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heart rate recovery

So every once in a while after an activity the VA3 gives me a "recovery heart rate" ok. It seems random. I am glad to know that it was 13 after doing yoga at 75 bpm and dropping to my RHR of 62. LOL. Other times when I am actually in a zone where it *could* be calculated it does not, even if I stand still for 2 minutes. The one time it did, it was 45 which is age-appropriate for a 62 year old even for a 2 minute calculation......I am not sure how it does it though..

So what is the deal with this feature? I don't see it tracked anywhere? I know what HRR is and how to calculate it. 62 year old woman at start of fitness journey.

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R_Tellis over 7 years ago +1

The 2 minutes starts when you hit stop without saving. If you hit save before the 2 minutes are up there will be no calculation done. So on the VA3 leave it on the screen with the blue button that says…

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0 Former Member over 7 years ago

HRR is just the bpm you dropped 2 minutes after you stopped your activity. The higher the number the better. I have this feature on my FR235 and I wasn't aware it was on the VA3. On the FR235 once you stopped your activity, you had to wait the two minutes to get the HRR before selecting done. Is this how it's working for you?

0 nancyjocoy over 7 years ago

It seems hit or miss. Yes that is how you calculate it but you would never calculate it based on a heart rate 13 beats higher than your resting heart rate. It seems to do it somewhat randomly. I figured it was related to motion but it has not done it after I stood still after a walk then did it other times while I was still walking after I 'finished"

0 Former Member over 7 years ago

I'll have to try it later. Your RHR doesn't matter in this reading. It's just showing what your HR dropped to 2 minutes after you stopped working out. If you stopped your Yoga at 75 bpm and your HRR was 13 after two minutes, it's just a coincidence that it landed on your RHR. You'll really see a difference when you stop activities in zone 3, 4 or 5. When I do HIIT, I'll stop around 156bpm and my HRR is usually around 35. My goal is to get that number into the 40's.

Update: I just read online that to get a good HRR you should be exercising in zone 3. Dropping roughly 20 bpm every minute is consider healthy and 12 or less is unhealthy.

0 nancyjocoy over 7 years ago

Yes, the time it actually did it from a solid zone 3 aerobic heart rate of 125 bpm it gave me a recovery rate of 43. Funny thing is my VO2 max sucks in the 20s but I think that is because when I hit zone 5 an alarm goes off and I back off and slow down ........ I got a long way to go before I worry about VO2Max and will do it properly then.

0 Former Member over 7 years ago

I don't pay much attention to the VO2 Max reading Garmin gives me. It's always between 36-38. I've used several online VO2 calculators and they have me around 42-43. The online VO2 Max puts me in a healthier range so I think I'll stick with that. :D

0 R_Tellis over 7 years ago

The 2 minutes starts when you hit stop without saving. If you hit save before the 2 minutes are up there will be no calculation done. So on the VA3 leave it on the screen with the blue button that says "Done" at the bottom until the HRR result shows.

The result will be saved to the .FIT file but Garmin doesn't do anything with it nor does any of the other platforms that most people export to.

0 nancyjocoy over 7 years ago

Thank you. That makes sense! I will try it tomorrow.

0 tjejvattern2 over 3 years ago

And what is the number in brackets .. so I got 58bpm (35bpm) what does that mean .. ie what is the number in brackets?

0 hhasert over 3 years ago in reply to tjejvattern2

I think it is the delta, so 58 is the heartrate when it stops, 35 is the delta during that interval, meaning you went from 93 to 58 during the calculation.

0 7017726 over 3 years ago in reply to hhasert

I think it doesn't begin calculating until your hr is down to zone three. At the start, it showed two numbers, 150 (approx) and 126. At the end, the reading was 87 (39), meaning my hr was now 87 and the change was 39. So it did not calculate the change based on my higher initial hr but on the 126, which mystified me as I did t know where that number came from, until now.