while on the computer or relaxing.
Would VO2 max testing help me to figure out if I am working out too hard? Any feedback or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
have you worried about it?i actually got so worried that i bought a watch that is also a heart rate monitor. ive had it since november and i have not taken it off since then other than when im in the water. they have asked me to take it off now that i am always checking. im just wondering if im alone. my husband doesnt fully understand what its like to always worry if your heart is working the way that it is suposed to. thank you for your reply.
I’m a 52 year old male. I started cycling in Feb 2010 having not done it for 20 years.
My resting heart rate has not changed since this new exercise regime for me – sitting on 62 bpm. But I can now do a 50km cycle.
Im a 13 year old boy and my heart rate ranges from 45-58 at resting. Id say the average is about 51/52
P.S. the reason for my sow heart rate is because im such an active runner. my mile is a 4:55
I am a 27 year old guy who is a pack a day smoker (plus pot smoker in the evenings) and avid coffe drinker (4 cups a day). Inspite of these crutches on my life I have always pushed myself to train very hard. I managed to get my 2.4km run time down to 6:45. I played a ton of basketball and lifted weights.
One day I was running and feeling pretty good so i started to increase my tempo and I ran a flat out sprint for over a km half way through my run… then i felt something tear in my chest. It was a very alarming feeling. I was concerned but eased up a bit and finished my run. I figured i should take it easy for a while and I did little to no exercise for 3 months. I tried to go for a run again but my chest still didn’t feel right so i went to the doctors.
My doctor took my pulse and I had a “resting” heart rate of 37bbm. I had run up 2 flights of stairs because I was late but I had about 5 minutes of rest to recover fully before the test. The doctor asked if i exercised and i said not in months, so he sent me to the hospital for an ecocardiogram. The test was run twice the first one was 38 the second one was 36… and I had an irregular heart beat.
My problem is that when I’m really resting (like sitting on the couch for the day watching movies) I feel my heart rate drops so low it gets hard to move. I have no energy. Its kind of scary because I feel pretty helpless. The trick is, I have to push myself mentally to get started. I move very slow, gradually increasing the intensity, and after about 5 minutes my whole body comes back to life and I feel like monster again.
I feel like i spend any time i’m not exercising “conserving energy”. I move quite slow and I am constantly lethargic. Its very annoying. I’ve lived like this for years now and I wonder if one day my heart rate will just drop so low it stops accidently. 1 beat every 2 seconds (30bbm) is pretty darn slow and as i get older it feels like its slowing down more. One day i can see a perfect storm of events happening where it loses its rythem and stops.
My hearts action reminds me of a Harley Davidson bike. When its just idling it kinda of rumbles and is a bit inconsistant and occasionally feels like its going to stall out… Give it some gas though, and it just takes off. Tons of power and just goes like crazy. I smoke all the time and i just crush people with my cardio. They might keep up with me for the first 5-10 minutes but then i step it up and they all quit. I can go very hard for about and hour and at a slightly reduced rate during the second hour before my body starts to shut down from lack of energy stores, minerals and vitamins.
Any thoughts on all this?
Hi Joey,
I loved reading your post. You have a great sense of humor. Your examples, like the Harley Davidson example, are quite entertaining yet convey good sense of your concern.
If you are concerned about your heart, I might suggest that you consult more than one physician. Personally, my heart rate is as low as 34 per minute upon rising in the morning, and generally in the 50 range not exerting myself, and as high as 140, give or take, if I am doing cardio (cycling). I am NOT a physician, but I think a good thing to know is also your blood pressure. Obviously, if that is very low PLUS a low heartbeat, fainting is possible.
As far as smoking is concerned, if you can muster it in your will to change your habits of enjoyment, you will be doing yourself a great favor. Being so young, it is hard for you to see the ill effects of your actions; however, it will manifest eventually. Maybe you could replace them with some tasty healthy snacks, maybe occasional pizzas. You can do it, if you put your mind to it – the same mind that causes you to rise slowly from your chair and become a busy bee.
Mike
reading all these comments made feel delighted knowing that i’m normal. Currently i’m running 10 miles a week, weigh 152 pounds, 34 Yrs., 6’2 tall, measuring the RHR using Garmin 405———> lowest i got is 36 and stabilizes at 38 in the morning.
reading these posts do make me feel better, knowing im not alone. altho i do not exersize im 23 now and have 2 kids. i want to exersize only i feel like i dont have enough energy. so in the morning im at 38 bpm. gets higher as the day goes on. if im up and going its in the 100’s i think is high but oh well. i dont drink coffe,soft drinks,beer nothing but tea and water. juce sometimes. no drugs, yet i do smoke a pack a day. if i sit to watch a movie it goes from about 80-53bpm. if i do work out will it get slower????
Hi, im 16 and I have recently been fasinated with the human body. I came across this page about low heart rates. It always seems the people who do cycling out of everything makes your heart the strongest, thus lowering your heart rate. Tell me if im completely wrong and how to improve but this is my view on things, a guide if you like:
Eat porrige for breakfast – awesome for you, my granddad is 90 and he still rides the bike etc, he is a beast. must be good. An alternative to porrige could be musily (wrong spelling)
Ride the bike – Makes your heart a beast, lots of connections between cycling and a strong healthy heart.
Have a decent heart pressure – If you have a low pressure you will black out when you stand up almost, (this has happened to me recently – not very nice, almost banged head), to keep a perfect blood pressure I advise NOT to have Caffine, e.g. coke or coffee, this certainly lowers pressure and make the heart beat irregular.
So, If you have LOW blood pressure, Have LESS caffine but slightly MORE salt, e.g. more than you usually have.
But if you have high blood pressure, you could potentially have more caffine, but way less salt.
My normal resting pulse is 28-30bpm, although it has dropped lower! I know it’s accurate as I have been admited to hospital twice when I had other illnesses & the doctors had recourse to take my pulse. On one occasion they even tried to speed it up a little with Atropene! which was not nice.
My maximum I have seen in a race on my Garmin is 190bpm.
I’m 17 years old, 175lbs, 5’9 and a resting heart rate of 56bpm.
I don’t know if this is good or not but I keep active – weight lifting 5 times a week and running 30-40km a week plus playing rugby 4 times a week when in season 🙂