How To Lower Your Resting Heart Rate
To the general public body fat and presence of lean muscle mass are the two biggest indicators of health. It's not until you've embarked on your own fitness journey and spent time around competitive bodybuilders and fitness models that you begin to realize this isn't quite as true as most people tend to believe it is.
After all there are a ton of potent stimulants and supplements out there to assist in building muscle, and single digit body fat can be achieved fairly easily (albeit it takes some time) without stepping on the treadmill or doing a minute worth of cardio.
Lots of stimulants + no cardio + essentially a starvation diet although coupled with lifting weights does not equal a healthy physique.
A few associates of mine look a million bucks however they have resting heart rates that're constantly over 100 beats per minute.
Given that your resting heart rate is a fairly good indicator of health this is pretty damn concerning.
The good news however is there are proven methods to reduce your resting heart rate, over the last few years I've reduced my resting heart rate from just above 70 beats per minute down to an average of 51 beats per minute (at times it'll drop into the mid 40s).
Think about it, lowering your heart rate from 70 down to 51 reduces the number of times your heart beats per hour by 1140 beats!
Lowering your heart rate from 70 down to 51 reduces the number of times your heart beats per day by 27,360 beats!
Lowering your heart rate from 70 down to 51 reduces the number of times your heart beats per year by 9,986,400 beats!
It's safe to safe reducing your resting heart rate will drastically lengthen your life span and improve the quality of your life.
Although a low resting heart rate isn't a superficial achievement you can wear such as lean muscle mass and single digit body fat as discussed above I highly advocate you implement at least a few of the tips below to reduce your resting heart rate.
Not sure what your resting heart rate is? Place two fingers on your neck and count your pulse for 60 seconds or use a fitness tracking device, here's the Garmin I use.
Here's How To Lower Your Resting Heart Rate
Raise Your Heart Rate
In order for your heart to effortlessly pump blood throughout your body (which results in a low resting heart rate) you must first strengthen your heart by putting it through its pace in terms of cardio training.
I recommend using a combination of styles similiar to that Matt Fitzgerald recommends in his program, 80/20 Running.
80% of your cardio you do will be reasonably easy, steady state training with the remaining 20% pushing yourself to the limit while building speed and power.
Here's the cardio routine I performed last week, I greatly attribute this style of training to my drop in resting heart rate from 70 to 51 that we discussed earlier.
Tuesday
25 minute steady state jog (heart rate for me was around 145bpm)
10 minutes all out effort (heart rate rose to around 180bpm)
Thursday
10 minute steady state jog (heart rate for me was around 145bpm)
6 intervals of:
120 seconds steady state (heart rate for me was around 145bpm)
60 seconds all out effort (heart rate for me was around 180bpm)
5 minute steady state jog (heart rate for me was around 145bpm)
Sunday
7 mile steady state jog (heart rate for me was around 145bpm)
Not only will this style of routine lower your resting heart rate dramatically over time you'll also find you'll become a cardio machine.
This is the style of training the Kenyans use to win races, they implement a lot of steady state cardio with a little bit of speed work/elevated heart rate - for then winning races isn't about going fast it's instead about not slowing down.
Drop Some Weight
Think about this one as if we were discussing cars and engines.
The bigger the engine and the lighter the car the better your performance will be, having driven a Mazda Miata with a V8 conversion in it I can attest to this being ever so true.
You can follow the cardio regime listed above but if you continue to eat in a caloric surplus you'll continue to gain weight, excess weight makes your heart work harder to pump blood around your body and in turn you'll have an increased resting heart rate.
Don't get me wrong, we're talking about health here - you don't need to drop down to sub 8% body fat, just ensure you're sticking within a healthy range of 10 - 16% if you're a guy (the range that applies to women is slightly higher).
The Tuesday/Thursday/Sunday 80/20 Running regime along with counting your calories will be all you need to get this one in check.
Implement Relaxation Techniques Into Your Daily Routine
I cannot stress this enough - stress and anxiety will send your resting heart rate through the roof.
You might be a lean, mean cardio machine but if your constantly stressed and anxious then you are not going to have a lower resting heart rate.
There's not one be all end all relaxation technique, it comes down to personal preference... below are a few of the techniques I regularly use to reduce stress and anxiety in my life.
Cold Water Therapy
Jump in a cold shower or ice bath for 5 - 10 minutes, although this doesn't sound or feel particularly relaxing for those 5 - 10 minutes while you're doing it the feeling of relaxation and reduction of stress that follows you around for the remainder of the day afterwards is noteworthy.
Aurimas Juodka states that the vagus nerve is linked with the parasympathetic nervous system, and training it via cold water therapy can help you face stressful situations more adequately.
Sauna
Heat is fantastic for stress relief and relaxation, so it comes as no surprise that the infrared sauna is one of the most affective means of stress relief and relaxation that I’ve personally come across.
As I’ve discussed before, a high level of stress is a result of increased cortisol levels which is responsible for that ‘fight or flight’ reaction we get under times of immense tension.
While in an infrared sauna cortisol levels remain relatively stable, however upon finishing off your session in the infrared sauna cortisol levels generally drop quite drastically – resulting in reduced blood pressure, lower heart rate, efficient burning of calories.
Float Tanks
Being constantly in a reactive state, reacting to what we see and hear all day every day can become quite stressful over time, the sensory deprivation tank is the ultimate environment for relaxation.
There’s nothing to see, nothing to hear and nothing to feel – you’re in a pod with nothing except your mind for upwards of an hour… the only thing to do is let yourself go and relax.
Guided Meditation
I recommend either YouTube or the Headspace App for a quick and effective way to clear your head while you’re on the go – this is my favourite habit to implement when on the subway.
Why perform a guided meditation? You’ll find yourself thinker clearer and will reduce your levels of anxiety and stress.
Yoga
Yoga, just like meditation places a large emphasis on your breathing.
Deep breathes, inhaling and exhaling.
Breathing deeply is one of the best ways to clear your mind and reduce any anxiety you may be experiencing.
A clear mind and a calm body form the perfect blank state for the creative.
Be it brainstorming topics for your blog, coming up with that slogan for your new business venture… yoga can spark creativity and calmness when you place a large emphasis on your breathing.
Pay Attention To Your Supplementation
Stimulants raise your resting heart rate, pay attention to the amount of coffee, energy drinks and pre-workout supplements you're consuming.
A pre-workout supplement first thing in the morning is fine or perhaps a pick me up coffee to get your through your long afternoon writing in the office is ok, the issue is when you become reliant on stimulants and are constantly drip feeding yourself caffeine throughout the day - you'll find your resting heart rate as well as your blood pressure are elevated as a result of this.
