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?
My lowest heart rate was recorded back in 1999. 36bpm. I didn’t believe the monitor, so I confirmed it by manual counting. 🙂
36 for me, too (at sea level). At higher elevation, it’s consistently 38. Is the range of hr’s what’s more important/something to brag about? Like if you have a really low resting hr & super high max? My max is pretty low.
Manual messured 34 bpm May 2007.
Training 2x5x 37 km. To and from work every day. + 100 – 150km during weekends.
By the way.
I was ill a couple of days later…
I am not going to win this competition, but your resting heart rates impresses me.
46 bpm.
Well i think the record is with Miguel Indurain… he was reporting an average resting pulse of 29 bpm. Mine.. well.. lets put this, this way… to high.. hehehe… its on 62 “IF” i sleep well… usually i dont… usually, I sleep less than 5 hours…
C’ya
I think mine was 46…I’m a novice 🙂
I measure before bed, and that rate is usually lower than my morning rates…is there a physiological reason for that?
I’ve seen as low as 36 a couple years back. My heart rate monitor only goes down to 40 and I’ve seen it pegged low many times. I am in pretty good shape but I believe it’s mostly genes.
39… my mom was worried so she sent the EKG to the doctors.
(she’s the one that did the EKG)
i’m 35 now, and my rate was 36 when i was 17. it’s 39 now! not sure how it’s survived the years at uni etc, but i’m glad it’s taking care of me!
I woke up one morning and put my head on my husbands chest. I was startled to find that his heart rate was 31 bpm- I woke him up to make sure he was ok! Later verification- yup 31 bpm.
Must be genetic because he only bikes about 20K/week to work. He’s quite thin and can easily run 10K without training. Lucky!! My heart rate is 50 and I do lots of running/swimming/biking.
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Now I have heard several places that resting heart rate could somehow be related to bodyfatpercentage.
This is quite unscientific, but I myself have seen lower resting heart rates when my bodyfat percentage has been quite low a couple of years ago (This effect isn’t necessarily related to fitness).
I really do not test my resting heart rate these days – I really can’t see much use of this measurement, but I THINK it is in the upper 30’s.
32 BPM….18 years ago @ 20 yo training all the time. Now 50-60 as a fat couch potato. Sad part is it rarely gets above 90 during my day job…I miss working hard since I’m hardly working.
So I was woundering what is all of your max heart rate’s that will tell more, if you resting is 45 but your max is 175 you are normal, but if your resting is 45 and your max is 200 that is impressive. Like lance his resting is 35 max 201!
cheers
Mine is 36 at the moment and my max is 216, im 17. I think genetics has a lot to do with it cause my dads is 52 and he is almost 50 with hardly any training.
And i dont regard myself as a crazy training athlete. So genetics has a lot to do with it.
Im gonna see how low i can get it, i am doin the Nossa Triathlon in November so i will see if i can get it sub 30.
But heart rate isnt the full story cause Lance was 36min, 207max, but that wasnt the thing that made him an amazing cyclist. It was his lactate toloerance.
I never really paid attention to this until one day i got a 39 in the doctor’s office. He asked to check it like 3 more times until the doctor told him it’s lower in athletes. I’ve started keeping track of since then, trying to get t lower.
The lowest RHR i’ve heard of is like 34. a Tour de France cyclist.
I wonder how low it must be in marathon runners or cyclists who are asleep!
Recorded 32 a few weeks back. I am 39 years old and weigh 270lbs at 24% bodyfat so was a bit concerned. But I have trained very hard most of my adult life. Cycle about 24kms daily, plus alternate days intense cardio and weights. Used to be a fitness instructor doing up to three classes a day plus competitions, which probably explains the low pulse. Put on weight while doing a desk job. My fitness is now close to what it used to be and my fat % is dropping so curious to see how low the pulse goes…
I’ve been running for about a year but when I joined a new gym last week I received a health evaluation. One of the components was to measure your heart rate. I run about 30-40K per week so it surpised them how quick I reached 90% of ‘Max heart rate’ about 172. She explained this was unusual as I am in reasonable shape and my heart rate dropped quickly to resting pace. During the evaluation I did not feel too much effort being exerted.
(I’m a small guy 5 6′ and weigh 145 ibls)
I bought a HRM since this and have reached 200 during some tough hills and I seem to run at a pace aroung 170-180. My resting rate is about 50-60 and brisk walking is 115-125 it seems
This fitness test has me all worked up that I am over doing it – yet running at a HR of 150-160 I feel I am barely exerting any effort? Any comments suggestions of where I can research further?
Ryan,
You’ve come to the right place. There are several articles about heart rate training here. 🙂
Your working heart rate is in the upper part of normal range, but there is no problem in that. Maybe your maximum heart rate is higher than 200, making your working heart rate even more normal. I don’t know which test protocol you have used to test your maximum heart rate, but as you can see in this article: https://www.training4cyclists.com/how-to-find-your-maximum-heart-rate/
there are typical mistakes that results in a maximum heart rate that is lower than it really is.
I suggest you continue your workouts where you feel you get the best training (170-180bpm).
Best regards,
Jesper
I’m 48 and my bpm was 38 this am at the dentist. I need to check the resting rate. Never bike just run.
the lowest ever recorded was by a swedish cross country skiier, he and his entire family had a mutated gene which means they all had a superior amount of haemoglobin or oxygen transporting cells than the average human and his resting bpm (unbelievable as it may be) is 16 bpm!
It is amazing how everyone here has such a low RHR. My resting heart rate is about 58 and my max HR (that I have ever hit on my Polar) is about 213. Not sure if that is the real max or not.. it seems too high but pressure point measurement over 6 secs (multiplied by 10 later) seems to confirm the accuracy of the Polar. And the thing is… I don’t even seem to be exercising at max.. feels more like 90% or so… Is this normal or should I be worried?
I’m 53 and my RHR is around 42. Bike every other day and do time Trialing and Audax rides. Try to keep in shape but can’t get rid of the belly easily (age??).
Usually bike at top end of MHR which I guess is 175 but haven’t had any testing.
I have a systolic heart murmor detected when I was 18 but it has never bothered me and some medics can’t even detect it.
