HRV Values: Indications of Training Readiness

Posted on December 20, 2012 by hrvtraining

In my recent articles on HRV in Team Sports, I discussed the idea of having our athletes report to pre-season camp with favorable autonomic profiles prior to the initiation of intensive training. The goal of this being to enhance adaptation and reduce injury potential. Today I’d like to delve into this topic a little deeper.

First I’d like to review some important research that helped form the basis of this thought process. Other, more intelligent minds thought of this stuff way before I did and have produced what I consider to be, some pretty compelling research.

Research

Vesterinen and colleagues (2011) found that recreational endurance runners who had high baseline HRV levels prior to intensive training improved their performance significantly more than runners who had low baseline HRV levels prior to training.

Oliveira and colleagues (2012) found a strong correlation between parasympathetic indices of HRV (analyzed before training) with the performance improvement in Yo-Yo IR1 in soccer players during pre-season training.

Hedelin and colleagues (2001) set out to investigate relationships between HRV and central and peripheral performance measures in various trained endurance athletes over a 7 month period. The authors reported that; “higher parasympathetic activity, at least in these fit subjects, rather was a cause than an effect of a further increase in aerobic fitness.”

Kiviniemi et al (2007) found that in fit males, training when HRV levels are at baseline or above results in significantly higher improvements in maximum running velocity and greater improvements in vo2 max compared to a group that followed pre-planned training, of which saw insignificant changes in both measures.

In a repeat study Kiviniemi et al (2010) included female groups and found that females take longer to recover from a training session and that fitness can be improved with fewer high intensity training days when guided by HRV compared to the pre-planned training group

Hautala et al (2003) reported that baseline HF Power was the most powerful determinant of future training response in healthy subjects. I strongly urge interested readers to read through this review by Hautala et al (2009) for a thorough discussion on this topic.

I’m certain I’m leaving out some good research but I think you get the idea. There is evidence to suggest that HRV levels can be a good indicator of training response in athletes and fit individuals.

Discussion

A couple issues I’m having with the evidence as it applies to team sport settings;

HRV measurement is different in much of the research. Some is nocturnal, some is morning, etc. Therefore, we can’t say for certain if we can draw similar conclusions based on a morning measurement if the researchers used nocturnal HRV measurements. Having said that, I do feel that morning measurements are sufficient, if not optimal.
The research mostly pertains to aerobic athletes and aerobic training. However, given that most team sports require a sufficient level of aerobic capacity I still think the discussed research offers valuable information. Even in a sport like American Football, many of the drills are serial and repetitive in nature and thus places a greater dependence on energy production from aerobic metabolism. Further, repeated sprint ability is related to oxygen uptake during rest periods (Dupont et al. 2010).

It appears that having a high level of resting parasympathetic tone prior to intensive training results in more favorable responses and performance improvements in athletes. The research suggests that HRV levels appear to reflect adaptive potential. It should be of high priority to the coaching staff that players remain healthy throughout training. Keeping tabs on HRV levels throughout training, taken with other measures of training status, may reveal maladaptation and therefore a necessitation for intervention.

I’d personally like to see HRV levels monitored in Collegiate American Football players throughout pre-season training camp. It’s conceivable that injury risk is heightened in athletes showing consistent decrements in HRV. It surprises me that there is very little research on HRV and injury (risk, recovery, return to play, etc) in comparison to HRV and performance enhancement/monitoring.

Whether or not we can apply this to strength/power athletes is not clear as there is very little research on this. It’s been a personal goal of mine to investigate this issue and I hope to do this at some point in the future.

Provided that athletes are engaging in training throughout the off-season having a high level of parasympathetic tone at rest shouldn’t be an issue. Team sport athletes will generally have low resting heart rates and a high work capacity. The concern would be with athletes that are either not preparing themselves for intense training, or with those that may be over doing it.

Apart from aiming to have high HRV levels prior to training we may also want to use HRV as an indicator of recovery status day to day. During intense training periods, recovery and restoration modalities can aid in parasympathetic re-activation and therefore more rapid recovery. Paying closer attention to nutritional strategies, active recovery, cold water immersion (a controversial topic at the moment it seems) sleep quality and duration, etc. may help us in maintaining favorable ANS activity; perhaps a topic for another day.

