RHR of 39 - Should I be worried?

mcalista said:

Many doctors will become concerned about RHR's below 50 (known  as Bradycardia), as it can result in not enough oxygen being delivered to the body, and can indicate other heart problems.

However, Exercise Induced Bradycardia and very low RHR's is common amongst athletes and those who exercise regularly, and is seen as unconcerning and even beneficial condition. Basically because they exercise regularly, the heart and lungs become very efficient, and can deliver the oxygen the body needs at rest at a low heart rate. Amongst elite athletes, values in the low 30 to mid 30s are pretty common. Mine varies from 38-42 depending on where I am in my training cycle, and I wouldn't consider myself anywhere near elite.

See your doctor if you are concerned.

That's a great explanation.

Most sources say that "normal" RHR is 60-100 for adults. But also, a "normal" adult is obese, at least in my country the good ol' USA 

An athlete who has an RHR of 100 should be very concerned, and see a doctor.

Conversely, an obese, inactive person should be concerned if their RHR is only 60, I think.

So it all depends on your health and fitness (And also genetics). It's not at all unusual for someone who exercises regularly to have an RHR of 35-60. It's really only concerning if your RHR is that low and you don't exercise enough to justify it being that low.

I don't really consider myself THAT athletic (I have a beer belly and can barely run a 5k), but my average RHR of 47 is still significantly below the "normal" 60-100 range. That would only be alarming if I was not a healthy person that exercises.

I'm 39 and whole life if I visited some doctor, they asked me what sport I do, because I have slow HR. If I lay down and he measured my HR, he get about 45bpm. But I never do any sports, only cycling for fun, max. about 1500km per year and sometimes run, one year light boxing. I have had problem for five years with arythmia (extrasystols) get EKG monitor implanted, so I'm little bit afraid workout at max as I sometimes do at past. But when I was on bike stress test in hospital (a defibrillator ready for me on the ground - which made me a little nervous by the way :-)) ), the doctor again asked me after 5 minutes which sport I do, because I have very good heart rate adaptation like a big sportsman :-)))

Now with F6Pro I get 49RHR, in the night my HR sometimes drops down to 39bpm. I'm trying to push up VO2 max, but still stuck on 42 :-/. But I think, that is on good way, training balanced, doing workout three-times per week, home office in these months, a lot of rest.. :-))

Hello I might be able to offer some advice. I am in graduate school now with a focus in clinical exercise science.  If you were a case study I would say that your age and background weigh the most out of anything in figuring out if you have a problem. You said you have a VO2 of 56 which is above average for your age group and your relatively young. A 39 resting HR is not out of the norm and is a reflection of how fit you are because your heart should pump more blood out with each beat. By definition VO2 Max= Cardiac Output (which is (heart rate x stroke volume) x aVO2 difference. Cardiac output (the amount of blood your heart pumps put per minute) is relatively the same at rest and with exercise except when you have a larger heart. To compensate an athletes heart will have a lower resting heart rate to keep cardiac output similar to a non athlete because when you manipulate stroke volume HR must drop to keep cardiac output the same. If you feel anything like dizziness, nausea, if you take your pulse and it seems irregular, or you generally just don’t feel well you could always just ask your family doc. They will most likely run a quick ECG to rule out any heart blocks. In my limited experience I would say your numbers make sense based on your VO2 but seek a doctors opinion just to ease any fears. 

I wouldn't put too much trust in the VO2 max score your Fenix gives you. Mine gives me a score of 59 (male, 30 years old) and while my fitness might be decent I really doubt I'm in the top 1% for my age as my last test on 5KM a few weeks ago still took me 20 minutes.

Although, to be fair, do you think many 30 year olds could do a 20:00 5K.

I would not be surprised if your result is fairly within the ballpark of your VO2 Max. I wouldn’t focus too much on the statistics your getting about demographics but the number itself. I can only run around a 9 minute mile right now and my max 5K is about 30 minutes going all out.  My VO2 is estimated around 43 ml/kg/min. This is nearly identical to the maximum METS (which is also VO2) that I am able to run on a Bruce Treadmill protocol we are running stress tests with in the labs at my program. So I would say the estimation is fairly valid. If you wanted to have fun you could figure out your average speed (in meters/minute) and the average grade of the recent 5K run you did and throw it into the ACSM Running VO2 formula and I would guess it’s around the result you got especially with a time of 20 minutes in the 5K.

Funny, I am a male, 30 years old, strength train 5 days a week and bike roughly 5 days a week about 80 miles a weeks (mtb and road). I also do some yoga and whitewater kayaking (active 7 days a week). My VO2 max according to my watch is 53, but my RHR is ~58 bpm. Seems high compared to some of you in here. I wonder if the strength training increases RHR? I also do not sleep with my watch, so my RHR is measured only when I am awake and moving around. 

I liked the number.  

I'm no where near you guys, in age or fitness.  Still, I liked it when the watch said my fitness age was 18.  Gotta be right, right?

People miss this point.

There are plenty of people who couldn't run a mile without stopping.  In fact, I'd bet it's more than half the population.  Now, scale that down even more for a 5K (I would struggle right now, been down 4 months of this year).  Then we start with times and I bet the average for most, almost all, age groups would be north of 30 minutes, except maybe teen's / early 20's.

Then ask yourself how many people can do a 6:00 minute mile or do one for distance, much less do it 3.1 miles?  It has to be a very small part of the population.

I know I can't do it although I think it might, maybe, just barely, be possible at my age, for me.  I know people go that fast at my age, it's just a question of whether I could get myself there.