What is a normal resting heart rate? The short answer: about 50 to 100 beats per minute. Unless you fall dramatically above or below these numbers, then you're probably "normal."
If you're worried that your resting heart rate and/or blood pressure is too high, check out this great report on how to lower both.
But, to understand more about heart rate and what factors can affect your beats per minute, let's look at how the heart works.
Whether you're Lance Armstrong or Larry Buttbig or simply a Wii Fitness game expert, your heart is constantly pumping blood, oxygen, and nutrients throughout your entire body.
Theoretically, the higher your resting heart rate, or the more times it beats per minute, the harder and more often your heart has to work to do its job.
Conversely, a lower heart rate implies that it's more efficient and doesn't need to pump as often. Lance Armstrong's is said to be about 30-35 beats per minute!
There are several other variables that affect your heart rate, so don't feel bad if you're ticker is working two or more times harder than Lance's. Physical fitness, exercise intensity, training frequency, and of course — the uncontrollable — genetics.
How to Measure Your Heart Rate
You may have no point of reference for the above BPM numbers, so to give you an idea, try measuring your own resting heart rate now.
For an optimal measurement, you should check it first thing in the morning while still lying in bed. This will provide you with the truest "resting" rate, but as long as you haven't been overly active in the last hour or so, the number shouldn't vary by more than 5 or 10 beats.
- Find a pulse point, either on the inside of your wrist or your neck.
- Stand in front of a clock with a second hand, or use a stopwatch.
- Count your pulses for 60 seconds (this number is your BPM, or normal resting heart rate).
- Repeat 2-3 more times, and take the average for more accurate results.
So, what's your normal resting heart rate? Leave your BPM numbers below in the comments!
Normal Resting Heart Rate Report
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Hi I’m 18yrs old and I train at an elite level. In the past few months my coaches have been concerned about my rest heart rate which is consistantly 70bpm. This in itself is not abnormal we realize however when I’m actively training hard throughout the day my heartrate is consistantly 56bpm.
Is this something I should be concerned with? I’ve been given a cursory “you’re a strong, healthy girl” diagnoses from my GP but both my family and coaches are not convinced.
I’m 19 years old lately I’ve felt like my heart is racing a lot that its beating really fast. In the afternoon at about 4:00 pm my heart rate is consistently about 85-90bpm and my blood pressure is usually about low normaI. Since that’s what my pulse is everyday is it too high of an average resting pulse rate.
48BPM
44 year old male
22yr old male. blunted + aderall. 160BPM
Aerobics instructor and fitness trainer – usually <45bpm. Currently 46bpm as i type this. I love my heart rate monitor.
I am very concerned. I went to the gym the other day and BEFORE doing anything.. i checked my heart rate and it was 140bpm. I checked it again a few days later… 128bpm. This scared me so much I went to see my Dr. yesterday. They are referring me to a cardiologist. I am only 43 years old. I am overweight, but NOT Obese. I started working out recently and changed my eating habits… but this heart rate is way too high. Has anyone been where I am and brought it down?
my wife was harassing me for not visiting the heart specialist and I was put on a disgusting fat free salt free diet, after consulting with her merciless friends.And now the doctor after echo cardio gram and ecg and blood analysis discovered that my normal daytime bpm was 45-50 and the cholestrol levels etc were better than normal but the T waves in the ecg were found to be taller compared to normal. I feel very healthy, I am 62 and i jog almost daily and do weight training intermittently since very many years. The doctor insists on me gulping at least 5 cute looking horribly irritating pills daily and my wife is still trying to choke me with prayer sequences and vegetables without salt etc. Help ,Please help.!!! Here, a man is in peril!!!
hey there Jacob;
I’m no expert or the host of this site jacob, but it seems to me that too much salt will affect your blood pressure more so than anything else (you didn’t mention what your blood pressure was); and your rest/hrt/rate seems a little low for your age, but than again you’re athletic. Since our bodies need about 1/2 tbsp of salt everyday anyway(google salt), I’d say get your wife to, or make your own tasty meals with a little salt and other spices each day, and try and avoid all that other crappy processed food that contains so much hidden salt and other chemicals. That’s at least what I try and do…Lots of luck jacob!
Im 28yo Male with a heart beat resting of 35bpm, When i wake i feel exausted for about 15mins then i seem to come good. Is there some underlying medical condition that could cause this? I am in no way an athlete. I drink too much and party way too much. Im in hospital with suspected percarditis and the nurses keep waking me up because my heart beat slows down to around 35bpm?
I am 37 years old and have an average resting heart rate of 45. This alarmed me and I went to a cardiologist. I’ve been hooked up to a holter monitor for the past week and have 2 more weeks to go. I am by far NOT a world class athlete like Lane Armstrong. In fact, I was obese until recently, now I exercise 45 minutes (or more) every day doing road biking on a Trek bike (eh, Armstrong). After losing 65+ (so far), my average heart rate went from 75 (when I weighed in at 310 lbs and didn’t eat right — even been told that in the 70s is pretty low for someone who is obese) to 45 in a matter of about 9 months (now eating right and exercising every day). I called the Cardiologist a couple days ago which told me that looking at all the data that’s collected on the monitor so far, and he is that my heart is very strong and there are no glaring problems (this is also comparing to a stress test and a echocardiogram they have done earlier — which I did EXCELLENT on the stress test, and my echo came back with no abnormalities, blockages, or defects) and that the rate that my rate falls and drops with exercise and stress is normal, which is one sign of a healthy strong heart. He basically told me I won the heart lottery with a heart that beats so slow…
So, I am here to tell you that you don’t need to be an athlete to have a low heart rate. Obviously, genetics has a lot to do with how fast or slow your heart will beat, but getting this low should be checked out by a cardiologist to make sure there is no underlying heart problem.
