Resting heart rateRHR
Your heart rate at complete rest — a simple fitness and recovery marker.
Resting heart rate (RHR) is the number of times your heart beats per minute when you're fully at rest, ideally measured on waking. Typical adult values sit roughly in the 60–100 bpm range, with fitter people often lower.
It matters because a lower resting heart rate generally reflects better cardiovascular fitness, and tracking your own trend is useful: a sustained rise above your normal can signal fatigue, stress, illness or under-recovery.
In practice, RHR is best compared to your own baseline over time rather than to others, and works well alongside HRV as a daily readiness signal.
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Written and reviewed by Mathew Beale — MSc Biotechnology, University of Reading.
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