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I have heard some advice to try to lower my heart when resting between exercises. This is typically accomplished by deliberate techniques such as deep, slow breathing, breathing through the nose rather than the mouth, sitting down, and concentrating (almost like meditation.)

But is there any benefit to this? E.g. Does it increase endurance for the next exercise? Or over time, does it increase overall maximum heart rate or decrease resting heart rate?

My layman's understanding is that the nervous system (thermostat) calls for the heart (furnace) to pump faster when more blood and oxygen is needed to supply the muscles. If my heart is pumping faster, it's because it needs to! I want my heart rate high so that when I begin my next exercise, fresher blood and oxygen is available to my muscles, rather than waiting for a brief "ramp up period." So I have always allowed my breathing to stay rapid and through the mouth when resting between sets, and waited for my heart rate and breathing to naturally subside.

I have heard that a lower resting heart rate is good for your cardio health, but to me, it seems that the causation works in the opposite direction: [better cardio => lower resting heart rate] rather than [lower resting heart rate => better cardio].

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Whether there is benefit to taking actions to reduce your heart rate between bouts of exercise probably depends on whether the action your are taking is helping reoxygenate your muscles faster (so the heart doesn't need to pump as much), or somehow tricking your heart into pumping less blood despite your muscles still being deoxygenated. So sitting or lying and breathing deeply is probably beneficial, but mediation is unlikely to be beneficial, especially since you generally want to be psychologically aroused rather than relaxed when you're going into the next set.

I have heard that a lower resting heart rate is good for your cardio health, but to me, it seems that the causation works in the opposite direction: [better cardio => lower resting heart rate] rather than [lower resting heart rate => better cardio].

This is exactly correct. Also, rest periods between bouts of exercise are not a time when you would expect your heart rate to reduce all the way to your resting heart rate. However the amount by which your heart rate reduces during the rest period is a different indication of cardiovascular fitness known as one's heart rate recovery.

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  • Can you clarify what you mean by this: "whether the action your are taking is helping reoxygenate your muscles faster (so the heart doesn't need to pump as much), or somehow tricking your heart into pumping less blood despite your muscles still being deoxygenated. So sitting or lying and breathing deeply is probably beneficial" If deep, slow breathing does "trick" your heart into slowing down and pumping less (which it seems to) wouldn't that be less beneficial, since it results in less oxygen to your muscles?
    – Jordan Rieger
    Commented Jan 3, 2023 at 1:17
  • For example, sitting or lying reduces the work that your muscles are doing, so they don't need to consume as much oxygen and can recover faster, and will probably result in your heart rate dropping faster. That's beneficial. Deliberate deep breathing would be beneficial if it resulted in an increase in oxygen intake, which would mean faster recovery and your HR dropping more quickly, but would possibly be detrimental if it "tricked" your heart into slowing down before muscular recovery was complete.
    – David Scarlett
    Commented Jan 3, 2023 at 3:16
  • It sounds like you're saying that muscle recovery between sets takes a certain amount of time and oxygen, and there's not much you can do to improve that beyond resting and breathing as much as possible (and of course exercise to improve the muscles long term.) It sounds like there's no benefit to deliberately lowering your heart rate between sets, nor is there much benefit in breathing faster and deeper if your muscles are already getting enough oxygen to recover. Absent specific data, I would guess that your natural breath rate is probably the best guideline as you recover, right?
    – Jordan Rieger
    Commented Jan 3, 2023 at 3:28
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    @JordanRieger Yes, I'd agree with all of that. About the only thing I'd add is that whatever position is most comfortable is the best position to recover in. (A 2019 study dispelled the previous myth that it's better to recover standing upright with your hands behind your head rather than the more comfortable position of leaning forwards with your hands on your knees.)
    – David Scarlett
    Commented Jan 3, 2023 at 3:42
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    I haven't studied the subject, but lowering the heartrate also means burning less calories, which in turn means you will have a better endurance during the workout. For example in cycling, in between sprints you want to lower your heartrate to a lower zone just to be ready for the next sprint. You simply can't be in zone 5 for 6 hours. You don't want to deliberately lower the heartrate when your muscles need oxygen. However, breathing deeply will supply more oxygen, so your heartrate goes down because there is more oxygen to work with.
    – MJB
    Commented Jan 10, 2023 at 11:50

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