Resting heart rate (RHR)
Your resting heart rate (RHR) is the number of times your heart beats per minute at complete rest, often measured overnight or just after waking. It is a simple, free window on your recovery and overall condition.
What is resting heart rate?
As you get aerobically fitter, your heart pumps more blood per beat and has to beat less often at rest; a falling resting heart rate over months is therefore often a sign of a growing base. In the short term it works as a recovery signal: if your RHR is clearly higher one morning than usual, that can point to insufficient recovery, stress, an approaching illness or a late, heavy meal or alcohol.
As with HRV, what counts here is your own baseline, not a universal norm. What is "normal" differs strongly between people, and the trend and the deviation relative to your own average say more than one stray measurement.
How do you measure and use RHR?
You measure it most cleanly overnight via a wearable, or just after waking — before you get up and before caffeine, and the same way every day. Values measured during the day come out higher and aren’t comparable.
Read a rise in context: a single off morning is rarely reason to overhaul your training, but a sustained rise together with poor sleep, a low HRV or signs of illness is a good moment to ease off. RHR is a signal, not a diagnosis.
How Trimetra personalises this
Trimetra judges your resting heart rate against your own baseline and weighs a deviation together with sleep, HRV, niggles and training load — never as a standalone number. A clear, sustained deviation can thus contribute to a recovery brake in the planning, but stays one signal among several.
Frequently asked questions
What is a normal resting heart rate?
It differs strongly between people: what is normal for one is striking for another. Aerobically fitter people often have a lower resting heart rate, but the comparison that counts is with your own baseline — not with a table or with others.
Why is your resting heart rate suddenly higher?
A clearly higher morning value can point to insufficient recovery, stress, an oncoming illness, alcohol or a late, heavy meal. One deviating morning says little; a sustained elevation combined with poor sleep or a low HRV is a signal to ease off.
When is the best time to measure your resting heart rate?
Overnight via a wearable, or right after waking — before you get up and before caffeine, the same way every day. Values measured during the day are higher and not comparable with your morning baseline.
Every term at a glance in the full glossary.