Morning Resting Heartrate

Occurred to me that I haven't tested my morning resting heartrate recently, so I've taken it with a Polar HR strap the last few mornings.  I've noticed that right after I wake up, I'm around 50-53, but if I get up and sit in a chair, my HR will drop to 48.  So which should I consider my morning resting heartrate?

I would use a nice average figure like 50 bmp. ONe question though, how long does your heart rate stay at 48 once you are in  a chair?

Stays there until I move.  It'll bounce up to 49 or 50 for a few seconds at a time, but then drops back to 48.  Haven't tried to stay still for more than 3 minutes on any given morning, though (ever tried it?! :-))

Sometimes people have issues going from a lying position to a sitting or standing posistion, where blood pressure and heart rate drop significantly. Since there is not a huge difference in heart rate this is not a problem in your case. Anyway, I would just use 50 bpm as your resting heart rate.  While you want to be as accurate as possible, a beat or two a minute is not going to mean that much. If you are using resting heart rate and heart rate reserve to figure your training intensity the following calculator may help; it is in this forum. Note there are two calculators on this page, you want the hear rate reserve calculator on the right. http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/fitness/cmsID,2290/mode,co ntent/