References:

Dupont, G., et al. (2010) Faster oxygen uptake kinetics during recovery is related to better repeated sprint ability. European Journal of Applied Physiology, (110)3: 627-34

Hautala, A.J., et al. (2003) Cardiovascular autonomic function correlates with the response to aerobic training in healthy sedentary subjects. American Journal of Heart & Circulatory Physiology, 285(5): H1747–52.

Hautala AJ, et al. (2009)Individual responses to aerobicexercise: the role of the autonomicnervous system. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 33(2): 107–115.

Hedelin, R. et al. (2001) Heart Rate Variability in athletes: relationship with central and peripheral performance. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 33(8), 1394-1398.

Kiviniemi, A.M., Hautala, A., Kinnumen, H., & Tulppo, M. (2007) Endurance training guided by daily heart rate variability measurements. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 101: 743-751.

Kiviniemi, A.M., Hautala A.J., Kinnunen, H., Nissila, J., Virtanen, P., Karjalainen, J., & Tulppo, M.P. (2010) Daily exercise prescription on the basis of HR variability among men and women. Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise, 42(7): 1355-1363.

Oliveira, RS. et al. (2012b) The correlation between heart rate variability and improvement in soccer player’s physical performance. Brazilian Journal of Kinanthropometry, 14(6)

Vesterinen, V. et al. (2011) Heart rate variability in prediction of individual adaptation to endurance training in recreational endurance athletes. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0838.2011.01365.x

Recent HRV trend analysis and a new collaboration

Posted on December 11, 2012 by hrvtraining

As I try and further my understanding of the seeming incomprehensible autonomic nervous system I try to simplify the role HRV may play in monitoring athletes. There is one main issue I’m having; I don’t yet fully grasp the ANS (does anyone?) and therefore I still have a ton of unanswered questions.

I’ve noticed that there are some extremely intelligent people who are strong advocates of HRV usage as a monitoring tool. I’ve also noticed there are equally as intelligent people who are very skeptical and even doubtful of its efficacy and applicability. I’m doing my best to understand both sides of this argument. The best I can do to contribute to this discussion (at the moment) is draw attention to research and offer personal experience.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted and discussed some of my HRV trends so today I will do this as well as share some observations a colleague of mine has made at McMaster University.

Below is a screen shot of my HRV trend from the last 30 days:

Horziontal Blue Line = HRV Baseline
Vertical Purple Bars = sRPE (absence of these indicate no training)
White Lines = Day to day HRV scores

Training structure has been as follows:

Monday – Squat
Tuesday – Active Recovery
Wednesday – Bench Press
Thursday – Active Recovery
Friday – Deadlift
Saturday – Off
Sunday – Off

Strength workouts range from an RPE rating of 7-9 while the low intensity “recovery” days range between 3-5.

Observations:

Much of what I’ve seen is consistent with what I documented in this post so I won’t discuss these in too much depth again.
Normally my HRV will be at or above baseline after a weekend (no training). In the first weekend you see my HRV dropped quite a bit Monday morning. I assume this is because I was away that weekend and I spent much of Sunday in the car and then was frantically trying to get caught up on things once I got home before Monday.
I trained at an sRPE of 8 on Monday and as expected another drop and a red indication for Tuesday. Active recovery typically will bump HRV back up the next day however Tuesday night I unknowingly went to sleep with my friends cat hiding under my bed. Around 2am I got a startling wake up as the animal tried to snuggle with my face. It took me nearly 2 hours to fall back asleep after. HRV that morning is another red and I feel like crap. I take a deload day on Bench (sRPE 7), sleep well and HRV comes back up the next morning.
Things remain consistent during the week shown in the middle of the trend. Moderate dips in HRV in response to sRPE 8’s with returns to baseline after low intensity days. HRV is high after a restful weekend.
The following week I start doing a little more work in my workouts (more heavy sets) and therefore a higher sRPE rating (of 9). Along with higher amounts of soreness and perceived fatigue I saw larger dips in HRV the following day. On Friday (deadlift day) I keep things conservative due to previous lower back injuries and perform an sRPE of 8 and see less of a drop in HRV the next day. I’m happy to report that the back has been feeling good and I have started deadlifting again recently. I stopped deadlifting for a while as I was experiencing pain during the lift (no surprise it was an underactive multifidus) Video below of a recent deadlift.
HRV is high after a restful weekend. sRPE of 9 on Monday (squat) of the last week shown on the image and I again see a larger dip in HRV (today). Will do some low intensity stuff later on after work.

