Quick Answer — How to Calculate Heart Rate Recovery
Heart rate recovery is the drop in beats per minute over the first minute after you stop exercising. Take your peak heart rate at the moment you stop, sit or stand quietly for sixty seconds, take it again, and subtract.
HRR₁ = Peak heart rate − heart rate 60 seconds later.
A session that peaks at 172 bpm and reads 140 bpm a minute later gives an HRR of 32 bpm. Carry on to two minutes and a reading of 118 gives a two-minute recovery of 54 bpm, of which 22 came in the second minute — the first minute always does most of the work, because that is when vagal tone comes back online.
Rough bands for a one-minute recovery after a hard effort:
- 12 bpm or less — the cutoff used in cardiac stress-test research; worth raising with a clinician
- 13 to 20 bpm — common in people new to structured aerobic training
- 21 to 30 bpm — typical for a regularly active adult
- 31 to 45 bpm — consistent endurance training over months
- Above 45 bpm — the range well-trained endurance athletes record
The 12 bpm figure is a clinical threshold from treadmill testing, not a fitness score. Below it means a conversation with a doctor, not a training plan.