BeerBorg

bpgreen wrote:Wow, mashani! I thought I was doing pretty well, but I got worn out just reading about your exercise routine.

According to my smart watch, it looks like I burn about 1000 calories a day on average. And that includes all the exercise I get.

With your regimen, I'm kind of surprised your resting heart rate isn't even lower than it is. I don't work out nearly as hard as you do, and my RHR is in the 30s most day. Some days it actually hits 30. My smart watch doesn't register a rate below 30. I think it assumes it's not on the wrist below 30.

I think there have been a few days when it may have dipped below that, because one time I looked at it and saw --- instead of a number, which is the same thing it shows when it's off my wrist. I watched it for a little while and after a few seconds, it showed 30, so I deduced that it just stops at 30.

I have had my resting HR drop below 40 when awake, but that requires me to "do less" IE "taper more often". I wouldn't want my resting HR to go much below 40 though when awake on a regular basis. Mine is already less then 1/4th of my max HR, for most "normal somewhat fit" people it's more like 1/3rd, unfit people more then that. If mine was regularly in the low 30s, I'd consider it to be some kind of bradycardia and get checked out by the doctor. That would be like less then 1/5th of my max HR, and that's generally going to be considered "weird" unless you are an Olympic endurance athlete or winning Pro Cycling races or an elite Olympic Nordic skier. At 42 when awake mine is still considered sinus bradycardia, but it is considered benign because of being an athlete. But if some non athlete had it, it would be cause for concern. Low 30's I think would potentially be pushing the concern button for anyone except for the most elite athletes, and it's not even necessarily good for them. (see below *).

You might want to test your resting HR the old fashioned way in the morning, IE look at the clock while lying in bed, start counting at some minute, and stop the next. Just to make sure your smart watch is actually reading your pulse correctly. I'm not measuring mine with a watch, but a Wahoo Ticker X or the old fashioned way. Hopefully it's not really that low, or if it really is, hopefully you are a genetic mutant and it's actually OK in your case. The numbers I'm throwing out are all when I am awake and either wearing my HR monitor or manually testing myself the old fashioned way. My HR probably does drop below 40 when I am asleep, but that's OK because it's still not going to get dangerously slow when it's above 40 when I am awake.

* I mention this because a resting HR while awake getting down into the low 30s is actually potentially dangerous, especially at night when sleeping. If it can actually cause your blood to become kind of viscous/thick/syrupy if your ability to uptake so much oxygen that your body only needs that slow of a HR is because of a higher then normal red blood cell count.

There have been pro cyclists and endurance athletes who's resting HR got low like that who literally had to set alarm clocks at night to get up and spin for a while on their bike to get their blood moving to avoid blood pooling/clots/such, some have even died because of it. Now some of them were probably EPO doping to increase their red cell count, but if so their resting HR would have never gotten into the low 30s if they had not been. I assume you don't dope with EPO, but have you had a blood test lately, just to make sure something weird isn't going on?

Not trying to freak you out on purpose, but really that low isn't typically "normal", and potentially "not good". If is really that low and everything is actually "normal" in your case, you might have missed your calling in life and should have probably been cycling at a pro level or running Olympic marathons, because you have the freakish capacity to either pump huge amounts of blood per beat due to an extra large or powerful heart muscle, or your body is genetically more excellent at taking up oxygen out of your blood stream because of some factor... In either case the potential limit of your VO2 max exceeds most of humanity and is in super elite athlete territory. If it gets below 30bpm, your heart is basically able to pump enough blood comparable to if you had the heart the size of an elephants, or your body is crazily able to uptake oxygen (and your vo2 max potential is nuts and way more then mine).

@docpd might have some input here if he is around.

Yeah, Mashani, that is one intense exercise routine. Good for you, though. You may need to drink beer just to keep from losing weight. I generally drink 1-2 beers 5-6 days per week. I exercise routinely, 40 minutes of intense work on an elliptical trainer and 30 minutes of resistance training 3 days per week. I try to ride my road bike 25-30 miles most weekend mornings at a 15-16 mph pace. I certainly could not keep up with Cat 2 racers, but at age 64, I am just happy to keep doing what I do.

I'm in the camp of 4-8 beers a week.
I don't typically drink more than 1 per night unless there is an event (out with friends, friends over for a bbq, etc.).

Way less than I brew, so a lot gets given away to in-laws, neighbors, people at my studio and a few fools here.

docpd wrote:I try to ride my road bike 25-30 miles most weekend mornings at a 15-16 mph pace. I certainly could not keep up with Cat 2 racers, but at age 64, I am just happy to keep doing what I do.

That's a decent pace if riding on the tops/flat bars/or even hoods (assuming your bars aren't slammed compared to your seat height) for someone who isn't trying to keep up with the 50+ masters. Ultimately, it should be a good enjoyable workout. That's really what's important.

It is a good fun workout. Saturdays I ride with a group of 8-10 riders and we tend to go a bit faster, about 16.5 to 17 mph. Ten years ago I could set the pace with this group, but they are all younger than I, so now my goal is not to get dropped. HR is usually in the 135 range but I may hit 170 on a steep climb. I can usually have an extra beer on Saturdays due to this workout.