Collaborating with Steve Lidstone at McMaster University

Since moving back to Canada I’ve been working on getting an HRV project going with Steve Lidstone, the head strength coach at McMaster University (a huge rival of mine in my football days). After some e-mail discussions I sent Steve an ithlete to try out. After a few weeks Steve sent me this update;

“I’ve been monitoring my HRV for 3 weeks now every morning.

I started off with HRV at 88 with a HR of 60bpm.

In times of poor sleep (we have 2 kids ages 2 & 4) or high stress my HRV has plummeted to 55 and resting HR of 79.

It is also interesting to me as I am in my 5th week of post concussion symptoms. When my HRV is low my symptoms are escalated.”

At this point we’re looking at getting two of his teams started with ithlete (about 8 players in total). Should make for some good data to discuss.

HRV in a Team Setting: Follow-up Thoughts

Posted on December 6, 2012 by hrvtraining

Today I am going to share some thoughts on why I think HRV is useful for monitoring athletes individually or in team settings. However, I will state upfront that among the research, HRV analysis varies a great deal in important variables such as; position, time of day, duration of measurement, frequency of measurements, analysis (time domain, frequency domain) and populations (type of athlete, gender, age, etc.). Therefore, the monitoring of a specific variable (performance, recovery, stress, etc.) requires careful consideration of methodology. I would also like to make it abundantly clear that HRV monitoring is most effective when considered with other variables (RPE, POMS, etc.).

For the purposes of safe, effective and efficient improvement in sport performance, HRV monitoring can be extremely valuable. As a non-invasive measure of autonomic status, HRV provides an objective measure of the collective stress load (emotional, physical, and physiologic) that an athlete carries.

HRV and Training Load

I’d like to preface this section by saying that although HRV reflects training load reasonably well, we need to be careful of not being too presumptuous. The ANS is an incredibly complex system that is impacted by damn near everything we do and experience (training, nutrition, emotion, etc.). Therefore, being cognizant of our athletes stresses (or of our own if we use HRV for our own training) outside of sport is critical. Looking for a perfect correlation between training load and HRV score is not looking at the big picture. I was guilty of this in the past.

In a team setting, athletes are often subjected to the same workloads, be it in the weight room or on the field. Monitoring individual responsiveness to training provides coaches with a handle on training program efficiency and quality of effect.

What does HRV alone tell us?

My understanding of HRV is that once baseline is established (though baseline is not static) HRV reflects autonomic balance. An imbalance indicates stress. For example; If parasympathetic tone is unusually low or high compared to baseline values, something is going on; a red flag.

Analysis:

Through monitoring of training volumes/load, self reported stress, etc. we can try and assume the cause of the imbalance. What can the change in HRV be attributed to? It is likely a combination of the physical and mental stress of training/sport however this may require further investigation. Tracking performance markers and other variables in conjunction with HRV will allow for an appropriate mode of action for a red flagged or “at-risk” athlete.

From my understanding of the research we can associate certain changes in HRV patterns with a specific interpretation.

Small but consistent decrements in HRV over a training period: training loads are appropriate as fatigue is expected to accumulate but not to an unreasonable level.
Large changes in HRV over a training period: This is a red flag. There is a marked imbalance indicating high stress. Reduce loads until HRV approaches baseline values.
No change or small increases in HRV over a training period: Training stress levels are below the athletes capacity and therefore increased loads will likely be well tolerated.

I must reiterate that other measures of performance and training status should obviously be considered before trying to infer any meaning from an HRV score.

For those using ithlete or bioforce keeping tabs on the weekly and monthly changes can be extremely valuable as this gives a better idea of overall patterns. I picked this tip up from Joel Jamieson at the CVSPS last spring.

