Clearly struggling to keep this updated. So let's talk brass tacks while I drink my pre-workout coffee.
Saturday I woke up and my resting heart rate was 50 bpm, the next day it was 53. So I chain smoked a good portion of a pack of cigarettes before throwing out the rest, but I digress. I've been trying to get my resting heart rate into the 40-50 range for a while now and it's probably worth detailing why.
-Low resting heart rate is specifically protective against depression & anxiety
-Low resting heart rate is associated with higher heart rate variability which is broadly protective against mental illness
-Good low end cardiac function helps speed recovery from resistance training
-High HRV and low HR seem to make stress, less stressful
I've been lowering my heart rate for the past 7 months with conditioning heavy exercise and lots of low end (zone 2 ish) steady state work as well as versions of Al Ciampas "Alactic+Aerobic" training. A lot of direct cardiovascular work. There's also basically no HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) in there beyond the Alactic+Aerobic "repeats"
It's worth remembering though that when I was doing no exercise except walking to the grocery store and smoking a half pack plus of cigarettes a day while barely sleeping (before physical therapy), the nurses at Berkeley Mental Health measured my heart rate at something like 65-67? Which is not terrible, and much lower than when I'd been comparably sedentary.
I suspect the lower than expected heart rate was also at least in part because of the breathing exercises and cold exposure (cold showers, no plunges or baths). I'm a little skeptical about a 5 minute cold shower being enough to provide a real cardiovascular challenge (though I could be wrong) but the cold water on the face+ slow exhale triggers the dive reflex and a very robust parasympathetic stimulus. Improving "parasympathetic tone" by activating the parasympathetic system repeatedly (like practice or exercise) can also lower resting heart rate.
Probably going to need to emphasize the parasympathetic stuff and starting some HIIT cycles, thankfully the parasympathetic stuff should help with recovery from the high intensity nastiness.
But my strength is progressing nicely, I'm feeling pretty good about being able to deadlift 500 pounds before my lease is up (end of the year). Hopefully I'll be clean and pressing the 80lb dumbells too...
