Low resting heart rate

[Parky]

I was at the local practice nurses for my annual MOT test for my Asthma and the nurse said my heart rate was unusually slow (about 36/38), so she called the doctor in to check me over.
Using an app on his phone linked to a fingerpad, he gave me a quick ECG check and confirmed it, but has booked me in for a full monty ECG check next week. As a finely tuned athlete, just getting to my prime, do any coaches out there think I have a problem?

I regularly do 5 to 8km per day at the gym, about 4 days a week and have had no real problems.

Web searches call it Brachycardia, I call it a PITA, but have suffered no ill effects.

Have I peaked or should I retire from rowing for a while to see if it settles down?

[Dangerscouse]

I'm far from an expert but I think that such a low resting HR is so unusual they can't figure it out and they assume the worst.

It is probably worth getting checked out, just in case, but it could well just be a consequence of supreme fitness and great genetics.

[Carl Watts]

Yes thats unusually low, but whats your maximum like ?

Straight of the top of my head the typical resting for a male is 70bpm and for a female 80bpm.

Have seen mine as low as 52 but typically its 58-60bpm depending on fatigue level. a mate of mine is down in the uppper 40's like 48 but his maximum is also down on mine. I can still see in the 180's if I push hard. They are puking in a bucket in the 170's.

I have found it very hard to directly compare yourself to whats "Normal" as rates are all over the place. Probably a more telling story is your "Range" or the difference between your resting and your maximum.

[johnlvs2run]

Yes, you have a serious problem.

But fortunately there's an easy solution. Just call and cancel the appointment.

[hjs]

I was at the local practice nurses for my annual MOT test for my Asthma and the nurse said my heart rate was unusually slow (about 36/38), so she called the doctor in to check me over.
Using an app on his phone linked to a fingerpad, he gave me a quick ECG check and confirmed it, but has booked me in for a full monty ECG check next week. As a finely tuned athlete, just getting to my prime, do any coaches out there think I have a problem?

I regularly do 5 to 8km per day at the gym, about 4 days a week and have had no real problems.

Web searches call it Brachycardia, I call it a PITA, but have suffered no ill effects.

Have I peaked or should I retire from rowing for a while to see if it settles down?

Did you tell them you exercise?

Its low but not extremely low. If you feel fine I would not worry to much. I once had it after an operation, came by after surgery, felt nicely relax, with hf below 40. They saw that, injected something to speed up my heart... and felt crap, gone was my ease

If rowing gives you fun, don,t let that taken away from you. Only if there is something seriously wrong you should worry. But you would have noticed that already I think.
I am not a doctor, so do the tests, but certainly when the doctor is a non athlete, don,t let them rob your training for nothing.
You are fit, not sick, is my thinking.

[Parky]

When I was in the Army, (swing the light), we used to do the Harvard step test, where pulse recovery rate was checked, and I never had any problems even as a booze swilling, unfit, uncaring driver. One of the lads had a pulse rate that never seemed to change even after a 10K run, so he always failed the test. It was a puzzle to all the pti's but they didn't really care. My recovery rate was always excellent and I passed, no problem.

I don't know what my max HR is for certain as I don't check it on the rower, but on a Lifestyle Bike I get it up to about 160, but I have got a fitness tracker in the post.

When the Practice Nurse introduced herself as that, I said, "Haven't you got a real one?"

Cheers lads, I'll let you know the results after Tuesday. SWMBO reckons I haven't got a heart anyway, so what does it matter?

[Erik A]

lol just saw a post on FB

ARMY fittest alchoholics in the world.

[lindsayh]

FWIW it sounds to me like the "normal" slow HR of a (very) fit individual but nothing wrong with making sure and of course we are not doctors. The low RHR game was played on the old ISS Forum in the UK in the past and there were certainly some lower 30s than that. I understand that legend has it that Miguel Indurain was sub 30 at rest and 200+ in the last meters of a TDF sprint. (mine is 43/173 but it is very individual)

[Ombrax]

I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, however, I do believe that a well below average resting HR can be either a sign of great conditioning or a sign of a serious heart rhythm related medical issue that needs to be addressed.

I'm sure the doctors will be able to tell you if you fall into group #1 or group #2.

My resting HR wanders around a bit, but is typically around 50-55 bpm. My waking HR is closer to 50 bpm, but I have seen it in the upper 40's.

A while back I got two pulse oximeters, and keep one at my desk at work and one at the side of my bed at home to keep track of how my HR is doing. (I don't bother to keep a log, or anything, I just check every now and then.) They're really cheap on Amazon and work well.

Good Luck

[Ombrax]

I had two typos in the text above. Since the edit time window has closed, here are the correct numbers:

My waking HR is closer to 40 bpm, but I have seen it in the upper 30's.

[Gezza]

Hi All,I have been a long time lurker on these forums for a while but have never felt the need to post as i didn’t have any thing interesting to say or ask, but this conversation has caught my eye.I have had a new model D since about 2007 and have used it on and off but my wife and daughter use it most days.my daughter and I have recently got watch type heart rate monitors and I was taking great delight in showing her my resting heart rate of 45 while hers was around 65, she is 36 and much fitter than me and I am 65,she did a bit of research as we were both thinking the lower the better but discovered my heart rate would be normal in a ‘highly trained endurance athlete which is not me!! I made an appointment at the doctors and had an ECG done which showed I was ok, but I am waiting for an appointment to have a monitor fitted to wear for 24 hours which should tell them a bit more about my heart health,it is a bit concerning though as since I picked up on this every time I open the paper it seems as if a very fit marathon runner had a heart attack in the middle of a race.
Parky
Good luck with your test and I await your results with interest.

[jamesg]

Low RHR if not pathological is, we like to think, the result of lots of training, which tends to increase heart size. When resting it doesn't need to pump so fast. Could be a myth, no idea. RHR in the untrained is said to be around 72, as was mine when driving a desk, but now 60, so it's possible.

Like you I do 20-30k a week, all at low power (max 130W with HR 125-135) and 20 spm, plus a few short walks in the hills here.

At that limited training level I think you need to know if there's some other reason why your HR is so low and avoid any risks it may represent. You cite weight 17+ stone (over 110 kg) somewhere, which if not very tall will certainly be critical too.

[Carl Watts]

I guess it pays to track your heartrate from when your much younger.

One could argue if you have made it into your 70's and you had a similar resting HR all your life then obviously its not a problem.

A sudden change in resting HR for no explicable reason would be of more concern to me.

[Parky]

I've had the ECG and my rest rate was 56. I jumped on the bike to check my HR immediately after an 8k pyramid, last 500m @ 1.59, and it was 114. It didn't get much above that after 15 mins. About 12 months ago it was getting up near 150.

Everything is slowing down, but I feel fitter now than I have for a long time.
Still waiting the result from the ECG, but not unduly worried, so I'll keep plodding on and be a miserable old git.

[KeithT]

I had to have a ECG before a surgery some years ago and it came back abnormal for a low HR (38) and some PVCs. This turned into wearing a heart monitor for 24 hours and having a an ultrasound of the heart. Long story short, the PVCs are something I just have and didn't concern 2 different cardio Drs. and the low heart rate they assumed was from my training. To this day Drs. panic when they see my HR when seeing them for standard check-ups or any "normal" issue and I have had to get special clearance for procedures/surgeries. I am unsure of my max HR but know its fairly high. While I am in shape and train hard, not more than lots of others that don't have a super low resting HR - I think it is what it is but best to have Drs. confirm.