Heart Rate Recovery 1min
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It's the drop in heart rate from peak exercise intensity to the value measured exactly one minute after stopping, calculated as peak heart rate minus the one-minute post-exercise heart rate. A larger drop generally indicates better cardiovascular fitness and autonomic nervous system function.

A drop of more than about 12-15 bpm within the first minute is generally considered a good sign of cardiovascular health, while a smaller drop can be associated with poorer fitness or, in some studies, greater cardiovascular risk. These thresholds come from research linking recovery rate to autonomic nervous system function.

The rapid heart rate decline after exercise is driven by parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) nervous system reactivation, so a faster recovery indicates a more responsive parasympathetic system, which is generally associated with better overall cardiovascular health. A sluggish recovery can suggest reduced parasympathetic tone.

Aerobic training does directly improve autonomic function and heart rate recovery over time as an adaptation to consistent cardiovascular exercise, so it's a genuine trainable response, not merely a correlation without a causal mechanism. Improving fitness through regular training tends to measurably improve recovery scores.

Use the same type of exercise, reach a similar peak intensity, and measure at exactly one minute post-exercise each time, since inconsistent peak intensity or timing introduces noise that obscures real changes. A chest strap or accurate wrist sensor gives more reliable readings than manual pulse counting for this precise a measurement.