Fitness & Heart Rate Recovery

There any number of creative ways to measure your level of fitness, some performance specific and others more laboratory based. What’s your favorite test? A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research looks into whether heart rate recovery is a good standard to go by.
 
Eighty-four male and female college athletes participated in a maximal treadmill test. Their heart rate was measured starting at 10 seconds after completing the workout and lasting until 5 minutes into recovery. Although heart rate recovery didn’t differ all that much between men and women, it dropped off faster between 10 seconds and 30 seconds for subjects with the highest levels of fitness.