Low resting heart rate?

NPejs wrote:

Mine resting HR is 32 (28 during an operation), and max HR is 183 acording to suunto. I am 30 years old and feel perfectly ok.

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Are you a Sturgeon?

My resting rate is currently 36. I've noticed it as low as 32. It has been that way for decades. I'm in my 60's. It has risen into the 40's when I've had to take serious time off due to injuries. I'm not elite. Marathon PR of 3:12 in early 50's. Last two were between 3:31 and 3:35. I've had EKG's, stress test and blockage tests. They can't find anything wrong. The only solution to raise your resting HR is to replace your daily run with a daily big Mac with a whopper for desert. The problem will be solved in under a month.

My resting heartrate is 14. Not a typo. I max at around 230 (sub-4 mile pace).

Acipenser MD wrote:

Are you a Sturgeon?

Not far away, I was national team swimmer for 12 years so cardio-vascular system is sort of ready for abuse.

low hr wrote:

I can make an appointment with my doctor, but I probably won’t be able to get in for another couple weeks. I just want to know if this is something immediate or something that can wait

It is almost certainly not a problem but a reflection of the fact that your heart is very strong and pumps more blood per heart beat than that of the average untrained person.

Whenever these resting HR threads come up (usually every couple of months), I get to win; I've got a world class low resting HR, or at least I did. I'm a middle aged (50-something) hobby jogger, and it currently hovers at about 38. But when I was fighting fit, from mid-30s to mid-40s, my normal resting HR was 28, and when I was super relaxed I would sometimes see 26 or 27.

I know that seems made up; believe it or don't, makes no nevermind to me.

Anyway, in my case, I has a physical to work at high altitude in South America, and on the EKG it showed 30 or 32, which alarmed the doctor. She wanted to stop me from working at altitude, but when I explained my exercise (and competitive) background, she eased off and wasn't worried. Ironically (in hindsight), soon after that period of high altitude work, my running performance deteriorated and my resting HR has been higher (low 30s, then upper 30s) ever since.

Be all that as it may, I've had occasion to get checked over by cardiologists twice since then. The first time after a fainting spell (only ever happened once, about 10 years ago), and more recently when my new family doctor wanted more than my running history to satisfy her my low HR wasn't a problem. I've done exercise stress tests and cardioechograms (ultrasound of the heart), and two different respected cardiologists have told me all is tip top, not worries about the low resting HR.

So, the punch line is, low resting HR doesn't mean you are in any particular danger. That said, it is something that should be looked into, especially for unathletic people with no exercise-related explanation.

Examples of low heart rates: "2014 when British pensioner Daniel Green, then 81, at a check-up recorded a resting pulse of 26 beats per minutes, lower than Usain Bolt (33 bpm) and five-time Tour De France winner Miguel Indurian (28 bpm)" according to the Daily Mail.

Having a low heart rate means you have a big heart, which you can use to get attention on datingsites ;-)

I also suggest you test your max heart rate, like in the post below.

https://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/how-to-find-your-max-heart-rate