In a perfect world, our athletes report to pre-season camp in shape. A high level of fitness is typically associated with high HRV, lower resting heart rates and a high tolerance to physical stress (fast recovery) – I realize I’m preaching to the choir here.

Furthermore, it appears that better conditioned athletes handle inflammation better (Martin-Sanchez et al. 2011) or is this a genetic thing? We know elite athletes typically have good genetics (for their craft); does this include more favorable inflammatory responses and is this common among most elite athletes? Perhaps someone can chime in on this? Regardless, this is important because there is a strong link between inflammation and HRV (Kylosov et al. 2009, Thayer 2009, Soares-Miranda 2012).

Continuing with our hypothetical situation; these conditioned athletes should respond well to the high volumes of training. In contrast, less conditioned athletes will become easily overloaded from the commencement of pre-season training and may be at a greater risk of injury, premature overreaching, emotional distress, etc.

This was what I was trying to get at when I was thinking about the possibility of trying to create favourable autonomic profiles of athletes prior to intensive training. The concept isn’t new as we are insistent that our athletes train over the summers and prepare for camp. Monitoring HRV throughout this time may be a good indicator of physical condition. We want to see HRV profiles that indicate a high level of fitness and tolerance for stress.

This leads me to the next topic…

Practicality

Referring back to the CVSPS last spring I distinctly remember Landon Evans say during his presentation something to the effect of; “Come on guys, HRV in the collegiate setting? Really?”. He’s absolutely right. Monitoring HRV in the collegiate setting is not easy! It’s especially difficult if you are responsible for multiple teams. Football players may in fact be the hardest group of athletes to get HRV data from.

Having said this, I believe that it can be done if it’s important enough to you and the coaching staff. This doesn’t mean you’ll get all 100 guys on the roster taking measurements, but perhaps starting with key players, starters, etc. is more realistic. Dealing with smaller teams (basketball, volley ball, tennis, etc.) is a bit more doable but a challenge nonetheless.

If using HRV as a monitoring tool is important to you, start small and progress from there. Every coach will have different resources and circumstances and therefore it’s hard to generalize. I look forward to the release of the ithlete Team HRV system as this will make this process much easier. From my understanding of the product, athletes will be able to take their measurement at home on their smart phone and the data will automatically be uploaded to a web based interface that will allow the coaches/sports medicine staff to see all players’ trends on the same chart. Red flagging at-risk athletes will be much easier and quicker with this system.

Wrap UP

Is HRV an effective monitoring tool? I think it is. Based on personal experience and the research, there is quite a bit of evidence to support its efficacy. Taking into consideration other measures of performance and training status HRV gives you an important and objective measure of the athletes overall stress levels.

However, I urge all readers to keep in mind that I am not an expert on this stuff. I theorize a lot so take my articles with a grain of salt. For all I know, there are several researchers over in Europe cursing my name for completely misinterpreting their research. Hopefully this isn’t the case.

I will write on this topic again in the future as I still have plenty of thoughts on the issue. Only so much can be discussed in one article. Thoughts for another time: HRV and performance prediction, HRV and injury, HRV as an early warning sign and more.

I decided not to discuss and cite a ton of research today since I’ve done this in plenty of previous posts. Instead I will just provide references as recommended reading so I don’t come off as baseless in my thoughts and allows readers to investigate this topic for themselves.

Further Reading/References in Team Settings:

Baumert, M. et al. (2006) Changes in heart rate variability of athletes during a training camp. Biomed Tech, 51(4): 201-4.

Cipryan, L. & Stejskal, P. (2010) Individual training in team sports based on ANS activity assessments. Medicina Sportiva, 14(2): 56-62 Free Full-Text

Cipryan, L., Stejskal, P., Bartakova, O., Botek, M., Cipryanova, H., Jakubec, A., Petr, M., & Řehova, I. (2007) Autonomic nervous system observation through the use of spectral analysis of heart rate variability in ice hockey players. Acta Universitatis Palackianae Olomucensis. Gymnica, 37(4): 17-21. Free Full-Text

