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My resting heart rate is 40 bpm...is that abnormal?

Dog Welder

Turbo Monkey
Sep 7, 2001
1,123
0
Pasadena, CA
The reason I as is cuz I haven't been all that active...I just started working out around the end of september with maybe 1 hour of running a week on top of weights...so I didn't expect to see gains this fast or should I be worrying about something?. oh and my doctor told me this after my physical. When I measureed my HR...was around 45-50 bmp.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,037
7,554
you're fine, don't worry. i freaked out once when i saw that mine was 46 bpm (back when i was enough of a xc geek that i would wear a hrm around the house hehe), but the doctor, er, my father, assured me that nothing was wrong with that. indurain was something like 28 anyway so you have a ways to go... ;)
 

JMAC

Turbo Monkey
Feb 18, 2002
1,531
0
I have a RHRT of 40 when rested. But your resting HRT isn't really a performance measurement because there some pro road racers with resting HRt of as high as 70bpm.
 

ito

Mr. Schwinn Effing Armstrong
Oct 3, 2003
1,709
0
Avoiding the nine to five
If the doctor had mentioned it as being abnormal you might want to check it out, but I wouldn't be worried. I've got one around 38 or so, I think most of it is genetics.

The Ito
 

Serial Midget

Al Bundy
Jun 25, 2002
13,053
1,896
Fort of Rio Grande
It's your age, you are young and in good shape - your heart rate should be low.

As you get older and put on weight (muscle or fat or both) you body size increases, this increases your need for oxygen. Your heart doesn't get any bigger, it increases capacity by beating faster.

When I was in HS I weighed about 135 LBS, now I weigh 165 this is a 19% increase in body mass. All things being equal - a resting heart rate of 40 when I was in HS would translate to 47 right now... hmmm that's right where it is.

The average resting heartrate for the average North American male is 70. The average North Ameican male is also in his 40s, overweight and out of shape.

Your heart rates are normal.
 

mr_dove

Monkey
Jan 18, 2002
179
0
Denver, CO
The earliest that I recall checking my heart rate was in my early teens. It was and continues to be almost 100 bpm. I've always been in pretty good shape although I've added some pounds since I started college and started studying more than I exercised. I've always been pretty active though. It worried me for a long time but several Doctors have told me that it's fine and not to worry about.
 

marlopez

Monkey
Jan 25, 2003
441
0
West LA
hmm i just did mine and i got 60.... am i doing something wrong?
check this out:

Based on an age of 19 and using the formula 205 - Age/2
Maximum Heart Rate (Calculated) = 195.5
% of Maximum Heart Rate Reserve*
Percent 60 sec. 10 sec. 60 sec. 10 sec.
------- ------- ------- ------- -------
100 195.5 32.6 195.5 32.6
95 185.7 31.0 189.3 31.6
90 175.9 29.3 183.1 30.5
85 166.2 27.7 177.0 29.5
80 156.4 26.1 170.8 28.5
75 146.6 24.4 164.6 27.4
70 136.8 22.8 158.4 26.4
65 127.1 21.2 152.3 25.4
60 117.3 19.5 146.1 24.3
55 107.5 17.9 139.9 23.3

* Percent of maximum, corrected for resting heart rate of 60