Pulse Rate Fundamentals By Carlos

My fitness journey started in 2014 with an alarming incident in my former workplace. Fast forward, and long story short, that incident made me want to prioritize my own health. And that ultimately led me to running 9 marathons with a 10th in about 5 weeks. And I changed careers along the way with a new mindset to becoming a personal trainer of about 6 total years and counting at the moment.

While I see a lot of members and clients infatuated with body mass numbers, which is great, I’ve always emphasized the importance of heart health as a priority. After all, our body fat percentage is irrelevant is our blood pressure numbers aren’t within the guidelines set by the American Heart Association. Our blood pressure is impacted by clogging in our the arteries causing the ol ticker to have work harder to do it’s job. Measured in what’s called “millimeters of mercury” a health blood pressure will range below 120 of said millimeters of mercury as the heart pumps bloods out to our body and just below 80 as it returns to our heart.

Blood has a lot of important roles.It carries oxygen and nutrients to our body’s tissues, while returning various wastes like carbon dioxide back to our lungs to breathe out.

So what does all of this have to do with pulse rate fundamentals? Our pulse represents a “wave” of blood being pumped put of our heart’s 4 chambers as it exits the hearts left ventricle. We can check our pulse rate in a few places:

• Wrist on the outside of the hand face up about 1 1/2 inches from our hand
• Neck, just below our jaw line.
• Groin, between our pubic bone and thigh
• Our temple, near our hairline
• Top of our foot near our big toe

Generally speaking a low pulse rate(ie lower heart rate’s beats) is a sign of a healthier heart as the heart doesn’t have to work as hard to pump blood. A healthy pulse rate will be anywhere between 60 and 90 beats per minute while resting, while outside factors like dehydration, lack of sleep and stress will cause fluctuating readings, likely higher.

Regular exercise, proper sleep and hydration and diets low in saturated and trans fats(LDL or bad cholesterol) help our ticker do its job with the most of ease, tense a lower pulse rate. So, if you ever feel your pulse firing don’t panic, just relax and focus on whats important for our heart’s health.