Di Fronso, S. et al. (2012) Relationship between performance and heart rate variability in amateur basketball players during playoffs. Journal for Sports Sciences & Health, 8 (Suppl 1):S1–S70 45

Dranitsin, O. (2008) The effect on heart rate variability of acclimatization to a humid, hot environment after a transition across five time zones in elite junior rowers. European Journal of Sport Science, 8(5): 251-258 Abstract

Edmonds, RC., Sinclair, WH., and Leicht, AS. (2012) Theeffect of weekly training and a game on heart rate variability in elite youth Rugby League players. Proceedings of the 5th Exercise & Sports Science Australia Conference and 7th Sports Dietitians Australia Update. 5th Exercise & Sports Science Australia Conference and 7th Sports Dietitians Australia Update Research to Practice , 19-21 April 2012, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia , p. 183. Abstract

Hap, P., Stejskal, P. & Jakubec, A. (2010) Volleyball players training intensity monitoring through the use of spectral analysis of HRV during a training microcycle. Acta Universitatis Palackianae Olomucensis. Gymnica, 41(3): 33-38 Free Full-Text

Iellamo, F., Pigozzi, F., Spataro, A., Lucini, D., & Pagani, M. (2004) T-wave and heart rate variability changes to assess training in world class athletes. Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise, 36(8): 1342-1346. Abstract

Ke-Tien, Y.(2012) Effects of Cardiovascular Endurance Training Periodization on Aerobic performance and Stress Modulation in Rugby Athletes. Life Science Journal, 9(2): 1218-25. Full-Text

Martin-Sanchez, F. (2011) Functional status and inflammation after preseason training program in professional and recreational soccer players: a proteomic approach. Journal of Sports Science & Medicine, 10: 45-51 Free Full-Text

Mazon, J. et al. (2011) Effects of training periodization on cardiac autonomic modulation and endogenous stress markers in volleyball players. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0838.2011.01357.x Free Full-Text

Oliveira, RS. et al. (2012a) Seasonal changes in physical performance and HRV in high level futsal players. International Journal of Sports Medicine. DOI: 10.1055/s-0032-1323720 Abstract

Oliveira, RS. et al. (2012b) The correlation between heart rate variability and improvement in soccer player’s physical performance. Brazilian Journal of Kinanthropometry, 14(6) Abstract

Parrado, E. et al. (2010)Percieved tiredness and HRV in relation to overload during a field hockey world cup. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 110(3): 699-713 Abstract

Rodas, G. et al. (2011) Changes in HRV in field hockey players during the 2006 World Cup.Apunts Medicina de l’Esport, (46): 117-123 Abstract

Vantinnen, T. et al. (2007) Practical experiences from measuring exercise intensity and recovery state with HR monitoring in team sport. Symposium Proceedings 6th IACSS Calgary, Alberta. Full-Text

Further Reading/References in athletes thought not necessarily in team settings:

Atlaoui, D. et al. (2007) Heart rate variability training variation and performance in elite swimmers. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 28(5): 394-400

Bosquet, L., Merkari, S., Arvisais, D., Aubert, A.E. (2008) Is heart rate a convenient tool to monitor over-reaching? A systematic review of the literature. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 42(9): 709-714.

Botek, M. et al. (2012) Return to play after health complications associated with infection mononucleosis guided on ANS activity in elite athlete: a case study. Gymnica, 42(2)

Buchheit, M. et al (2009) Monitoring endurance running performance using cardiac parasympathetic function. European Journal of Applied Physiology, DOI 10.1007/s00421-009-1317-x

Chen, J., Yeh, D., Lee, J., Chen, C., Huang, C., Lee, S., Chen, C., Kuo, T., Kao, C., & Kuo, C. (2011) Parasympathetic nervous activity mirrors recovery status in weightlifting performance after training. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 25(6): 1546-1552

Hedelin, R., Bjerle, P., & Henriksson-Larsen, K. (2001) Heart Rate Variability in athletes: relationship with central and peripheral performance. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 33(8), 1394-1398.

