I think it does usually come up some, but not like a never-fit person, but I don't really have any hard data on it and haven't researched it. Interesting question though
this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2023
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I was very fit! I kinda miss it, but not quite enough to do the training to get back there :)
lol
I do know there's some data in athletes who have exercised-induced arrhythmias that a period of de-training can resolve them (and they don't necessarily come back with resumption of activity) but I don't recall seeing anything about resting HR. Some of the changes that accompany training like increased stroke volume, chamber size, parasympathetic tone are reported to revert after de-training, but not sure if all the way in comparison with a never-fit person
I just went and did some digging and found an interesting study (which I guess I could have done before posting, but what fun would that be?)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18512181/
We performed a longitudinal follow-up study in 157 former elite athletes who had records of bradycardia < 50 bpm when they were active in high-level competition. All had retired from competitive sport for a minimum of five years prior to participation in the follow-up examination
[...]
In the post-retirement period, a total of 65 % of participants had persistent bradycardia, 18 % with bradycardia < 50 bpm. Multivariate analysis showed that persistence of resting bradycardia was associated with regular exercise and number of years in high-level competition, but not with symptoms such as palpitations, dizziness or syncope, or major ECG alterations.
And that does seem to capture me. < 50 bpm, with no palpitations, dizziness or syncope, or major ECG alterations.
So I guess that answers my question. It's relatively normal in ex athletes, even if not common
do you still exercise at all? I bet even a little might be enough to keep some of the adaptations as opposed to being completely sedentary.
Great find on that article, thanks!
I scored a bout of pneumonia just before covid hit in 2019, and I was basically sedentary for 2 years after that. That pushed my RHR in to the high 40s.
These days, I do exercise a little now and that has reduced my RHR back down to the low 40s. That's still higher than it was when I was an active athlete though