Getting started on exercise - heart rate, recovery and advice pls

[Chuckstar_za]

Haven't really exercised since high school - and certainly nothing meaningful in the last 20 years or so.

Now I'm 45 and think it's time to get a bit fitter, and lose some of this excess weight (about 10kg over ideal for my height). Being knackered after 5 mins roughhousing with my toddler isn't great! 😄 

Recently got an Inspire HR and started doing walking in the local wood and a couch to 5k running program. I do have a history of anxiety and mild panic attacks - something which isn't helped by the current world wide situation and having to manage a two year old 24/7 (along with my excellent wife). 

Trying to get some idea about where I am currently and what goals can I aim for
I'm 175cm and 80.9kg, 45 years, Male.

1. RHR is 70 - what would be a realistic target to aim for? 65, 60?

2. Most of the day once I'm up, my HR rises to around 85-90, for example today it very rarely dropped below 87 (nothing too strenuous, mostly pottering around the house). Is this 'normal', and would stress add to this? Trying breathing exercises don't really seem to bring the HR down much.

3. I'm finding my HR takes an age to recover to, say, sub 90 after doing some light running. Yesterday when running I peaked at a 140 average over 5 mins and it wasn't until 2 hours later I dropped below 87. Today I've been above 87 for the last 8 hours. Is this again normal for someone who is unfit? 

Thanks
Alex

[rhembree]

Well since no one else is answering and I had these questions myself I will go ahead and tell you what I found. 

1) normal resting heart rates are typically between 60 and 90. 60 is a reasonable target. I don;t know how fast it will come. I have similar measures to you, Mine has dropped 1 maybe 2 bpm over a 2 week period. I don't know if that is fast or not. If I were you I would look at the cardio fitness score in the app if you want to know what is reasonable. That takes into account your whole cardio fitness.

2) As you do more exercise and get more fit I would expect that to drop. Having short bursts of high heart rate on these activities is normal.

3) It is absolutely normal for someone who is unfit, especially if it is more strenuous. From my reading if it is particularly strenuous then it can take upto 24 hours to come back to normal. I don't know if I believe that because mine normally 'resets' when I go to bed. Heart rate recovery should improve as you get more fit. Personally when I started it would take me upwards of 3 hours to get back to normal. 

[Chuckstar_za]

Hi Rhembree - thanks for your input.

My cardio score in the app is still an estimate, but it's between 42-46 which seems to indicate good to very good. 

I think yesterday was more stress related about the raised HR. I was feeling very stressed, but today more calm. It's still early, but my HR has been high 70's, low 80's today. 

I wonder if the lengthy recovery is from over doing it too early on as you've suggested. 
After a light run/walk mix with average bpm of around 125, my HR drops to 'normal' a lot quicker than if I spend time in the peak zones. 

Thanks for sharing your experiences. It's helpful to know there are others out there. 

[Heybales]

---

@Chuckstar_za wrote:

Haven't really exercised since high school - and certainly nothing meaningful in the last 20 years or so.

Now I'm 45 and think it's time to get a bit fitter, and lose some of this excess weight (about 10kg over ideal for my height). Being knackered after 5 mins roughhousing with my toddler isn't great! 😄 

Recently got an Inspire HR and started doing walking in the local wood and a couch to 5k running program. I do have a history of anxiety and mild panic attacks - something which isn't helped by the current world wide situation and having to manage a two year old 24/7 (along with my excellent wife). 

Trying to get some idea about where I am currently and what goals can I aim for
I'm 175cm and 80.9kg, 45 years, Male.

1. RHR is 70 - what would be a realistic target to aim for? 65, 60?

2. Most of the day once I'm up, my HR rises to around 85-90, for example today it very rarely dropped below 87 (nothing too strenuous, mostly pottering around the house). Is this 'normal', and would stress add to this? Trying breathing exercises don't really seem to bring the HR down much.

3. I'm finding my HR takes an age to recover to, say, sub 90 after doing some light running. Yesterday when running I peaked at a 140 average over 5 mins and it wasn't until 2 hours later I dropped below 87. Today I've been above 87 for the last 8 hours. Is this again normal for someone who is unfit? 

Thanks
Alex

---

1 - not really that kind of goal to aim for. It's a side result of the exercise you do. It'll lower as you get fitter, without any underlying issues or meds to keep it elevated anyway. 60 or below could be very possible to end up seeing.

It's not really displayed as a goal type figure like glasses of water - you can use it to see if recovery is going the wrong way or getting stressed or sick, like if after being low it starts to increase slowly day after day.

2 - Normal, and stress could add to it, but not usually unless specifically thinking about and getting stressed out. If breathing exercises that help stress don't cause a change in HR, then not getting that stress elevated effected.

Other stress elevated reasons, even during exercise - dehydrated, overheated, body already had a workout or a bad recovery.

3 - Yes. Heart Rate Recovery (HRR) is great indicator of getting more fit, even better than RHR which can only go so low and somewhat genetic. But view HR graphs for 1-2 to 5 min after a workout, and if equal intensity was done (ran 6mph), likely see HR drop faster and lower in same time as you get fitter.

Good job using the time to get fitter - you'll enjoy it as kids got older and you don't need to try to keep up. Maybe stay ahead!