Okay fellow 3-sports in 1 athletes. I’m trying a new approach to my run training; zone 2 training. To accomplish that I need to figure out what my max heart rate is. To start, I was advised to first get my resting heart rate, which I did. It’s 56 bpm. I’m now informed that that is abnormal, as in “too low”. I’m 56 years young and in pretty good shape. Anyone out there with such a low resting heart rate? Is this normal for endurance athletes? Thanks all!
Okay fellow 3-sports in 1 athletes. I’m trying a new approach to my run training; zone 2 training. To accomplish that I need to figure out what my max heart rate is. To start, I was advised to first get my resting heart rate, which I did. It’s 56 bpm. I’m now informed that that is abnormal, as in “too low”. I’m 56 years young and in pretty good shape. Anyone out there with such a low resting heart rate? Is this normal for endurance athletes? Thanks all!
A resting RHR iof 56 is not abnormal for endurance athletes. I’m 67 with a RHR in the mid- to high-40s having been a lifetime endurance athlete. Unless you do have an underlying heart condition, in which case seek advice from a medical professional, you can safely ignore comments about your ‘abnormal’ RHR.
That is nowhere near too low.
Who is telling you that?
If it’s a Dr, try another one.
If anything, that RHR may be a bit high for an athlete. But we all are different.
Take it for what it is worth, according to my Garmin 735XT my average RHR over the last 7 days is 42. It does vary day to day. Today’s is 31.
Again, take that accuracy with some salt.
58 year old overweight athlete male.
If anything, 56 is on the high side for endurance athletes. Definitely not ‘too low’.
Regardless, your resting HR has nothing to do with your Max. Find a decent hill and get your HR up to a 10k threshold level and then sprint hard up the hill. You should see something close to your Max before you die.
Yeah this. I’m 40 and my resting hr is usually 37-44 range. 50+ resting means I’m overtrainer, had very very bad sleep, getting sick or sick or have a severe hangover.
Resting heart rate is very personal. There is a large variation. I’m 68, and mine has been as low as 43 in the last week.
To find max heart rate, look at you last year or so of watch results, if you use a watch. Garmin watches will give a max heart rate based on an algorithm, but I prefer to look at my actual data.
There are various workouts that will get your heart rate up to its maximum, but they are all horrible to do:) You can check your heart rate data from an all out 5km race, too.
57 y/o male. Ave RHR for the last month is 44
In Feb I developed an arrhythmia which was resolved in May. My RHR during that period increased +10
Yes, 56 bpm is not considered low for a very fit person. I am 50 and my resting HR is definitely below 40 bpm.
Okay fellow 3-sports in 1 athletes. I’m trying a new approach to my run training; zone 2 training. To accomplish that I need to figure out what my max heart rate is. To start, I was advised to first get my resting heart rate, which I did. It’s 56 bpm. I’m now informed that that is abnormal, as in “too low”. I’m 56 years young and in pretty good shape. Anyone out there with such a low resting heart rate? Is this normal for endurance athletes? Thanks all!
Abnormal for the general population, not for an endurance athlete.
During physicals I’ve had nurses rerun the machine thinking there was an error (mine is 42 and they were expecting ~72). One even manually measured from my wrist to confirm and seemed shocked. This is why having a doctor who is (or at least understands) an endurance athlete is critical. Same goes for blood pressure; I’m 130/70 and had some doctors see the 130 systolic and start talking about being pre-hypertensive.
As for MaxHR, one typical test is running an all out mile with the full sprint over the last 100-150m. A chest strap is critical for this since an optical monitor (like the ones on sport watches) have some lag in their detection algos.
How did you get your RHR? 56 is not low for an endurance athlete. It is low for a regular person though!
Some factors to consider when determining RHR: “ Calculating your heart rate is simple, but there are a few tips that can make it easier or more accurate. It’s a good idea to check your resting heart rate first thing in the morning before taking medication or drinking caffeine, both of which can speed up your heart rate. You can also check your heart rate during physical activity to make sure you’re in your target training zone.
If you want to calculate your resting heart rate, make sure to wait for one to two hours after any physical activity. It can take some time for your heart to return to a normal rate, even after mild exercise. If you forgot to check your resting heart rate before drinking caffeine, try taking it an hour later when the effects subside.
While physical activity can affect your resting heart rate, so can a lack of activity and body position. Don’t take your resting heart rate if you’ve been sitting or standing in one spot for hours. Instead, take a short walk, and then wait one hour before trying to measure your resting heart rate.â€
My Garmin keeps track of stats for me. Late 50s, small female, 43 RHR and I stopped endurance training a couple of years ago. I only do strength training 3x a week maximum and have stopped cardio. But my RHR hasn’t drifted up much! I am a bit concerned.