I’m 13 – I lift weights & run 5 to 7 days of the week- and my resting heart heart is 45 BPM (I did whole minute I didn’t think of the 15 second thing) . I’m a big guy though 5’11 155 pounds (I’m not sure if that changes anything much, or does it?)
PS: don’t ask how I found this site I was just bored 😛
Oh! forgot to add the 45 BPM is my resting heart beat.
I’m 71 and a former avid runner. My RHR is 40 bpm, too low for automated testing. I walk 2 times per day about 3 miles, briskly. Resent EKG was normal.
Haven’t run in several years.
most of u guys lie, unless you are a marathon runner you can have such low heart rates.
blabla, you’re just jealous because your bpm probably sucks! More people than marathon runners can have low heart rates. You have to think about rest durations, nutrition, body mass, training intensity, and many other things… not only distance.
BTW, I bet you are one of those who argue and do nothing else. I am going for a workout right now. You still on the couch, sucka?!?!?
Well said, blah blah blah.
Yup, it’s always the lazy ones. Where were you blabla when we were pushing ourselves to the limit day after day? Probably sitting aroung drinking beers and watching tv.
I’m off for 45 minutes of high intensity interval training myself…
Blah blah blah your a legend, blabla your an idiot why would someone lie about there lowest resting heart rate on a sight devoted to exercise and networking between athletes who take pride in there training and becoming the best they can be, endurance athletes do it for the pain and being able to say you accomplished something, its about racing against yourself and beating your PB. Get off the couch and stop spreading pointless remarks.
My Resting Heart Rate is 68bpm and I weigh 312 pounds at 6′ 4″. I think I am tough as nails and would like somebody to give me their heart for a transplant so I can win an olympic medal in some sport like rowing. I used to be in Army ROTC and I would always come in first in the two-mile run. At that time I weighed 250 pounds with no fat, but my best RHR was only ever reached 54 bpm. Technical babble: moving a mass M through a distance X requires work W that is proportional to the force required to move the mass times the distance:
W = F * X
The units of Work are Energy units (Joules or Calories)
But Power = Work per unit time: Power = Work/Time
Power is measured in Watts (W)
Thus if you consider the heart as an engine, who has the strongest engine? Not me. Who is the toughest human being alive? Me.
I’m 52, quite fit but a smoker too. RHR is currently 52, has been as low as 35 years ago when I did a lot of sport. A few months ago I was diagnosed with atral fibrulation and have had to have a cardioversion performed. So far so good. This has motivated me to get back into some serious training again. My highest heart rate when I was about 20 was something over 230, just recently I got to 228 during some sprint swim training. Am I putting myself at risk… but I don’t feel ill for it!
40 … when im sleeping im sure its a few numbers lower
Minutes ago I opneded up a letter from my doctor. I am 48 and recently had a rate of 46. I run 4-5x per week for 50 minutes, lift weights for 45 minutes each day and sauna each day for 30 minutes. I am 6’3″ and 233 lbs. I had a heart attack 2 years ago today 12-26-05 thus the timing of this letter
had me so scared. I feel better now that I know others have low rates too.
Any comments would be helpful. Thanks. John in Los Angeles.
Good evening. I recently bought a HRM. I have been sitting here reading up on HR info to figure out what a good HR is and found this site. I am a 37 yr old female. I work out quite a bit and was a bit alarmed when I saw that my HR was around 48 BPM this evening. Most of the charts show HR charts with a range of 60-100 BPM. I was especially nervous when I started looking at the Brachycardia information, but I have no symptoms. Thanks for posting this information. It relieved my mind. I will double check with my doc at my physical in February to be on the safe side. Thanks again!
wow im amazed at how many liars are here, you dont have heart rates in the 30s weighing 270 lbs 20% bodyfat, you proabaly have a heart that beats irregularly with 1 strong beat for every 2 weak beats
wow franz, thanks for that. And all this time I thought my pulse was low because I’ve trained my guts out all my life. I’ve been regularly taking my pulse for the past year both manually and using a monitor and it is always a rock-stready beat in the range 31 to 34. So presumably that means my monitor must be broken AND I can’t count. As for my weight, I’ve alway’s been heavy. Was 220lbs at 8% bodyfat. You don’t have to be light to be fit. Try doing the training I do in a week and you’ll see why my pulse is so low…
Hi all. Could i make a small update to this thread please. The slowest heart rate on record is 27 bpm achieved by Martin Brady in August 2005. I know its only a beat or 2 lower than Miguels, but its my only claim to fame. cheers Martin
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hi all, son had book of records out. Conversation got round to my heart beat, discussed my lowest as being 27 but normal rest is at 36, typed in on net and came up with this site nice one martin quite unusual, im 6’4″ and 19 stone and always into my fitness, now 42 yrs, son has resting pulse rate of 39 bpm
2 years ago when I was 21 I had a HR of 29. It was durnig the night when I was sleeping ( I was hooked up to a HR moniotor). Every time my HR went too 30 or below an alarm would go off to wake me up. Anyway, the Doc told me it was too low, so I had to “work” on rasing it.
Just after I graduated from college, I did a 10 day mountain climbing expedition in Alaska. I was already very fit and was riding pretty much every day plus hiking. My resting HR was typically in the low 30s but after climbing 10-12 hours a day for 10 days, my resting HR was 28 for a couple weeks.
Now I’m 36 and on several asthma medications. I’m happy when my resting HR is in the mid 40s.
Good to read others like me!
Resting/seated or standing at 38bpm, walking about at home goes up to 44.
I can ride for hours at 176bpm and recorded a short burst max (a few sustained seconds on an uphill sprint) at 208bpm. Wasn’t comfortable over 200bpm though 🙂
Also, I am sufficiently aware of heart beat to count without need to feel for pulse. I can also modify the rate lower by thinking/breathing and raise it by thinking about going for a run (which I hate).
I’m 36, and believe the low rate is familial, although I enjoy working hard whenever excercising.
Forgot to add other stats for info: I’m 6ft 2 or 3 (depends on time of day) and weigh 92kgs.
Wow… I thought I was in good shape. I have been a firefighter for 4 years and I workout all of the time with crossfit. 44bpm is the best I can do at 26yo and 6’3″.
