tntyz

This morning I put on my HR strap. turned on my Garmin 305, and lay back in back for 20 minutes. My highest recorded HR was 67 (a 2-second spike), lowest was 47 (for 30 seconds). Most of the time I was at 52.

What's considered my resting HR?

slynkie

I'd go with 52.

RHR will vary based on quality of sleep, temperature, who knows what else (what you had for dinner the previous night?). Tonight, try it again, except sleep with your HR strap on, and when you wake up, have the garmin right next to you so you don't even need to sit up to turn it on. Compare.

palesaint

In the real world, RHR is what your health care profressional measures. So, try to simulate this experience. Sometime mid-morning, do a sitting measurement and try different methods to make it as consistent as possible (regular breathing, proper posture, etc).

I can get my heartrate down to low 50s with little problem. Every time I go to the doc though, they always measure it around 59-61.

manos

I'd go with 48

Carbonfiberboy 

No. What you want is your morning resting heart rate (MRHR). You want to do it exactly the same every day. Control for everything. When you go to the docs, there are hardly any controls, so that measurement is of very poor quality. It just tells the doc if you're in the "normal" zone, say between 50 and 75. Which is not your interest or purpose in taking MRHR. Your purpose there is to compare MRHR from day to day to assess training state. You're looking for the 5-7 beat raise that says "take a day or so off."

What most folks do is get up, pee (can't relax if you're holding it), then either dress and lie on the couch or go back to bed, and take RHR for 5 minutes, while thinking relaxing thoughts - image wind on quiet water for instance. Take your steady HR at the end of 5 minutes for your MRHR.

gMoneyYo :)

Finding your resting heart rate is tough. To have a low one seems to be dependent on how well you can relax. Every time I'm in the doctors office mine reads somewhere between 100 and 160; I'm frightened of clowns in white coats apparently.
I'd say (what I did at least) buy a blood pressure monitor and as soon as you wake up (without an alarm) take your HR.

Mine ended up somewhere near death, around 40 and 85/55.

Barese Rider

I dont believe in "real world" testing either as the determining factor either, except for one Doctor who for some reason doesnt make me nervous my pulse and blood pressure always go up whenever soemone in white measures them.. My pulse and bp are always much less at home than at the doctors..I bought a blood pressure machine and find it helpful. I leave in it my bedroom and take pulse and bp at various points of the day.

umd

Since you have a Garmin, just plug it into external power, turn off auto pause, and leave it running all night.

Creakyknees

Ok I'll hijack: is resting HR really such a useful training status indicator?

I usually go by overall fatigue feeling in the legs, and general energy level throughout the day.

umd

It can be semi-useful to know what it is, or know if it is way of whack, but I stopped taking it regularly years ago as it was not consistently useful.

Lawrence08648

Best time to find your RHR is first thing in the morning before you get up and you must not stir around. You may want to set the alarm clock for 5am, see what your HR is then, and then go back to sleep.

My resting HR is 28, both my morning HRM and when I was in the hospital's recovery room, I was relaxing connected and it told me the same thing.

A low HR shows a strong heart that is pushing a lot of blood per stroke. The more you work your cardio, the lower your HR will go but you are also genetically disposed to how low it can go.

umd

Well like I've said I'm way fitter now but I have a higher RHR. IMO it tells you very little in general but day-to-day variations can be somewhat interesting.

Carbonfiberboy 

Also try orthostatic HR. Get your resting HR in the normal manner, then stand up while watching the monitor and record your maximum HR and standing resting HR. Write down the difference between resting and either max or standing HR. OHR can be helpful.