Hellard, P., et al. (2011) Modeling the Association between HR Variability and Illness in Elite Swimmers. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 43(6): 1063-1070

Huovinen, J. et al. (2009) Relationship between heart rate variability and the serum testosterone-to-cortisol ratio during military service. European Journal of Sports Science,9(5): 277-284

Kiviniemi, A.M., Hautala, A., Kinnumen, H., & Tulppo, M. (2007) Endurance training guided by daily heart rate variability measurements. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 101: 743-751.

Kylosov, AA. et al. (2009) Changes in inflammatory activity, heart rate variability, and biochemical indices in young athletes during the regular training cycle. Human Physiology, 35(4): 465-478.

Manzi, V. et al (2009) Dose-response relationship of autonomic nervous system responses to individualized training impulse in marathon runners. American Journal of Physiology, 296(6): 1733-40

Mourot, L. et al (2004) Decrease in heart rate variability with overtraining: assessment by the Poincare plot analysis. Clinical Physiology & Functional Imaging, 24(1):10-8.

Nigam, A.K. (2010) Resting heart rate and overtraining in athletes. International Referred Research Journal, 2(21): 38-40.

Pichot, V., Busso, T., Roche, F., Gartet, M., Costes, F., Duverney, D., Lacour, J., & Barthelemy, J. (2002) Autonomic adaptations to intensive overload training periods: a laboratory study. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 34(10), 1660-1666.

Soares-Miranda, L. et al. (2012) High levels of C-reactive protein are associated with reduced vagal modulation and low physical activity in young adults. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 22(2): 278-84

Thayer, J. (2009) Vagal tone and the inflammatory reflex. Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine, 76(2): 523-526

Tian, Ye. et al. (2012) HRV threshold values for early warning non-functional overreaching in elite women wrestlers. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, Published ahead of print

Uusitalo, A.L.T., et al (2000) Heart rate and blood pressure variability during heavy training and overtraining in the female athlete. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 21(1): 45-53

HRV Monitoring in a Team Setting: The Research

Posted on November 25, 2012 by hrvtraining

Though my original interest in HRV monitoring was for personal usage with my powerlifting training (and still is), I have become much more interested in its application with my athletes. In July, I wrote a post discussing some of the research and my thoughts on HRV in a team setting. I’ve come across some more great research that pertains to HRV monitoring in team settings and would like to share some thoughts on the topic.

Below is a list of questions I’d like to address:

How effective is HRV monitoring in a team setting really?
What difference is there, if any, when monitoring HRV in elite vs. sub-elite athletes?
How practical is HRV monitoring in a team setting?
Can we create favorable autonomic profiles in athletes prior to intensive training blocks to improve global (all players) responsiveness to training? (to avoid injury, overtraining, etc)
How can we apply research that used frequency domain measures (HF, LF, HF/LF) with mobile apps/devices like ithlete and Bioforce that use RMSSD, a time domain measure of parasympathetic tone?

Keep in mind that I do not train elite athletes and therefore much of what I discuss is based on my interpretations of the research, discussions I’ve had with others and some theory. I certainly am not capable of providing answers to any of the above question.

First, I’d like to present brief summaries of the research I’ve read on the topic. I’ve only included studies that used HRV to monitor fatigue, training load, etc. At this time I’m not including studies using HRV during exercise, or post-exercise.

In some cases I could not get access to the full-text which you will see noted in the respective tables. Please enlighten me of any research on this topic I may have not included. I apologize for the poor presentation of the table’s below. I originally had all of this in a more reader friendly format in Word but for some reason it does not transfer over to wordpress very well.

Author	Ke-Tien (2012)
Sport	Male, National Level Rugby (n=24)
Aim	To verify biological and psychological stress markers during strenuous cardiovascular endurance training periodization, using Profile of Mood States questionnaires, HRV & blood urine nitrogen as the criteria measurements.
Main Findings	HRV correlated to profile of mood states survey and blood-urnine nitrogen in elite male national rugby players (n=24).
HRV Analysis	Non-daily, Frequency Domain

