Resting Pulse Rate

Resting Pulse Rate

If you are a health nut, or health freak - and by the way, I hope you are - you will probably know what your resting pulse rate is.

Now some people give it a fancy name like basal pulse rate, it doesn't matter. What does matter is that you know what your resting - or baseline pulse rate is for optimal health and training results.

If you expect to get the best aerobic condition then you will need to be able to monitor your performance. Even more important is that you know how well your body is repsonding to the demands you are creating.

What better way to know how you are doing then asking your body.

"Body, how am I doing?"

"Well, let me tell you. Those intervals we did yesterday, you remember, the 400m intervals. Yeah, those. After those, I wasn't sure I was every going to get my heart rate back down to a reasonable level again, etc, etc, etc."

Of course your body doesn't talk to you like that. Instead, you need to listen to your body's very own language.

What better language then the language spoken by the old ticker. That pounding in your chest as you complete the final stair climbing. The rapid breathing as you pick up the tempo in the last 100 meters. That language.

Your body will tell you the day after ... let me repeat that ... the day after your workout if you are doing alright.

If you consistently take your pulse at the same time every day and record that, over time you will have a baseline pulse rate that you can refer to. The best time of day is in the morning even before you get out of bed. As soon as you sit up, your heart rate goes up. It's best to wake up slowly, take a few deep breathes, find your stop watch or heart rate monitor and measure away.

If you have a particularly difficult workout one day and the next morning your resting pulse rate is near 80 beats per minute and not the leisurely 45 beats per minute, then you know today is a good day to take a break.

Even if you don't work out on a regular basis, knowing your resting pulse rate can be used to monitor just how well you are doing. Stressing out at work, worrying about something you probably have no control over - anything like that can change your overall health.

As some famous doctor or Hippocratic or philosopher once said, "Know thyself" - and use your heart rate to do that.

Almost every heart rate monitor you can imagine! Get instant access to a "excellent" selection of the best heart rate monitors available.