See ya.
wow really my record is ur not gonna believe it but 4 bpm i was declared dead but now im good
By the middle of last year I thought I’d become pretty fit as I’d given up a life long career of heavy smoking in November 2007. With some fairly regular training I watched my resting heart rate come down from circa 72bpm on morning wake up to 51bpm which I thought was pretty good for a 44 year old and frankly I never thought I’d see it improve. I did the Dragon ride in Wales last June and according to my Garmin I hit 192bpm on the top of the Rhigos (which probably explains why I got off and practically passed out – really embrarrasing when all these riders are going past you whilst talking about the weather). Anyway, I’ve been training a bit earlier for the event this year. I’ve done loads of fat burning excercise and shed 12lbs since new year. The draw back appears three fold. Firstly I simply cannot get my heart rate up anywhere near where it could go last June, although I’m putting out more power at a lower heart rate. Secondly, the consequence of a now resting heart rate of 40 / 42 bpm has also resulted in a resting blood pressure of 71 over 43 which is a bit worrying, and finally the consequence of that is that I can’t get to sleep through worry and restlesness hence googling Blood Pressure and finding this site at 4a.m. According to all the RHR’s posted hear, I’ve got nothing to worry about. To be honest, although I can’t see it happening somehow, I don’t really want to end up like Indurain and have to sleep upright in a chair every night. Seriously, does anyone who’s posted on this site with such low B’sPM have resting blood pressure this low and if so is it a problem?
Me again – gave up the smoking November 2006 – not 2007
Matthew, your BP is a bit worrying, youll find your max heart rate will gradually drop with age (about 220-your age) but it changes abit depending on training, im 18 and my max is 223, my resting is about 36.
Just measured 41b bpm this Saturday 15 minutes after going to bed. Measured 220 bpm after intense interval training at the gym last week, and 180 bpm one minute later.
I’m a computer geek/business student and spend most of my time sitting in lectures or in front of the computer.
Started exercising 3 weeks ago, 5 day per week, mostly endurance. Prior to this my lowest manually measured HR was at 47 during the Christmas holidays.
So I guess 3 weeks of endurance training is having an effect?
i am 33, i play tennis 5 times a week and hit the gym 3 to 4 times a week!!!
my RHR is consistently 50 to 55 and tonight i hit a all time low of 48!!!
Since i am not a runner or a cyclist will or can my RHR go lower then 48?????
believe it or not three years ago my RHR was 88, scary but true,drastic lifestyle change has done me wonder!!!!! please replied…..thanks
matthew my blood pressure use to be 150/100 and i have changed big time my lifestyle and i mean BIGTIME. now my bp will go has low as 112/69.thats like minus 30 40 points so maybe you had 130 85 norm and now you like me dropped 30 to 40 points. i hope this helps to sooth your mind. CONGRATS on the RHR i am am still behind in that department !!! 48 is my record but my norm is 54……
My lowest was just this morning @ 35 BPM. I freaked out and did it again. I started cycling and jump roping in January and have lost 40 lbs. I track my resting heart rate once a week and have watched it go down significantly. Now when I work out I use a HR monitor and have started to see how fit I have become. I also started to notice how fast it goes down after and intense work out, is that normal and is it also normal to take longer to get my HR up.
Bryan, I also have a low HR and a few months back added interval training to my routine. I noticed a definite difference in how long it takes to get my pulse up. At first I was hitting a peak of 98% quite easily. Now I struggle to get to 90%, and it takes longer to get there. Also noticed a shorter recovery period.
Today was the first day my rhr was ever recorded. It was a 59 which was good ive been told. considering i started working out less than a month ago. But seeing all of these peoples scores is definately inspiring. I am now personally going to see how much i can lower it. thanks
good luck joe!!! In order to get low 50s or high 40s you must really really do some serious cardio!! 4 to 6 times a week , keep us posted and well compare!!
I am 70 years old & have been running daily long distances last 40 years, averaging 450 kilo metres/month, besides running up 8 flights of stairs& weight training. I have run the full marathon distances too. My RHR early mornings, on the wrist strapped heart monitor, was between 36-38 & i had for long accepted this figure. However, a fracture injury & enforced bed rest gave me an opportunity to manually count the beats on clearly visible beating pulse against stop watch on my moibile & was very surprised to see my RHR early mornings at between 28-30. Not quite believing what I saw, i have since carried out hundreds of such measurements & the figures seem correct. Have used the 15 seconds multiplied by 4 model & find that over a minute, the actuak beats could vary from below the times 4 figure to more or less exactly the same & on occasions more than this limit. I add too, that my BMI is 20, Hip: waist ratio 0.77(waist size of 28 inches), have never been overweight ever, with a high BMR of around 1800 calories. Seem to be having great fun tracking my heart rate on the mobile stopwatch timer.
Hi, my resting heart rate is 38, i work out 3-4 times a week with 5-aside once a week, hope to get it lower but not to low??
I am a 52 year old male with a resting heart rate of 42. I have had a low RHR ever since I can remember. I was a very competive runner through high school and then broke my ankle in University resulting in a 10 year lay-off from running. I took running up again in my 30s and over the next 10 years ran an average of 1 marathon every other year with plenty of 10k fun runs in there to stay active. 3:00 best. I’ve had my fair share of medical mis-diagnoses to do with my heart as I have a congenital heart murmur and have had many EKGs with inverted waves of some sort. In my best shape my RHR was 35-38. So, in the last 10-15 years I have been plagued by muscle injuries which have prevented me from getting into peak shape. Finally, I got orthodics and have been training OK for the past 4 months slowly building long run mileage back to 10 miles where I have been holding (9 min pace). During the week I alternate bewteen cycling and 30-40 minute tempo runs 3-4 times per week. I also swim once a week. My intensity varies between 125 and 165 bpm. Weight doesn’t seem to drop much and I am still overweight by at least 5-20 lbs with a BMI of 25.8. I just had my annual physical and my doctor is obviously worried about my HR. It was 43 in his office. My reaction was the usual “athletic heart ” response that I have used for years but he’s not buying it! So I’m off to see a specialist and who know what kinds of tests. I’ve never been dizzy or short of breath and if I feel different now than I did when younger its only that the amount effort it takes now to maintain a 9 minute mile for 10 miles feels about the same as a 7 minute mile did when I was in my 30s. Is this a reality check where I’ve actually had something wrong all these years or is it possible to have a RHR of 42 even though I’m not highly trained? I read that this athletic heart condition will revert back to a normal rate within a month or so once the training is stopped. Thyroid function was a concern a few years ago and I did go on Synthoid for a year but then my GP took me off and for the past 2 years my levels have been normal. Not sure what to make of all this but I will get a heart specialist to check me out and also make sure my thyroid function is still normal. If all is well I’ll be planning another Marathon for next year!!!
