[tonys]

Hi,

I’m curious as to what influences how fast the HR drops after exercise, as well as what relevant information it may give.
I’ve noticed that after long, slow, aerobic runs, my HR drops pretty dramatically, like 40 or 50 beats within a minute after stoping. Even if I’ve been running for like 4 hours. So I could be running at 155bpm, stop and watch my HR drop to 100 or 110bpm in a minute. The same isn’t truth with interval training, after which my HR will stay a bit higher for longer. I’m no expert on the matter but I suppose it might perhaps be due to the high demand placed on the body, which may force the body to work harder, thus higher HR, to restore homeostasis? But I’m not sure.
I’ve read an article on Martin Fourcade saying he could lower is heart rate from 170-180bpm to 100bpm very quickly when shooting. According to the same source, he has one of the biggest HR drops across the elite biathlon world. I’ve also read Kilian Jornet would be at 70 or 80bpm like a minute after going all out on a Vo2max test.
So, what affects how fast the HR drops and how relevant is it?

Thanks! 🙂

Topic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on March 28, 2018 at 11:39 am #8934

Good question. My guess is that it depends how stressful the stimulus was, all things considered.

Heart rate is a measurement of total stress, not intensity. Two people of equal physiology and fitness, but different life stress, would likely see heart rate behave differently, both during and after workouts.

Within training, if heart rate falls quickly after a workout, then I think it’s safe to assume it wasn’t that stressful (which is usually a good thing). If not, then the opposite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on March 28, 2018 at 4:12 pm #8955

HR recovery time is generally considered to be closely related to aerobic fitness. When you are doing a long low intensity workout in the aerobic zone your body doe not accumulate what is called an oxygen debt. You are very aerobic so as soon as the training stress is removed your HR quickly settles back toward normal. After very high intensity work, like during a biathlon race when the skier enters the shooting range or when Kilian is doing hard intervals there is an accumulated deficit of oxygen that has been built up. To “repay” that debt takes time. How much time is related to the stroke volume of the heart. The higher the cardiac output the faster the debt is repaid and the quicker the HR will return toward normal. Although it will not drop all the way to normal resting due to the “stress” the body is under from the work just done.

There are no absolute measures and you’d be wise not to compare yourself to professionals like Fourcade or Jornet who have a life time of training behind them. Better to test yourself and and then note improvement in your own 1 minute HR recovery time. Note that fatigue will overwhelm fitness in this test. If you are tired then the test is useless.

Scott