Resting Heart Rate

Determining your resting heart rate is fairly easy. The ideal time to measure you RHR is in early morning. You should measure this before any real activity, when you are rested and have not had coffee or other stimulants.

First, find a quiet and relaxing environment. Rest for about 10-15 minutes. Once relaxed, count the number of heart beats (pulse) for 15 seconds. Multiply this number by 4 to get your beats per minute. You may want to repeat this a few times (or over several days) and take an average.

Alternatively, if you have a heart rate monitor you should attach you monitor. Allow yourself to relax for 10-15 minutes and record the lowest heart rate that you observed.

The heart is a muscle so with regular exercise it will become larger and become more efficient at pumping blood. As a result you will find your resting heart rate gets lower so you will need to check your RHR on a regular basis

Maximum Heart Rate

Your maximum heart rate is genetically determined. It does not indicate your fitness level and does not increase with physical training. It will only lower with age due to a sedentary lifecycle. Because this is genetically based, there is a great deal of variability of maximum heart rate of people of the same age.

A general maximum heart rate formula can be calculated based on your age, gender and weight. It used the Sally Edward's calculation, sometimes called the best-fit formula This is a simple, but very general way to determine your maximum heart rate.

The formula is:

Max HR = 210 - (Age * 0.5) - (Weight (lbs) * 0.05)   (If you are male, add 4 beats)

Ideally the best approach due the wide difference in body composition and genetic makeup is to have your maximum heart rate tested, instead of calculated. It is prudent that you are medically fit before undergoing a test of this nature since this will involve driving your heart rate up.

The gold standard test is performed by a medical professional or sports laboratory and involves exercising through increasing intensity while measuring your air exchange (through a mask) Sometimes this is called a MAP test or GSX (graded stress test). Your heart rate is monitored throughout the process. This produces a very detailed look at you heart rate and metabolic assessment profile (MAP).

An alternative is to perform a modified MAP Test. Here you will have your heart rate closely monitored though a heart rate monitor while you are asked to exert yourself. This can be done at the your gym if your instructor is knowledgeable in this area.

There are plenty of self maximum heart rate tests you can perform on your own that involve walking, using steps, running a race. These usually involve driving you heart rate up during the last minutes of your exercise period, measuring your heart rate and incorporation that value into a formula. You can search for these online.