3 Subtle (Yet Scientific) Indicators of Elite Fitness
“Holy s*** they’re in shape.”
You’ve said this to yourself before. Some beast of a human walks into the gym, into the studio or onto the court and your jaw hits the floor. You thought these people only existed on TV.
You try to focus on the task at hand but you can’t. Your attention is constantly drawn back to the specimen. You obsess over what they’re doing, how they’re doing it, and what they must know that you don’t.
It’s obvious when someone is in ridiculous shape. But aesthetics aren’t the only way to determine elite fitness.
You wouldn’t look at Bartolo Colon and think he’s one of the most durable, consistent pitchers in MLB history. 2-time NBA All-Star Zach Randolph isn’t winning any bodybuilding competitions. And NFL running back Eddie Lacy? I’ll leave this right here.
Something else must be contributing to their elite athlete status.
Here are three indicators of elite fitness unrelated to an eye-popping physique.
A lower resting heart rate
A lower heart rate generally implies more efficient cardiovascular function. The heart is able to pump more blood with each beat. Simply put, the lower your heart rate the stronger your heart.
Mayo clinic suggests resting heart rates for untrained individuals fluctuate between 60 and 100 beats per minute. But for elite athletes, that number is often much lower. Professional marathon runners have recorded resting heart rates as low as 35–40 beats per minute.
Sheer incredibleness.
I’m no professional marathoner. Far from it. But the better shape I’m in the lower my resting heart rate, that’s a fact. I saw a resting heart rate number of 46 during my ultra-marathon training last summer and about pooped myself.
Make no mistake, heart rates can be too low (bradycardia) and too high (tachycardia). These are serious conditions that often speak to an underlying heart condition. If you feel you may fall into one of these categories, make an appointment with your doctor immediately.
But for the rest of us, keep driving that heart rate down. Pick up an Apple Watch or FitBit or Garmin or Suunto or any of the other million devices that track heart rate over time. Not only is tracking your heart rate one of the best ways to measure your fitness level, it’s one of the best ways to assess your overall health.
A higher HRV
Let’s stay on the heart for another minute. HRV stands for Heart Rate Variability — a measure of the variation in time between each heartbeat. The variations are extremely small, fractions of a second between beats.
Before you ask, no this is not an arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat). This is a normal function of your “sinus rhythm,” or normal beating of your heart.
So…why should I care?
Excellent question.
The body is an extremely adaptable machine, able to react on a dime to your present situation and any abrupt changes that occur. Your heart’s variability reflects how adaptable your body can be.
A higher HRV suggests adequate adaptation to many kinds of changes (think fight-or-flight). A lower HRV indicates a lack of resiliency, your body may struggle to handle rapidly changing situations (again, fight-or-flight). A lower HRV is also more common in folks with higher resting heart rates.
To put it simply, a higher HRV indicates higher levels of adaptability and resiliency, two tenets of elite fitness.
Pick up any of the wearables I mentioned above to start tracking HRV.
Is there a way I can increase my HRV?
Yes.
Take care of your body. Regular exercise my friends. It’s the biggest lever you can pull. Hopefully you’re doing this already. If you’re not…time to start.
Take care of your mind. Mental health is a vital component of HRV. If you’re struggling with anxiety or depression, seek help to get them under control if exercise isn’t enough.
Varied sleep data
There’s more to sleep than just sleep.
It’s well established that 7–8 hours of sleep provides for maximum body functioning and recovery. It’s a no-brainer that sleep has a direct impact on energy levels throughout the day.
But you’d be amazed at how much takes place between when you close your eyes and when you wake up.
Sleep has multiple stages, each with a different purpose, all of which are essential. N1 / N2 sleep (often referred to as core sleep) is where we spend most of our time, deep sleep (N3) is when we restore our physical bodies and immune systems, and REM sleep (where you have your most vivid dreams) is when we restore our cognitive, emotional and critical thinking functions.
Navigating each stage properly and staying asleep for the duration is a vital component of maintaining elite levels of fitness.
Not only are there multiple sleep stages, there are multiple sleep cycles. While going through each of the above stages constituting one cycle, you may go through 4–5 cycles throughout the night.
Turns out a lot goes on when we turn off the lights.
Elite fitness isn’t surface level
Yes it’s possible to estimate someone’s fitness by how they look. But like the iceberg, 80% lies below the surface.
It’s everything else that adds up to the totality of one’s health. Beyond heart rate and HRV and sleep you have blood markers, hormones, and vitamin / mineral levels, etc. Beyond bulging muscles and low body fat you have skin health and dietary proficiency.
Being elite is the sum of all these parts.
So the next time you see that guy or girl in the gym who appears lightyears ahead of you, think again. You may be closer than you think.