Abnormal heart rate recovery after exercise is a predictor of mortality

[maldorf]

Bumped into this really good article about the heart and athletes. It focuses on enduracne athletes. The part I found most interesting is how post exercise HR recovery can predict mortality. There is research that supports this. That night I went into tachycardia after doing squats, I noticed my HR was not slowing down after finishing the set and sitting down, but that it was actually speeding up over time. Eventually it got bad enough that my whole left side went numb and I couldnt feel a thing on that side. Of course thats when I called 911.

So perhaps pay attention to this when youre in the gym and lifting hard. Do you notice that your endurance is getting worse and its taking you longer and longer to recover from that set of squats as the week progress? If you get to be out of breath and need lots of rest after doing something as simple as dumbell curls, perhaps something is up. Some guys I used to know got out of breath walking to the locker room.
Here is the part about HR recovery:

"ABNORMAL HEART RATE RECOVERY AFTER SUBMAXIMAL EXERCISE TESTING IS A PREDICTOR OF MORTALITY. Abnormal heart rate recovery after symptom-limited exercise predicts death. It is unknown whether this is also true among patients undergoing submaximal testing. Researchers tested the prognostic implications of heart rate recovery in cardiovascularly healthy adults undergoing submaximal exercise testing. From 5234 adults without evidence of cardiovascular disease who were enrolled in the Lipid Research Clinics Prevalence Study. Heart rate recovery was defined as the change from peak heart rate to that measured 2 minutes later (heart rate recovery was defined as < or =42 beats/min). During 12 years of follow-up, 312 participants died. After adjustment for standard risk factors, fitness, and resting and exercise heart rates, abnormal heart rate recovery remained predictive (adjusted relative risk, 1.55 [CI, 1.22 to 1.98]). Even after submaximal exercise, abnormal heart rate recovery predicts death.[27]"

here is the article:

**broken link removed**

 

[maldorf]

Thought I would bump this one time. Feel like it presents something that people dont think about as much as they should. We have some guys walking around here with a resting heart rate of 100 BPM or so, and anything over 100 is classified as tachycardia. I would hate to see how fast their hearts would beat after doing a hard and heavy set of squats.

 

[Amazon Doll]

Excellent stuff! Most of us don't realise how important HR recovery is.

Maldorf, keep posting your heart related info! It is a so important.

I bookmarked that site ProCycle site,

 

[phatrr]

Nice Post

Hmm.

Have you read the original study? I'm not clear on what protocols were used, and am a little confused by the statement that heart rate recovery was defined as < or = 42 BPM. If I understand that: if my heart rate dropped more than 42 BPM after exercise, I have abnormal recovery? What was peak heart rate?

I've been doing interval training based upon target heart rate, recovery HR, and fatigue in recovery. I've notice a typical pattern, regardless of % of max HR, where my first recovery interval is something around 35 seconds; then recovery time drops substantially to the neighborhood of 20 seconds for a few intervals before fatigue sets in, and maybe by the 5th or 6th interval I'm taking as long to recover as the initial interval.

Is this a normal recovery pattern?

Are you aware of any further research into this?

 

[Moen]

Thought I would bump this one time. Feel like it presents something that people dont think about as much as they should. We have some guys walking around here with a resting heart rate of 100 BPM or so, and anything over 100 is classified as tachycardia. I would hate to see how fast their hearts would beat after doing a hard and heavy set of squats.

I'm guessing 200+ before I was on a bèta blocker

 

[cooper250]

moldorf,did u have any other sighns than just that day u did sqauts?i mean w/ issues as serious as yours and few others i hear about on this board,its got to be obvious the heart is in trouble.No?
Makes me realy rethink my bodybuilding goals and whats really important.thinks for posting things like and keeping us aware.

 

[FRKNHUGE]

serious food for thought

 

[maldorf]

moldorf,did u have any other sighns than just that day u did sqauts?i mean w/ issues as serious as yours and few others i hear about on this board,its got to be obvious the heart is in trouble.No?
Makes me realy rethink my bodybuilding goals and whats really important.thinks for posting things like and keeping us aware.

I didnt really have any indicators because my trouble came about from a blood clot that caused an MI(myocardial infarct aka heart attack). So I was fine untill that moment that the clot completely blocked the blood flow to that part of my heart.

Many years before that though I had an incident much like pekkerwood where I was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and my heart was working at less than 1/2 of the normal capacity. At that time I would get winded just going up steps and mowing the yard was a real labor. For most people there are going to be signs like that. Just doing bicep curls would get me winded. If you find yourself suffering from syptoms like this, its a good idea to have an echo done of the heart and an ekg. IN my case the cardiomyopathy went away when I stopped using steroids. I went off for about 6 months or so and my heart's pumping ability went back to normal -much like pekkerwood's experience. Problem is I blammed my trouble on something else like an infection from a virus, which can happen, and I went back on steroids in less than 1 year.

 

[maldorf]

One of the biggest sides of using tren is decrease in aerobic capacity and increase in recovery time. Almost everyone that uses tren can attest to this fact. Makes you wonder whats going on inside your body, whats happening to the heart.

 

[maldorf]

Hmm.

Have you read the original study? I'm not clear on what protocols were used, and am a little confused by the statement that heart rate recovery was defined as < or = 42 BPM. Is this a normal recovery pattern?

Are you aware of any further research into this?