Author	Edmonds et al. (2012)
Sport	Male, Elite Youth Rugby (n=9)
Aim	To investigate the influence of weekly training & a competitive game on HRV in elite youth rugby league players, & to identify the importance of HRV as a monitoring tool for Rugby League player preparation.
Main Findings	Prior to a match, elite youth, players exhibited a significant reduction in HRV that was sustained for at least 24 hours post-game. This withdrawal of parasympathetic &/or increased sympathetic control of HR possibly may result from pre-match anxiety as well as the physical demands of the game. Strong relationships between HRV and training load at Pre-2 indicate that early monitoring may assist in identifying training workloads for the upcoming week.
HRV Analysis	Daily, Time & Frequency Domain

Author	Oliveira et al. (2012a) – Abstract Only
Sport	Male, Elite Futsal (n=11)
Aim	The aim of this study was to determine the changes in physical performance and resting heart rate variability (HRV) in professional futsal players during the pre-season and in-season training periods.
Main Findings	Players improved their RSA & Yo-Yo IR1 performance with concomitant improvements in HRV. These indices were maintained during the in-season period while RSA_best was improved & RSA_decrement impaired. Frequent monitoring of these performances and HRV indices may assist with identification of individual training adaptations and/or early signs of maladaption.
HRV Analysis	Non-daily, Unknown

Author	Vantinnen et al. (2007)
Sport	Male, Elite Soccer (n=24)
Aim	To introduce a method commonly used in Finnish sport to monitor the exercise intensity & changes in recovery state of players in team sports by examining their heart rate (HR/HRV) responses to training & relaxation stimulus.
Main Findings	Individual differences do exist in practices & games. This would imply that coaches need to quantify each game or practice exercise intensity & recovery for each individual, in order to organize & optimally prepare an individual training plan for each athlete.
HRV Analysis	Various over 3 weeks (daily, nocturnal, 24 hr), Time and Frequency Domain

Author	Oliveira et al. (2012b) – Abstract Only
Sport	Male, Caliber Unknown, Soccer (n=10
Aim	The aim of this study was to analyze whether the heart rate variability (HRV), assessed at the beginning of a soccer preseason, reveals a correlation with the improvement of physical performance over this training period.
Main Findings	There were significant improvements in Yo-Yo IR1 performance & in the 30-m sprint time. The qualitative analysis revealed that the differences in Yo-Yo IR1 performance were very likely positive, were almost certainly positive for the sprint, but were inconclusive for the vertical jump. There was a strong correlation between one parasympathetic index and the change in performance. The study showed a strong correlation between parasympathetic indices of HRV with the performance improvement in Yo-Yo IR1 in the athletes during pre-season.
HRV Analysis	Non-daily, Unknown

Author	Rodas, G. et al. (2011) – Abstract Only
Sport	Elite, Field Hockey (n=? entire team)
Aim	To determine the changes in HRV during the 2006 World Cup
Main Findings	HRV decreases progressively & the values of the parameters related to parasympathetic system activity (RMSSD & HF) reduce, which are indicative of good psychic-physical adaptability to the workload. At the same time, the value of the parameters related to sympathetic system activity (LF and LF/HF) increases, suggesting an increase in fatigue, tiredness and poor adaptability in general. Consequently, the analysis of HRV may be a good marker for monitoring the psychic-physical state, cardiovascular adaptability during exercise & a possible state of physical overload in athletes participating in competitions.
HRV Analysis	Day of competitions only – Time and Frequency Domain

Author	Martin-Sanchez et al. (2011)
Sport	Male Pro Soccer (n=12) & Age/Sex matched Amateur Soccer (n=9)
Aim	To determine if an intensive preseason training program modifies the inflammatory status in professional soccer players and if this inflammatory profile may be associated with the physical state.
Main Findings	A negative association between cardiac low frequency & the plasma content of alpha-1 antichymotrypsin isotype 4, & a positive association between cardiac low frequency & fibrinogen gamma-chain isotype 3 was found. Our results suggest that the cardiac functional state of soccer players may be correlated with these proteins. Pro soccer players showed a decreased content of circulating proteins associated with inflammation compared with those in recreational soccer players.
HRV Analysis	Morning of analysis – Time and Frequency Domain

