How fit am I?

Your Heart Rate can be a good guide to your overall level of fitness and the health of your heart. As a general rule, the fitter you are, the lower your Resting Heart Rate (RHR) will be, as it requires less effort for your heart to pump blood to your body, and the quicker your heart rate will recover after exercise (HRR) . However, as always, there are some exceptions so you should only use this as a guide and shouldn't look at it in isolation.

How to measure your Resting Heart Rate (RHR)

You should measure your Resting Heart Rate when your body is most rested. The best time is usually just after you have woken up from a good night's sleep while you are still lying in bed. Find your pulse on your wrist or neck and count how many times it beats in 30 seconds. Then double this to get the beats per minute.

As your Resting Heart Rate can fluctuate slightly it is best to take a few readings and then record the average.

How to measure your Heart Rate Recovery (HRR)

Run at a fast pace for at least 10 minutes. Measure your pulse for 15 seconds immediately after finishing your run and multiply it by 4 to convert it to beats per minute. Then do the same again one minute later and subtract the second reading from the first. The difference is your Heart Rate Recovery.