I’m 67 with a min of 55 and a max of 175.
my lowest is 30 flat and it wasnt even in the morning.
my resting heart rate is 43 beats peer minute! starting my royal marines training soon!!! so i wondeer wat it might be if i make i through training- ive been doing alot of training andwhen i first started 4 months ago my RHR was 54 beats per min, 😀
Oh, I have read through a lot of these posts and I am still left with questions. I am not a runner nor a conditioned athlete. I am simply a 34 year old woman who is a little overweight (maybe 15lbs) and live a very very stressed lifestyle. I raise my two kids on my own who also have very demanding schedules. I also have an extremely demanding career. most weeks I can work 65-70+ hours. I get little to no sleep (avg 2-4 hours if I am lucky) yet my heart rate is in the low 40’s. Last night 42. I do taebo fitness bootcamp about 4 nights a week but I would think with the stress I would have a normal or very high rate. Any insight would be welcomed.
wow you guys are lucky! i dont know what it is with me, but ive been training with cardio 3-4 times a week with pretty high intensity for over a year and my RHR is 64. im hoping its genetics thats keeping it high like that, because i thought i was in better shape than that
by the way, Tracy, i would say it’s your genes that keep your RHR so low. a lot of stress would increase your RHR but it’s also possible that it just does not phase you. maybe the exercise that you do overwhelms your stress. good for you
I am a petite, 115 lb., 40 year old woman who has started running, incline walking and hiking about 18 months ago. I perform some combination of above for about 5 hours per week. Basically, I kill myself to get into a 85% MHR zone which is lending to injuries. My low RHR varies but has been an issue for 5+ years even when I was not exercising, but I notice it go even lower when I am fit.
Let’s face it – the cardio is good for the heart but when you are a smaller woman, the calorie burn is the real motivation as I have noticed it harder to keep the weight down past age 35. However, my calorie burn on my HRM sucks due to the lower heart rate. I hiked the Grand Canyon and burned only 1/2 the calories my girlfriends did even though I was leading the pack. I expected some variance but not half of theirs. It is pretty discouraging and wondering if anyone else had any insight.
BTW – I had a 24 hour Holter Monitor test done and will review results with cardiologist in 2 weeks. He thinks I am obsessive but I am of normal weight for my height and just want to keep it that way. When you are small, 5 lbs. means the difference between fitting in your clothes or absolutely not. My stats are Max HR 179 (2 mile sprint at end of 1/2 marathon) RHR usually 50 bpm but goes below 30 bpm when I sleep.
Thanks!
My lowest resting heart rate was 23 BPM, and that was sitting up in the middle of the afternoon I have had stress tests and echocardiograms done to see if there is any problem, but I seem to have a very low natural heart rate and I do tons of cardio workouts.
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Well, my lowest heart-rate I know so far is somwthing about 39. Depends on how much I train. When I sleep the rate usually go under 28 bpm.
When my doctor found out that I’ve got such a low heart-rate she was like: “Oh, you are really sick”. So I started attending many cardio-doctors. After about 2 weeks full of check-ups doctors told me that my heart-rate is racial and I had born with it… Lucky me … 🙂
Well, mine isn’t as good as some of those I have seen posted here. My resting heart rate was measured at the doctors officer this morning at 52. And honestly, I don’t think that is too bad for a guy who is 40 years old and until a year and a half ago weighed 325 pounds (I am 5 foor 8 inches tall) I now weigh in at 170, am fit, muscular, and in very good shape. 15% body fat and dropping. All thanks to riding my bicycle at least 20 miles a day! And going to the gym and lifting weights.
I’m 20, and run mostly every day – my peak volume is about 70-80 miles/wk. Just sitting around at work in the morning today, mine hit 37 bpm. My max I recorded several years ago at 212 bpm during a hard run, but I think that’s gone down over the past few years.
I started training again regularly in February after several years off. My WHR had risen to over 70 but it dropped very quickly to 60 and has been edging down since. It’s now usually 49-52. It’s been 45 on 3 separate occasions, which is a bit weird since it’s not been 46, 47 or 48 even once!
It doesn’t surprise me to see people reporting such low rates since I consider myself to have very poor natural fitness (best half-marathon time barely 1:45 despite having focused on training for it for 18 months, and having started that training from a reasonably fit state! OK I had 50 pounds of muscle (mostly ;)) more than ideal running weight, but even adjusting for that it’s still a poor time)
When I was young, I remember being told 60 was “athletic”. I doubt it now!
One thing I’ve always wondered – what happens if you end up in hospital after an accident unable to tell the doctors your low heart rate is normal for you? Is there any danger they’d end up causing you further damage trying to medicate it?
0 bpm, a winner, I am Dead Sure
checked out my HR with a pulse oximeter last night I woke up to check my HR and it was 34bpm. I bike about 200 miles a week but I don’t even want to know what my max has been. I know I almost puked I pushed so hard the other day and my friend who also is an avid rider actually did puke. Good Stuff! haha
I’ve taken mine down from 65 bpm to 44 bpm with unstructured training over a period of rougly 3 months.
It’s likely that there are many variables that will influence resting heart rate aside from genetics, being: diet, sleep patterns, stress levels, geographic location (altitude and climate), as well as how many toxins your immune system is currently combating. (Note that are immune systems are always fighting something even if we don’t consciously notice the affects.)
What might be more important in terms of fitness is recovery of heart rate. If you can exercise and have your heart rate high relative to your max, or LT, for long periods of time yet have it drop quickly when the intensity is lowered, this is a more important sign of fitness IMHO.
