Lately, I’ve been thinking about all the different ways that we categorize ourselves. I had written about how we can sometimes find out identity in the BMI. I still think I’m overweight – although I’ve lost some lbs., and I’m trying to lose more.
Here’s another measure that you can use to determine whether you are healthy or not – resting heart rate. I checked out a website that had a graphic. Here’s the chart:
Men |
||||||
| Age | 18-25 | 26-35 | 36-45 | 46-55 | 56-65 | 65+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Athlete | 49-55 | 49-54 | 50-56 | 50-57 | 51-56 | 50-55 |
| Excellent | 56-61 | 55-61 | 57-62 | 58-63 | 57-61 | 56-61 |
| Good | 62-65 | 62-65 | 63-66 | 64-67 | 62-67 | 62-65 |
| Above Average | 66-69 | 66-70 | 67-70 | 68-71 | 68-71 | 66-69 |
| Average | 70-73 | 71-74 | 71-75 | 72-76 | 72-75 | 70-73 |
| Below Average | 74-81 | 75-81 | 76-82 | 77-83 | 76-81 | 74-79 |
| Poor | 82+ | 82+ | 83+ | 84+ | 82+ | 80+ |
You can see that there are levels of fitness and health in the first column, but right at the top is the identity of athlete. You aren’t an athlete unless your resting heart rate is within this range – according to topendsports.com.
We use all of these charts and measures to determine our health and more specifically our identity. I would normally make fun of this measure but this one is tied to whether you are alive or not. Take this one seriously. Be an athlete. Get your resting heart rate down and give you heart a break.
It’s good for identity. Dead is not a super fun identity – although it’s hard to ask someone that owns this one.
identitySPECIALIST 
Are you ready for this…when I was a professional athlete my resting heart rate was 34 beats per minute…currently it is 38 beats per minute…and I am 57 years old…I am hoping to live to 100…after that I’m not sure what I will want to do…but I’ll keep you posted.
Be encouraged!
What? That’s awesome. It’s all that running right? I hope to get my heart rate down. I just need to get back into shape. I probably can’t get it down to 38, but that’s amazing and efficient. Maybe I need to start running. That would be awesome if you made it to 100. Thanks for reading and commenting.