does the lower your heart rate mean you are fitter

What are you trying to get at? Why do you find heart rate important?

 

Resting heartbeat is an indicator of fitness, but THE number one indicator of fitness is recovery time. It's all about the recovery time.

Sprint as fast as you can as far as you can (till you feel sick and have tunnel vision) then measure how long it takes your hate rate to get back down to an arbitrary figure (I usually choose 90 as it's roughly half my max).

 

:rofl

 

What I was taught when I was in high school is that the lower your resting heart rate the better. Basically, your heart being stronger,it needs to pump less blood to get oxygen in and carbon dioxide out.

Thus you lead a longer life because your heart is not stressed as much. That's definitely a good thing.

Obese people actually have heart rates that hover around 80-90 all the time and that's a major stressor on their hearts.

 

Or just do it for 15 seconds and multiply the result by 4 if you're strapped for time

 

Good point man

 

mine was around 42, i failed my first fight medical because the doctor thought my heart rate was too low, i got it checked out by a specialist and there is no problem. I have a low resting heart rate, it varies from low 40s to the 50s. I dont know why.

 

54 is my Resting heart rate, but I think in going to do the thing mcguirpa suggested. It sounds like it will give a better indication of "fitness" and test my recovery rate. I see that as more important anyway. Between rounds this would really come into play.

 

Like lefty and virus said fitness is a broad term.

You also need a good quality normally quite pricey heart rate monitor for any level of accuracy ( fitness machines are not accurate).

Me personally i dont need one i know im fit and in what way im fit and what i need to work on.

Alot of people where i work( fitness club) use them and really dont need them!

Im not saying they are not useful just not the "magic bullet" to indicate your fitness.

 

yeh my dad is like that think his is about 43-45 , freak of nature, funnily enough hes always done alot of long distance cardio throughout his life, hes not 50 and would probably still kick my arse at long distance!

 

That's not really true, although I agree that fitness machine HR monitors generally aren't very accurate.

 

Some funny timing here for me.

Mines 43. In the last ten days I've seen 3 Dr's, two cardiologists, had 4 ECG's, an ultrasound, and a CT scan.

I'm fine. Athletes heart syndrome.

 

Lance Armstrong has been measured at a 32. Another cyclist, a Spanish guy, was measured at 28!

 

The reason I got mine tested is because I was afraid my heart was becomming enlarged from working out...

It turns out, Thank God, that it wasn't...at least as far as I know...

However, ya'll need to keep that in mind...especially if ya'll got a family history.