I’ve had my heart rate up around 190 (I’m 23 years old, did that when I was 22) for an hour in a time trial and it dropped to 130 within a minute after and 110 within two minutes while doing light spinning. In situations like this it is possible we get a better guage of how well our bodies are actually handling loads.
im 27 years old 155lbs and maybe 10% body fat -On july 19th I ran 10.5 mile in 2 hours 39 minutes (I walked the first 1.5 miles to warm up and elevate my heart rate gradually). I ran at an average heart rate of 130 and max of 155.
I purposley ran very slowly to make it more aerobic and also because it was 95 degrees farenhiet in NYC that day. I drank plenty of water during adn after with alot of electrolytes and had no major soreness (I also went for a 1.5 hour massage later that evening and took a bunch of antioxidants).
I went to sleep with my heart rate monitor on later that night and woke up at around 430am with a recorded average heart rate of 38 for the 4 1/2 hour nap (the max heart rate was 77 during the sleep and then from 4am -8am the avg rhr was 50). Im assuming it went lower then 38 since that was the average (from 1am -430am). However, I wonder did I over train? Ive heard that very high RHR or very low can result from overtraining. But I dont think i did, because I wasnt very sore and the next day I did a recovery ride on my bike with an average HR of 113 and then again in the 95 degree heat outside (on sunday)- did 280 pushups/100 pullups/ 120 dips /130 leg raises in 1 hour 22 minutes( avg hr 118 max 161) and I feel great now 2 days later!
I remember being able to keep my heart rate at 185-190 for 45 minutes non stop a few years ago (cycling at sub maximal effort)and hope that this is just my body getting back into shape and nothing more/less.
My resting heart rate is 29-30. I am overweight, do not work out, but I do climb up 40 steps to get to my house three times a day and I am gardening constantly and lugging 80 pound buckets of sand or rocks at all times (to make stairs) and I am always gardening. Had numerous heart tests and wore a monitor, though the heart rate was low, the hear rythmn where normal. All tests came back negative. (though one the false positive nuclear stress test which lead to a heart catherization gave me a blood clot which I am currently being treated for) Wore a heart monitor for 24 hours. No problems, never heard the lowest my heart rate got to. I am a 42 year old female.
I do a fair bit of hard running and managed to get my resting rate to 29-30bpm. That was tested with my Timex monitor at 9:00 am after I’ve been up for 2 hrs and had already eaten breakfast. Max rate is 195bpm and I am 34 years old.
I’m 30 years old and run trails, hills, intervals and cycle a lot of mountains…been doing it for a bit over a year after I started running to lose 3-4kg. I ran some cross-country and track in high school but never took it seriously.
I am about 60kg weight and 164cm height, so small. Compared to my friends I have a lower max heart rate than they do at 185. My resting HR is 48. I want to get it closer to 40 and try to hit a higher max, though I’m not convinced going higher is actually going to benefit me. I can reach 95-97% HR (5K running race pace) easily and drop back to 100bpm quickly as well so I’m happy with my fitness.
I think for cycling/racing I’m looking to improve lactate threshold so I can do more repeated climbing/sprints. Other than that I worry more about nutrition and not getting injured running!
I was a runner as a youth – then a right lazy b from uni onwards.
Last couple of years have started cycling to work – 28 mile round trip, and last couple of months have started doing some running.
I use a Garmin 305 with HRM and have a resting rate of 38 and a max of 204 (I am 34). I am only just getting into the running aspect, but with plenty room for improvement (5ft 11 and 200lbs) I reckon the resting part has room to go lower.
I am 66 and have always had a very low pulse. I have just purchased a Garmin 405 but it cuts out when my pulse drops below 30. My old Polar measured 28 on occasions. In my case low pulse goes with good performance as I am still running 10 km in 41 minutes and 10 miles in 67 minutes. My GP has kittens about it.
Hi, I am 31, 5 ft 9 about 190 lbs. I have been running most of my life, cross country in high school, bad nicotine addiction in my 20’s, but kept running occationally. Now i have been training pretty hard for the past year or so, and am running races with a half marathon planned for this weekend. My resting rate has always been in the high thirties, low forties when i am training. This is about where it is now. Recently, i have had some chest heaviness a couple of days after hard runs. Not 100% that it’s my heart, could be a pulled muscle or something, but am a bit worried. I believe I was diagnosed with a heart murmer when i was very young. My working theory right now is that the heart is a muscle, and it gets sore and tight like every other muscle. Anyway, i know is should see a doctor, and am wondering if i should do the half marathon. anyone else have any stories or similar experiences would be much appreciated.
Wow some of you are incredibly full of crap. RHR of 23? I don’t think so. High 20’s is INCREDIBLY rare, even for top of the pinnacle athletes, yet we’ve got several people here claiming low 20’s. BS.
I measured my heart rate through the technique you recommend and it was 29. I’m 51, skinny and moderately fit.
More BS.
Hi Paul (nice name). I found this forum while doing research on low pulse rates since I was concerned that mine was too low. I suspect a lot of others here did the same. Just because you don’t hear about people with abnormally low resting pulse rates, doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Which is one of the things I like about the internet: no matter what your experience or problem – there are always others like you out there to make you feel less weird.
Cheers Paul
Nice to hear that others deal with a low resting heart rate. I went for a regular check up and my doctor was very concerned as my resting heart rate was in the mid-30s. He did an EKG and did some blood work. I have been training for a marathon and am at the 16 mile mark now. I did have some problems after the 16 miles as I felt like I was going to pass out. But I thought it was because I didn’t eat breakfast. I had 3 gels and 1 vita water and 2 reg waters. I felt good until I stopped. My doctor does not want to approve of my marathon training until I get my resutls back. I have been running for a long time. I do a lot of 1/2 marathons,but not whole marathons. I am 53 years old and 5’3″ and 122 pounds.
Any advise would be welcome. I don’t want to be scared to run the marathon as I have put a lot of training into it, but at the same time I don’t want to pass out at the end either.
Thank you.
