Simplicity Once Again. Taking Your Pulse. Understanding Your Maximum Heart Rate and Your Resting Heart Rate

While getting recertified as a personal trainer, we reviewed the basics of taking a pulse. It used to be simple way back when; then it got complicated for several years; now it’s simple again. Thank goodness!

Your resting heart rate is a starting point for understanding where you are in terms of fitness. This is not a be-all, end-all but it is an indicator of how well your heart muscle functions when fully rested. This should be taken first thing in the morning, before you get out of bed.

First try the radial pulse on your arm, just above my wrist bone, known as the radial pulse. If you put two fingers on this pulse lightly you should feel your hear beat strong enough to count. Use a watch and count the beats for a minute. Your number is your resting heart rate. The American Heart Association says our resting heart rate is normally between 60 and 80 beats per minute.

Maximum Heart Rate is calculated by taking your age and subtracting it from 220. So, a 30 year old person would have a maximum heart rate of 190. This is considered 100% of the number of beats your heart would produce in a minute if pushed to the max. This is obviously just a general guide but, what is true is that the better condition you are in, the more you have to work to raise your hear rate. When your heart muscle is strong like an elite athlete's the heart works more efficiently.

Your work-out heart rate should be somewhere between 60% and 90% of your maximum heart rate to improve from your workout. So, if we're talking about a 30 year old working out for benefit, her heart rate would have to be at least 110 beats per minute (60%), for at least 30 minutes, a minimum of every 3 days, to maintain her level of fitness. Improvement would require more.

Try taking your pulse in the morning, for starters, so that you have a baseline measurement for yourself. Then, after working out, take your pulse immediately upon finishing the hard stuff and see what it is.

There's a lot that can be realized just from awareness of your heart rate. For example, say you're normally at 60 bpm (beats per minute) in the morning when you wake up. One morning you are at 75. It is very possible you are overdoing it in your life, or are getting sick. Good signal to rest.

Questions? Contact me directly or comment on this blog or follow the link to the American Heart Association. The American Heart Association is a national voluntary health agency to help reduce disability and death from cardiovascular diseases and stroke.