Yeah, I am confused by that statement too. I am still not sure what they mean by that, but the message is clear about the results non the less. Ive not looked for any other research, but I am willing to bet some is out there. If you look at the end of the article I posted, youll find the reference list which shows the original study. I think if you searched through there and looked up those studies, those studies will reference other studies. You should be able to follow a path of studies back to the original. Im too lazy to look them up, and I figure from common sense and from experience that this one study is enough to convince me that the statement is true.

 

[maldorf]

Thought I would ressurect this thread

Interested in getting more feedback from members. I still think this is an interesting study and one that makes perfect logical sense.

 

[MrRage]

another good reason to keep your cardio up. I always watch my recovery time.

 

[r0idb0y]

been down this road guys, i had a resting H/R a sleep of 231BPM one nite ive since had 2 heart opps and now need 2 more to fully fix it, i was diagnosed with
super ventricular tachycardia, sick sinus syndrome and atrial fibrillation, then was re diagnosed with ventricular tachycardia.

After the 2nd opp and 4 days in recovery my first nite home i had bad chest pain as i was going to bed, then the next nite i was woken with massive chest pain so bad i seriously could not move i just froze thinking this is it. so i made my GP get me a halter monitor and wore it for 23 hrs and in that i had over 2700 episodes of SVT and 100's of runs of 199 bpm hence the next opps.

my rate is much more regular now but drops from 120 bpm on the tready to 49 bpm now and then and that sucks balls bad i have to jump to the sides and hold on for a min till it goes back up.

any ways my 2 cents there.

 

[muscledoc1]

Bumped into this really good article about the heart and athletes. It focuses on enduracne athletes. The part I found most interesting is how post exercise HR recovery can predict mortality. There is research that supports this. That night I went into tachycardia after doing squats, I noticed my HR was not slowing down after finishing the set and sitting down, but that it was actually speeding up over time. Eventually it got bad enough that my whole left side went numb and I couldnt feel a thing on that side. Of course thats when I called 911.

So perhaps pay attention to this when youre in the gym and lifting hard. Do you notice that your endurance is getting worse and its taking you longer and longer to recover from that set of squats as the week progress? If you get to be out of breath and need lots of rest after doing something as simple as dumbell curls, perhaps something is up. Some guys I used to know got out of breath walking to the locker room.
Here is the part about HR recovery:

"ABNORMAL HEART RATE RECOVERY AFTER SUBMAXIMAL EXERCISE TESTING IS A PREDICTOR OF MORTALITY. Abnormal heart rate recovery after symptom-limited exercise predicts death. It is unknown whether this is also true among patients undergoing submaximal testing. Researchers tested the prognostic implications of heart rate recovery in cardiovascularly healthy adults undergoing submaximal exercise testing. From 5234 adults without evidence of cardiovascular disease who were enrolled in the Lipid Research Clinics Prevalence Study. Heart rate recovery was defined as the change from peak heart rate to that measured 2 minutes later (heart rate recovery was defined as < or =42 beats/min). During 12 years of follow-up, 312 participants died. After adjustment for standard risk factors, fitness, and resting and exercise heart rates, abnormal heart rate recovery remained predictive (adjusted relative risk, 1.55 [CI, 1.22 to 1.98]). Even after submaximal exercise, abnormal heart rate recovery predicts death.[27]"

here is the article:

**broken link removed**

are you talking about going in to SVT(Supra ventricular tahycardia/ or even A-fib)...or youre describing in youre case a mild MI(heart attack).

 

[maldorf]

are you talking about going in to SVT(Supra ventricular tahycardia/ or even A-fib)...or youre describing in youre case a mild MI(heart attack).

This article/research is talking about a relationship between abnormally long periods of time required to recover resting heart rate to risk of death. A normal heart will recover to a resting rate in a certain amount of time, and the reserach showed that abnormally long recovery times were related to premature death.

So to me when you have bodyuilders getting winded going up flights of steps and in the gym needing to take 10 mins or so inbetween sets of squats, you have something to be concerned about. This is not normal. The research here backs that up. I know that when I developed cardiomyopathy while taking steroids, I had these symtoms.

 

[Jarconis]

They did some EKG tests on a bunch of middle and high school teachers who taught in low income areas in Houston. The majority got little to no exercise and all were suffering from creeping obesity(slow gradual weight gain over time). 5 of the 15 teachers that underwent the EKG stress time had to stop immediately because they displayed ST segment depression, which means their heart was becoming ischemic. I think all of the 5 teachers went on to have bypasses or have stents put in.

 

[thatbloke]

this has gotta be one of the best posts and info ive ever come across on any board

very interesting, appreciate this info

 

[rufussdad]

thanks for the info

 

[maldorf]

They did some EKG tests on a bunch of middle and high school teachers who taught in low income areas in Houston. The majority got little to no exercise and all were suffering from creeping obesity(slow gradual weight gain over time). 5 of the 15 teachers that underwent the EKG stress time had to stop immediately because they displayed ST segment depression, which means their heart was becoming ischemic. I think all of the 5 teachers went on to have bypasses or have stents put in.

Wow, thats depressing!

 

[maldorf]

BUMP

Thought I would bump this, since a lot of guys on here are now complaining of having high resting heart rates, 100 or above. Not only is your resting heart rate important but also your recovery rate. The link to the cycling site is a good one.