Dee
The guinness book of records 2009 has just gone on sale here in UK and im in on page 63 with a resting heart rate of 27 BPM. Now if i can give up smoking, cut back on the drinking and partying and start training i could beat me own record for next year. cheers Martin
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2 years ago rhr 30bpm…have been doing ironman races for the last 6 years, training 15-20 hours a week…but actually it turned out that my heart had enlarged (cardiomyopathy) due to a rather rare disease….had brain surgery…I’m very lucky ….everything is fine now…my resting heart rate is closer to a whopping 38 now.
So to all you non athletics with really low HR …if you haven’t already …get checked out by a real Doctor …make sure you don’t have a heart block or other dangerous condition
I just saw the record resting heart rate for Miguel Indurain. I was just looking in some old photo albums and saw an article on my father for having a crazy low heart rate when he was boxing. it was 18! I was just trying to search online to see how normal, or not normal, this was among other athletes… I think its just crazy why my father would have never mentioned a thing like this.
I have never understood this RHR business. I cycle, swim & workout a lot, (usually do around 200miles a week on the bike, more if I get bored). I have a resting heartrate of between 60 & 70bpm, depending on what I am doing. I have good bloodpressure, around 100-60 at the above stated RHR. I have only ever dropped below 60bpm when awakening from a good sleep, the rest of the time it’s closer to 70. I have a bodyfat content of around 9%, which is easily maintained and whenever I take a fitness test it always comes out average, yet I can out perform friends whome score as high as ‘elite’ in some fitness tests due to their RHR being low and their HR falling to normal much quicker than mine…….any suggestions, or am I a phreak of nature haha!
Hey Dave,
I think its the luck of the draw with your genetics, i’ve got a mate who is an elite triathlete, he can run 10km in 31min, average over 40km/h for a 40km and his RHR is lowest at about 60, whereas I will run a 39min 10km ride at 35km/h and i got a RHR of 35bpm.
36 bpm. Ya I am 21 year old monster. Run 32 miles a week. Swim TU,Wen,Sat. And Crossfit it up 3 times a week.
nothing too fancy. RHR = 47 and I’m a recreational runner 🙂
Hi
Sitting here at the PC after a hard day on the farm, and at the age of 66 my pulse is , and its real,is 29. I have seen less . My Polar finds it difficult to cope!
I last raced in cycling time trials in 1978, just occaisional riding since. Should I start agian??????
28 oh yah beat that!
Janet ,Sorry to say that the low rate is I believe true. It is also irregular, with echos, so some times difficult to count correctly. I had not thought of it as a competition to be the lowest .
I have been concerned that my pulse rate had gone down as I go older! It was about 40 when I was racing. I had decided to make an appointment to see a Doctor, but was concerned that I would get the ill-informed reaction that some others listed above had received . I am just pleased to find that from this web page/site that there are other people out there with the same “problem”. I would like to have a proper assessment because I would like to get back on the bike without having to think that the sheep, or my wife, had not been looked after if I hit the final “wall” out on the road, and did not return home!
I had my heart rate go down to 27bpm and i dont know why but i felt faint
I am a 14 y/o male, My RHR just lying there in P.E today was 59.
My max running the beep test was 230.
My resting heart rate is 36 the
max is 183 I am 51 years old I xc ski race and train all year .Do I need to worry if I am in a accident will they think I am dead?
I heard from a fellow cycling fan a long time ago that Eddy Merckx was recorded as having a resting rate of 19 bpm. Did anyone else hear that?
FWIW I’ve not measured mine very often, but I did record 42 when I was younger – and cycle racing with some modest success.
hi everyone. i’m not that active (besides walking a mile around school 5 days a week) and my HR while sleeping got as low as 35 bpm while i was in the hospital this weekend. i’ve been having fainting spells and chest pain, so i got a thorough 3 day evaluation from a team of cardiologists at UCLA harbor medical center in los angeles. i had multiple EKGs, an ultrasound and numerous blood tests… their conclusion was that i’m healthy and they couldn’t explain how it got so low without training. i’ve thus taken it upon myself to start running (slowly at first, did a mile tonight, and i know that’s nothing so please don’t scoff) but yeah, while awake, it would easily dip down to the lower 40s.
43 right before i got my wisdom teeth pulled. freaked out the doctors. i thoguht it was funny as hell
35 years old. Have only done cycle commuting really until a few weeks ago and the best I ever seen was 40bpm however after only a week of serious interval training it dropped to 37bpm and that’s where it has stayed (apart from the odd slightly higher rate) every since.
im 12 and after a minor surgery i got 43 as my lowest 🙂
32 BPM I was in the middle of a rub… measured on a polar.
I have been learning about it and apparently a low resting heart can be pretty dangerous if you are not an intense marathon runner or something! But then again anything that is putting a strain on your heart regularly is bad for you…
I am 32 and a relatively big boy at 6’4 and about 235 lbs. I am an ex-powerlifter (100% natural) and slowly trying, cut back from my competetion weight of 302 lbs,(overweight is overweight muscle still requires your heart to work hard!) I am currently 16.5% body fat. I run about 30k a week and cycle about 150k per week as well as weight interval training 3 days per week. Still want to see 220 lbs and 10% BF! dreams are good!
I just train to be healthy, no other reason than feeling/looking as good as an ugly bald guy can. My RHR is usuallt around 36 bpm based on my HRM, I had a holter monitor about a year ago (long story) and it dropped to 30bpm in my sleep. My heat is healthy as can be according to my cardiologist.
I am not a typical “athlete” nor is my sister who is in similar shape and a mother of 2 and her RHR is around 38. I would venture to guess that genetics play every bit as much a role as training!
I can get as low as 29 BPM for short (2-3 min) durations while sleeping after wearing a Garmin 305. I get spikes of 75-80 throughout the night. Wake up around 40 bpm. (I have the data for proof).
I am literally days away from being 40, 5′ 10″, 214 muscular/athletic and am training for a marathon in January. I used to race a bit in triathlons/road bike and other various stuff.
I recall several years ago I was told by a doctor I have a large left ventricle in my heart. My father died of a second heart attack, so that drives to train (many times over, but I am getting better). I just love high anaeorbic stuff. I get bored with less. I used to do a bit of free diving.
Genetics or intense training for years?
Is 29 dangerous? Max HR I ever saw was a scary 189, so I choose 180.
Is it the ZMA I take occasionally?
