Fitness can be difficult to measure objectively. The idea of “getting in shape” is often motivated by one’s personal image and wellness goals. However, outside of a laboratory, accurately measuring an improvement in fitness is difficult. This raises the question of whether there are simpler methods for the rest of us to evaluate fitness and its changes over time. There might already be a few ways that you know of. Algorithms built into popular wearable devices use your age, gender, number of steps, exercise heart rate, and resting heart rate to estimate your fitness. Additionally, some health professionals may inquire about a patient’s ability to walk up a flight of stairs or two as a subjective way to assess exercise capacity. Regardless of the approach taken, if you begin with a regular exercise routine, you can anticipate that your fitness level will improve over time (perhaps you’ll be able to climb stairs without feeling exhausted or short of breath). Another measure of fitness, according to Steven Keteyian, PhD, director of the Preventive Cardiology Unit at Henry Ford Health, is your recovery heart rate. Please, Dr. Keteyian explains how to calculate your heart rate recovery and how it might be improved. Calculating Heart Rate Recovery
“Heart rate recovery refers to the number of beats your heart rate decreases in the first minute or two after stopping exercise,” says Dr. Keteyian.
Use a fitness tracker or heart rate monitor to measure your heart rate while you are moving and again one minute and two minutes after you stop or slow down to determine your heart rate recovery. As an illustration, let’s say you’re going for a 30-minute, fast walk. Toward the end of that walk, your heart rate may get up to 150 bpm (beats per minute). One minute after slowing down or stopping, you again measure your heart rate, and it has gone down to one minute after slowing down or stopping, if you again measure your heart rate, it gets down to 135 bpm (15 beats lower). It might have dropped another 30 beats to 120 bpm after two minutes. These values contribute to the creation of a picture of how well your heart recovers from exercise’s biologic stress. “We expect that as you improve your aerobic or cardiorespiratory fitness over time with a regular exercise program, the magnitude of the decrease in your heart rate and one and two minutes after exercise becomes greater. Specifically, your heart rate recovers more quickly,” says Dr. Keteyian.
Not to mention that working out not only improves your fitness but also your overall health. Being active is associated with a lower risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and many types of cancer. To meet this goal, experts recommend 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise each week.
Factors That Influence Your Recovery Heart Rate A basic method for determining fitness change is to measure heart rate recovery. And many other factors such as not getting enough sleep or taking certain medications can impact your heart rate recovery results.
According to Dr., “the type and intensity of exercises you choose also matters.” Keteyian. “Specifically, focus on aerobic-type exercises or an exercise that increases your heart rate and you can maintain such for some time (e.g., 30 min).”
It is essential to keep in mind that whenever you intend to measure heart rate recovery, you should always ensure that you maintain the same heart rate while exercising before stopping. Results will vary from person to person. Over time, a person’s heart rate recovery will likely change more dramatically if they don’t exercise at all than if they do. Just remember that even if improvement is small, any amount of improvement is good.
Dr. says, “The most important thing is that you cannot compare your heart rate recovery to others.” Keteyian. “Individual responses are unique – your fitness level, genetics and any additional health factors can influence the results you observe. Remember that heart rate recovery is only one marker of fitness.”
If you have known risk factors of cardiovascular disease or other health conditions, it may be worth it to talk to your doctor about how improving on your fitness could help your health.