When your heart rate is really too low, you may have some issues as you get very old, and may need to have a pacemaker installed.
Okay fellow 3-sports in 1 athletes. I’m trying a new approach to my run training; zone 2 training. To accomplish that I need to figure out what my max heart rate is. To start, I was advised to first get my resting heart rate, which I did. It’s 56 bpm. I’m now informed that that is abnormal, as in “too low”. I’m 56 years young and in pretty good shape. Anyone out there with such a low resting heart rate? Is this normal for endurance athletes? Thanks all!
Shoot, my resting HR is 25-27 first thing in the morning, lying in bed. 56 for me would walking at an easy pace. 
Adding to above, I’m about the same age and my RHR is low 40s. 56 actually sounds a bit high for an endurance athlete.
Similar age/shape and I measured mine with a stopwatch at 50 bpm just sitting here watching tv. Every once in a while I measure it in the morning after waking up and it’s around 38/39. I haven’t measured my max heart rate in probably 30 years and don’t even remember what it was…200 maybe?
We are all different. Mine @ mid seventies is rhr =45, self tested on track couple of years ago maxhr = 163 in FL morning humidity. When training a lot my rhr was higher, like 48-49. If it hit 55, more recovery needed. Good luck.
I’m about to turn 56. I’ve been wearing a Garmin collecting my sleep data for 2+ years. My current 12 month average is 53 RHR.
Resting heart rates vary quite a bit even in the general population. In general family practice I have pts with resting heart rates between 40-50 who are not at all athletic. With no known heart disease. Also plenty who are at 70-85. The vast majority of pts most primary docs see in the West are in terrible shape. When I was in my late teens and could run a 10K in 36 min my RHR was about 70. Now it is about 60 at age 58.
There is a general trend for endurance athletes to have lower resting heart rates that are as low as the low 40s. Below that I would run and ecg to make sure they didn’t have some kind of heart block. I wouldn’t freak out just make sure they don’t have heart block. General calculation is 220-age to get max heart rate. Maybe somebody has better formula for endurance athletes.
I wouldn’t get too hung up on resting heart rate yours seems pretty normal for an endurance athlete in their 50s.
Thanks all! So I went from “OMG my resting heart rate at 56 is far too low” to “OMG my resting heart rate is too high!” Lol…seems that way based on the responses. Yet I’m a pretty stressed out, high srung guy with a crazy job. So who knows. Can anyone recommend a good watch that measures heart rate? Something that won’t break the bank? Thanks again…
Okay fellow 3-sports in 1 athletes. I’m trying a new approach to my run training; zone 2 training. To accomplish that I need to figure out what my max heart rate is. To start, I was advised to first get my resting heart rate, which I did. It’s 56 bpm. I’m now informed that that is abnormal, as in “too low”. I’m 56 years young and in pretty good shape. Anyone out there with such a low resting heart rate? Is this normal for endurance athletes? Thanks all!
Everybody answered you with the resting heart rate is not too low thing.
But I think your question was about zone 2 training. You don’t really need to know your max or resting heart rate for this purpose (yes some models to give you approximate zones use those but you can do without). Just substract your age from 180 and this is about where you should run your easy zone 2 runs (below that number). Then go from there and adjust if necessary.
Okay fellow 3-sports in 1 athletes. I’m trying a new approach to my run training; zone 2 training. To accomplish that I need to figure out what my max heart rate is. To start, I was advised to first get my resting heart rate, which I did. It’s 56 bpm. I’m now informed that that is abnormal, as in “too low”. I’m 56 years young and in pretty good shape. Anyone out there with such a low resting heart rate? Is this normal for endurance athletes? Thanks all!
Everybody answered you with the resting heart rate is not too low thing.
But I think your question was about zone 2 training. You don’t really need to know your max or resting heart rate for this purpose (yes some models to give you approximate zones use those but you can do without). Just substract your age from 180 and this is about where you should run your easy zone 2 runs (below that number). Then go from there and adjust if necessary.
Thanks Diablo. So, I also calculated my max HR using the MAF system, which gave me an MAF HR of 124. Is that the HR I want to stay at, or around, to train in zone 2? If you know. I seemed to interpret that 124 number as my max heart rate, which I know to be inaccurate. But I seem to have misunderstood it, and the 124 is a zone 2 target. Your formula gives me the same result.
Yeah, this is meant to be the high point of the target. So anything under that is fine. But with all commonalities there are outliers, so also please reassess if you think it’s too low or too high.