I was a pro (female) cyclist – registered regularly at 28 bpm in the mornings. I’m now retired cyclist and it’s gone up a dash to low 30s. I think I have the lowest heart rate in the entire World:-)), but as you know, it does not mean you are going to win every endurance race. My maximum bpm used to be 180. It’s now dropped to about 174/5.
All I can say is, if you have no side-effects which I have never had, then a 28/29 bpm resting heart rate is perfectly ok. A lot of doctors can panic about it, so you must always have to let them know about it if you’re going for a general anesthetic for some surgery, for example!
My resting heart rate is about 55 bpm. I am 71 years old. I use a wrist monitor and check my BP every Sunday. My resting BPM is 54. I have recorded several 30’s and 40’s, the lowest was 31 on Dec. 8th. I think the monitor was recording incorrectly; however, it was up to low 50’s later in the day.
I am 33, I try and do at least an hour of cardio every day nowadays. Usually this is a 5-6 mile run in the morning or evening. I’ve never checked in the AM but before bed, just laying there reading I spotted 46 BPM on my wrist monitor. Last summer was about 48. This is great since I smoked/drank/ate poorly for like 15 years.. through college and my 20s. By the time I was 29 my resting rate was up to 80! Just goes to show what a good routine and diet will do for you! I cut from 225lbs back to 170lbs as well, by biking and running constantly over a year. My max over the past year is 189. Not sure I could hit that now.. maybe 183.
Question for everyone: I would like to monitor my HR over an extended period (maybe 24 hours). Can anyone recommend a good HRM for this? Some of you have mentioned Garmin, particularly the 305. If you wear it overnight (Tman, I think you did this) do you need to apply a gel to get a reading or will it work dry?
Any feedback much appreciated.
Paul
28- measured by my doctor 2 years ago. She thought I had been thru a tramua and almost paniced, called a nurse for an adreninie shot. My mom’s side has low heart rates. Down side is, I can’t sustain effort about 170. Ironmans, Century, Death Ride…
16 years ago i counted 38 on one day only.It was usually 44.My max at that time was 207(25 years old).
My max now is 186 and rhr of 46 or so but i can do 2 x 20 mins at 173-174 bpm(v02 max).
Doctor measured mine at 36 today, late afternoon after work – i run every evening & weight train every morning – age 44 . I was worried till I read this thread , but now I know I might just be getting fit
When I was 18, my RHR was around 35. I gave up cycling at the age of 27 for abouyt 10 years – just started again and have RHR of 46 – much better than I anticipated. Looking forward to bringing it back into the high 30s.
31, I strapped my cyclosport hrm and after watching those values i stayed inmobile on my bed for about 20 min, going for my personal record, most of the time it was 33. Also I graphed it once while sleeping in a nap, and vagheli i remember at some point it descended abruptly on the deepest part of the sleep, at 28, for about 10 min.
Never again this was When i was Guatemalas MtB National champ in 1998
My heart at a rest at 33 all day if I exercise it drops lower I can feel it but I had a good time in the 2 mile run of 10 minutes and 42 seconds and I felt that I could have gone faster.
It seems that genes play an important factor. I am now 27yrs old. 5ft11″ 90kgs. I’ve been training for a full 8yrs 3-6 times weekly. Lots of cardio excercises…i.e. running mainly, cycling, cross trainer, stepper and also some heavy low rep weights. My RHR is not that impressive. Its about 55-60 in the morning and the highest i’ve seen is 186 while running uphill on a treadmill. It seems that i don’t have much luck in genetics. Could it be because i use a caffeine stack.
I’m 23. Resting hr: 40. HRmax: 220. Measured on a stationary bike. Regularly reach 200+ hr when doing cardio :S
The year I held 200 in a crit (with a 208 max) I had a resting morning hr of 34. I was 23 at the time.
: (… geez… i wouldnt say im unhealthy because i have a body fat percentage of 6.5 and can run a mile under7 min 30 secs… but my resting heart rate is around 80… oh yea, by the way, im 14…
yea but in class, when my teachers are really boring… once it goes below 60 bpm, i doze off…
Due to a medical problem I’ve been wearing a heart monitor 24 hours a day. I received a phone call at 4:15 AM telling me to go to the ER because my heart rate dropped to 28 bpm during the night.
Let me add some more information. I fainted while sitting in church one morning. I’ve been on a 24 hr Holter monitor (34 bpm at about 3:00 AM) and about 7 days on a different Holter monitor (28 – 30 – 31) where my lowest record bpm. All of these happen about 3:00 AM. The ultrasound showed no damage to the heart. I ride 100 to 150 miles a week, run about 6 miles, lift weights, jump rope, and other assorted activities. The Doctor said 28 bpm was really the bottom of the scale and that I might want to consider a pacemaker. He did suggest a second opinion was in order.
24 bpm was my lowest… chasing a record I think – some say I’m competitive, LOL. the 24 bpm was recorded via a 24 hour heart monitor – while sleeping at 3AM. 33 at rest in the doctor’s office. Condition known as Athletic heart (Wenckebach- pronounced WINKY-BOK)… heart misses beats, very irregular. 6 months ago my slowest was 28 again while sleeping 42 while awake, so I appear to be sliding lower. I’m 47, 190 pounds, ran 1st marathon last year (3:42). always fit, martial arts, boxing etc. Following up with Electrocardiologist – he gave me all clear last time. Good luck to all!
27 bpm. I run and ride an insane amount daily – and yeah genetics seem to play a big part – lots of world class athletes in my gene pool 🙂
This is counting with hand over heart. Get this consistent result.
hi everyone, im not fit dont exercise but have 2 kids and house to look after i do walk places do house work all the stuff u shud do i suffer from panic attack and my hear rate can go up to 140bpm but i checked it on rest today and it was 42bpm is this to low for someone that dont exercise or is fit
My resting is 36bpm, and my max 200 (IM 26)
HR DOESNT MEAN ANYTHING THOUGH! (ITS ALL ABOUT HOW HARD YOU TRAIN (WHICH IS BASED ON HOW MUCH PAIN YOU CAN TOLERATE), AND HOW MUCH POWER YOU PUT OUT!)
