Suprisingly high resting heart rate, ideas?

[Robyn93]

Hello! First time poster. My resting heart rate is always between 72-76 and I don't know how to lower it. I'm a fitness instructor who averages out at 12,000+ steps a day, weight work outs 4 times a week, 2 HIIT sessions and 1 LISS. I'm well hydrated and get 8 hours of sleep a night on average. My blood pressure is normally a little low, but nothing out of the ordinary. Any ideas on how to lower my resting heart rate?

Thanks! 

[JohnnyRow]

Not quite what you are looking for, but here's more info on RHR

https://blog.fitbit.com/resting-heart-rate/

[Baltoscott]

Hi @Robyn93 —

There is nothing really wrong with an RHR of 72-76, but you can probably get it lower by increasing your aerobic exercise load.  According to this meta-analysis, link, the best type of exercise to decrease your RHR is endurance training and yoga.  I would have guessed endurance (longish aerobic exercise - running, biking, swimming) would do it, but I’m a little surprised about yoga.  Probably has to do with teaching you how to relax your body.

Your weight-training and HIIT are great for overall strength and fitness and surely help your peak performance, but don’t do much to lower your RHR.

[JohnnyRow]

@Baltoscott  In that linked study, without have read all the details, it looks to me that they didn't consider HIIT separately, perhaps just as part of endurance training.

"The literature search analyzed 191 studies presenting 215 samples fitting the eligibility criteria. 121 trials examined the effects of endurance training, 43 strength training, 15 combined endurance and strength training, 5 additional school sport programs."

[Robyn93]

Thank you for this everyone. I do specific LISS (Endurance training for 20mins a week), this doesn't include daily walks and other activities. 

[Baltoscott]

@JohnnyRow - Good point.  I tend to put HIIT more in the anaerobic strength training box (intense short bursts of exercise with frequent rest periods) than longer steady state aerobic runs, swims and bike rides, but the authors  may define endurance to include HIIT.  I’ll look a little closer at it.

[Baltoscott]

@Robyn93 - you might try a little more LISS.  

This is just my own experience but I bike commute about 90 minutes a day and RHR is around 60.  (It probably entails some HIIT because I do a lot of hills, but mostly I would call it steady state with HR around 120).  I also life weights about 4 or 5 hours a week.  RHR predictably goes up if I can’t ride for extended periods.  

[JohnnyRow]

Looks to me that authors interpretation/classification not important if the studies included in the meta-analysis didn't differentiate intensity of endurance activity.

I think of HIIT as a new-fangled name for what we used to call running (swimming,etc) intervals (good for increasing VO2 max) vs. strength training.

Not that any of that matters much - we know they're all good.

[Dominique]

Also pay attention to your cardio fitness score, even though it is not as prominently displayed in the UI as RHR.

RHR is affected by genetics to a large extent. If it was elevated because of a sedentary life and you got it down by becoming more active and improving your lifestyle, it won’t change much thereafter. Fitness score, OTOH, can be improved by training. I think it can be a better indicator of your fitness (as implied by the name), plus it tells you were you stand compared to "men your age", unlike RHR.