Oh, by the way. As I type this, my heart rate is 49, but I recently got back from a quick 10 min jog around the park, so it’s a little elevated for me.
paddlegirl, so your heart rate goes down when you exercise from your average resting rate in the 70s? If not, can you get your heart rate ABOVE 120 when you exercise? Because a heart rate of 60-90 is “normal.” If it goes down when you exercise, I would go see a cardiologist. This isn’t normal.
But everyone is different, 45 is normal for me. 70 might be normal for you. But, it has been proven the more you exercise the lower you heart rate will become.
I am 37 and about 5-8 -9 somewhere in there and have weighed up to 214 and now i am 198 and going down but sometimes I have heart rates that are 121 coming in from cutting grass and then it goes down to about 88 and then when i get up and measure it is 72 am I paranoid? or something to worry about? please help……
i have a resting heart rate of 63 first thing in the morning, which i hear is pretty good but when my day is finished and i sit down my heart rate drops very quickly to 35 bpm for a couple of minuets and i can feel my heart thumping, then it will just as quickly shoot back up to a normal level. wots that all about? does anyone have any ideas?
Am grateful for the information provided on this site. I’ve been having heart rates of about 52bpm when resting and rather got worried that it was quite too low.
My resting is usually 42, but right now is 35. I’m 5″11, 54 years old, and an avid cyclist. Weight is 154. The 35 is sort of low for me. BPM used to go up 190+ when I was competing in criteriums, but I haven’t measured the active rate in years. I do have an irregular heartbeat, skips and then beats twice closer together sometimes, but holter monitor worn maybe 15 years ago showed everything was OK. Just not sure at my age why the recent trend towards 35 resting BPM.
I’m 37 and run about 3-4 times a week and mine is usually in the 30-40 range. Right now it is 37 sitting at work. I am not necessarily the an athlete and I am 5’10″ and around 205 lbs. I had an ECG done when I was 15-16 because the doctor thought he heard something but everything then was fine. I remember them complaining about my heart beating so slow then as well since they need the heart to beat to see it on the machine.
I am 21, 188 lbs, 6′ 2″. Cycling almost daily as it is my mode of transportation, usually about 21 miles or 1.5 hours. Resting heart rate this morning is 44 BPM, which is after a fairly strenuous day yesterday and a good bit of sleep last night.
i am 22, 60 kg, 175 cm, i have 62 bpm! i want to know if this normal heart beating?
Hi Mohammed, that is OK for a resting heart rate. Mine is about the same, or at least was when I last checked. Do you workout? As said in the article stronger and fitter people have a lower heart rate as the heart works more efficiently.
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Resting averages at 40 BPM
32 year old male
I run and weight lift often though
28 YO male, decent shape, recently started running. My resting heart rate is currently 80bpm.
Should be interesting to see how much it decreases as I increase my mileage and overall fitness level. Thanks for the great information.
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Hey my names Amy and I’m 16 years old. I’m a national level athlete.. In wrestling actually so I am in great shape and have a good amount of muscle . I’m 5’10 and weigh about 157 and I have a heart rate of like 80 resting. I realize that’s not normally high but I train twice a day almost everyday and my coaches and parents are concerned why it’s that way. When I work out it gets to arround190 but then it recovers and slows back to normal in a matter of secounds. So if any one has any advice or any ideas why its that way that would be great.
My resting heart rate was actually 36 BPM in college (many years ago). The only physical activity I got at the time was walking around campus and the occasional pick-up basketball game. I just measured and now it’s around 60 BPM. Boy do I need some cardio! Thanks for the post and the kick in the pants I needed.
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Hi, I’m 43 years old, have a resting heart rate of 62bpm. I run four times a week, I have never smoked and I would regard my diet as quite healthy. My mate is 46 years old, smoker, overweight and runs three times a week, and hasn’t been running as much as me. When we train together his heart rate is about 15 beats slower than mine per minute at any point in time during training. Is there reason to be concerned? I would like to think that I’m fitter than him. I have suffered from acute high blood pressure but with exercise it is fine. Is ther something else I can do to lower my heartrate?
I am a 28 year old male and my resting heart rate is between 42 – 48. I am not an athlete i just like to go cycling for 12k a day. During the weekend 35k. Its fun and you feel good .. pedal power rules :)
Well all of you seem to have pretty low heart rates! I’m jealous. I am nineteen years old, I am 5’3” and weigh 120 lbs. My resting heart rate is 100 bpm. I have been to a cardiologist and today I was told that I have a patent foramen ovale, which is a hole in my heart. The doctor told me that a PFO would not account for my high heart rate though, so I am still confused. I have had multiple EKG’s done, I have had lab work and xrays, and I wore a holter monitor for 24 hours. And I still don’t have answers. I am extremely nervous about what all of this means, but I don’t know what to do next. The holter monitor is basically a portable EKG and it caught that my heart rate when I woke up that morning (morning is the best time to find your resting heart rate) was 150 bpm. And during the night it was consistently at 75 bpm. I wish I could figure out what was wrong.
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