Lowest resting HR = 18 5 years back while hooked up to a heart rate monitor, and why would people lie about their heart rates?
now I fattened up and its at 45 bpm
Resting pulse rate 46bpm,not an athlete and am a 32 year old female. Must be genetic.
Im 16 and I have a pretty high rate even though I can do 50 pushups in one time. Can alsio do 40 diamond ones. Is it high because of muscle or what? I dont run at all even though I am pretty fast…
my resting is 74 and my max is 180 im 12
Heya, im 23 and a gym monkey; last autumn i was prepped for a run and started chatting to a mate for a couple of mins – next time i looked down at my bpm and it was at 38. normally it hovers around 44 however.
Resting hrt does’nt mean anything other than you are fit. my resting hrt is roughly 36bpm. ther is faster people out there than me with higher resting hrt’s. it doues help to determin overtraining by useing ortostatic testing or wakeing hrt. But still these tests can leave you in the dark because resting and wakeing hrt can be drastcly altered due to nutrition and hydration.
Apparently the lowest ever recorded was some cross country skier, whos RHR was 16! Thats one beat every 4 seconds or so… that must go with a bang!
Nah.. i still got the Guinness book of records at 27 bpm (check your 2009 editions) and i recently quit smoking, cut down drinking and have started cycling a tuk-tuk so maybe 25 next year 🙂 cheers Martin Brady
I am a construction worker from sun up sun down. Mine has been low for as long as I can remember.low 30’s at sleep low40’s at rest. I just went to hospital thought I had some kind of problem. only thing I can’t figure is at times when I sleep it drops so low it wakes me very abruptly. Doctors have given me my share of tests but yet to see it drop below 30 any comments or help would be nice Thanks Dave
Hey guys, Im a triathlete in serious training. I’m 17 and run 50-70 miles, bike 175-225 miles and swim about5 miles per week and consider myself in exelent shape. But I’ve been using my garmin 305 to monitor my heartrate throughout the day, but the lowest reading ive ever had is 71 resting. I thought this was kinda high, but wanted some more opinions.
35ish. I am 6’4″ 245. not in the best shape. I love to mess with doctors. They say they are going to check it. read for about 2 secs then look up to see if I am about to faint or something. I tell them not to worrry.
Another time I went in for some minor surgury and they hooked my finger up to the monitor. I had the warning buzzer going off all morning. I would raise it when the nurses would come in. they thought the machine was bad for a while.
My dad is the same size and can get to 28. The Army had him wear a heart monitor for 3 days. It came back that is was low but not a problem.
when i was 14 i was hospitalized for 1 week and i saw my heart rate there than went as low as 28bpm actually the machines they had there started going off and i got scared funny thing my heart rate went up to 35’s after i heard that alarm, and now my resting heart rate is around 40
I’ve been seeing a cardiologist since I’ve been in the military (around 8 years). My EKG always registered is the low 30’s. Last week my EKG read 29 sitting up. The military doc’s requested a second opinion and there they laid me down for my EKG and it was 25. I’m 6’3 180lbs and feel great. I play basketball for hours at a time and lift 4-5 times a week. On my stress test they had me on a huge incline and couldn’t get my heart above 155. Anyone relate to this?
I took my 16 yr old son tonight for a sports physical and his rhr was 39. They would not sign off the physcial form until he sees a cardiologist. He is an exteme athlete. Runs 5-10 a day. Run marathons, plays every sport you can imagine. Has only 5% bf. I am going to follow up with a cardiologist but I think I will get a second exam w/o the ekg done. He has not exibited any signs, no dizziness, not lethargic, no loss of appetite. I will absolutely follow up with getting an referral to a cardiologist. I just think that he is an extreme athlete and he also has always had very low bp. Any thoughts on this? Thanks for any input.. Glad I found this thread.
some time ago i watched a documentary about a danish free-diver.
He could actually force his own heart rate down to the extremes by controlling his breathing / meditating. by extremes I mean HR below 10.
During a medical exam done during the documentary, he actually did this while being monitored, and reached a heart rate of virtually zero for a short period, but was then informed by the doctor that he should stop going that far as it would be very detrimental to his health.
I know this is an extreme case, but it just shows that the whole discussion of lowest possible HR is nearly meaningless for the rest of us 🙂
60 years old, 220 lbs of solid muscle. 3 hour workout 6 days per week for most of my adult life (areobic and weights). Started having heart issues a few weeks ago. Saw a cardiologist. Got all the tests and wore the Holter monitor. Result was Atrial Fibrillation. Need to take lopressor to fix the heart rythm. The cardiologist thinks my resting heart rate is too low (low to mid 40’s). Based of what I’ve learned here and on the web, mid 40’s seems ok for someone with my history and activity level. Now I got myself a Polar RS100 to keep track.
Dear JP
i can relate,i am 34 6,1foot 195 ,i play basketball 5 to 6 times a week i also run 15 to 20 k during the week (morning) and lift 3 times a week!! ANYWAYS my heart rate tonight was 46 last year lowest was 48!! during my runs i wear a heart rate watch and the highest i went was 169( all out). when i did my stress test couldnt get it higher than 164, and lowest at docs office 64, i guess the nerves!!LOL i guess we should consider ourselves lucky since the heart has so many ticks during a lifetime . So i was told! 🙂
Just thought that I’d mention I’m in Guinness book of records again (2010 edition this time though 🙂 page 177 slowest heartbeat ever 27 bpm. Still not beaten by Miguel indurain, lance armstrong or any of you lot 😉 cheers Martin
Male 29 6’4″ 185 I cycle 3-6 miles everyday sometimes more. I was a college runner and now am training to get into AA level if not pro volleyball. My best friend went to the Olympic trials and trains A WHOLE lot more than I do. My heart rate is resting consistently lower than is by a few beats. He is in much better shape than I am. I usually rest in the mid 40s and imagine that if I really wanted to test in the morning I would be mid 30s.
I went to Dave and Busters and was worked up and stressed from both playing games and drinking a few beers. We stopped at CVS to pick up a bottle of wine on the way home and I tested there at 57 bpm.
I drink and smoke and have so for a while. Personally I think it is all genetics. Although I bet I would perform much better athletically if I didn’t smoke or drink as much.
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 🙂