As you may know, I’ve been hitting the kettlebell snatches pretty hard the last few weeks. Each workout leaves me gassed and wondering if I’m ever going to reach my goal of 200 snatches in 10 minutes or less with a 53# kettlebell. But there’s no denying that I’m making gains in strength and stamina, since my numbers continue to improve, albeit slowly. And there’s also no denying that at times my heart is absolutely pounding during my workouts. And from the looks of things, that is taking a toll on my heart…in a good way. I have not taken my pulse in a long time, I admit. I guess I can take for granted that my heart is still beating. 🙂 But that’s because for as long as I can remember, I’ve always had a resting heart rate right around 60 beats per minute, regardless of my seasons of exercise.
Well, today I happened upon a machine to take my pulse and blood pressure while at a friend’s house. I put down my things (I was carrying my 53# bell and some other things) and took my pulse and blood pressure. I immediately dismissed the results, assuming the machine was wrong, because it read a number I’d never seen: 50.
Well, an hour later I tested it again, after having been sitting for awhile (i.e., not carrying kettlebells and other gear) and my pulse was 42. Right now as I type this (a few hours after my workout), it’s 60.
So, who cares? Well, according to Dr. Edward R. Laskowski with the Mayo Clinic…
“For an adult, a normal resting heart rate ranges from 60 to 100 beats a minute. For a well-trained athlete, a normal resting heart rate may be closer to 40 beats a minute. For healthy adults, a lower heart rate at rest generally implies more efficient heart function and better cardiovascular fitness.”
My experience may just be further firsthand confirmation of what I’ve believed for a long time now: You don’t need long cardio sessions for a healthy heart. If this data is accurate, my heart may be beating more efficiently than it ever has, and I’m actually working out for shorter durations with greater intensity than ever before. I don’t intend to do this forever (I really like variety), but it is hard to argue with results.
Perhaps you’re a visitor to this blog who wonders what these workouts involve. Well, take today for instance. I did 120 kettlebell snatches in 6 minutes. I planned to do some Turkish get-ups afterward, but I was naive in my planning. I had almost nothing left, and attempting get-ups would have been foolhardy; I may have only injured myself. So after collapsing on the floor for a couple of minutes, I stretched my screaming hamstrings and biceps and then went downstairs for lunch. I was done.
Six minutes. That’s it. And my heart was screaming right along with my hamstrings and biceps. And last Monday it was the same story. I could only do my strength work after a considerable recovery period.
Now, as Dr. Laskowski goes on to say, there are a lot of variables that come into play when analyzing a resting heart rate, so I don’t want to read too much into my numbers. It’s possible too that today was some sort of anomaly, so I’ll pay closer attention to my resting heart rate and my recovering heart rate moving forward to see if this is a pattern.
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