Author	Cipryan et al. (2010)
Sport	Male, Hockey Junior Level (n=8), Adult (N=10)
Aim	To present inter-individual differences in the reaction of autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity to the same training program, and to thereby support the importance of individual training in team sports during the conditioning period.
Main Findings	The SA HRV monitoring mostly revealed significant differences in the level of the ANS activity among the players. A number of junior & adult players were characterized by almost permanently high ANS activity whereas other players occurred below the ANS activity level of healthy individuals. The training efficiency (overreaching and injury reduction) can be positively influenced by creating training groups of players with similar ANS activity.
HRV Analysis	Non-daily – Frequency Domain

Author	Cipryan et al. (2007)
Sport	Male, U-18 National Level Hockey (n=4)
Aim	To investigate the influence of regular sport training on the activity of the autonomicnervous system (ANS) and to disclose patterns of interrelations between them.
Main Findings	The results demonstrated that the player with the highest average TS (total score)& the highest average PT(total power) also showed the most consistent results & objectively the best performance in sport. On the other hand, the player with the lowest average TS and the lowest average PT also obtained the lowest average mark in the coach’s evaluation of his sports performance. The tendency to progression of the ANS activity was different for each subject. The self-reports health status survey, which was given before measurements were taken, did not correspond with the results of the SA HRV measurement.
HRV Analysis	Non-daily, Frequency Domain

Author	Hap et al. (2010)
Sport	Male, High Level Volleyball (n=8)
Aim	The goal of the work was to verify the possibility of volleyball playersʼ training load optimization during a one week training microcycle based on the longitudinal observation of dynamics of SA HRV complex indices.
Main Findings	2 Players had above average levels ANS activity indicating higher training loads could be tolerated.4 Players had low ANS activity (but not below average) showing evidence of some fatigue and adaptation. Training loads are appropriate. 2 Players had below average ANS activity and their training adaptability was reduced.
HRV Analysis	Daily – Frequency Domain

Author	Parrado et al. (2010) – Abstract Only
Sport	Elite, Field Hockey (n=? entire team)
Aim	The aim of the study was to examine the utility of perceived tiredness to predict cardiac autonomic response to overload among feld hockey players during the 2006 World Cup.
Main Findings	Results showed a negative correlation between perceived tiredness scores & time domain indexes, & a positive correlation of perceived tiredness scores and the high frequency component ratio (LF/HF ratio) of heart rate variability. Anxiety did not influence the precompetitive cardiac response despite somatic anxiety’s correlation with sympathetic response (LF/HF ratio) & tiredness scores. Perceived tiredness predicted the autonomic cardiac response to competitive overload. Thus, the perceived tiredness assessment would be a good early marker of fatigue & overload states during competition
HRV Analysis	Day of analysis, Frequency Domain

Author	Mazon et al. (2011)
Sport	Male, Volleyball (n=32)
Aim	To investigate the effects of selective loads of periodization model (SLPM) on autonomic modulation of HRV and endogenous stress markers before and after a competition period in volleyball players.
Main Findings	SLPM did not change the cardiac autonomic modulation of HRV, but promoted beneficial adaptations in athletes, including positive changes in the plasma concentration of the endogenous stress markers. The absence of changes in HRV indicates that there is no direct relationship between cardiac autonomic modulation & endogenous stress markers in the present study.
HRV Analysis	Pre & Post Training Cycle, Frequency Domain

Author	Di Fronso et al. (2012) – Abstract On
Sport	Male, Amateur Basketball (n=7)
Aim	To investigate the relationship between Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and performance in players of a basketball team during playoffs.
Main Findings	Findings of this study suggest that vagal activity, expressed by HF index of HRV, can be positively related to the athletes’ performance. In particular, higher values of HF index during the morning of the match were associated with higher levels of athletes’ performance during the game.
HRV Analysis	Morning of Competitions – Frequency Domain

Author	Dranitsin (2008)
Sport	Elite Male (n=12) and Female (n=1) Rowers
Aim	The aim of this study was to examine the simultaneous effect on HRV of acclimatization to a hot, humid environment and a transition of five time zones in elite junior rowers.
Main Findings	Major physiological adaptation of HRV indices in the standing position during acclimatization to a humid, hot environment, with a transition across five time zones, occurs within the first 5 days in elite athletes before returning to baseline. Indices of heart rate variability in the supine position correlate with the length of high-intensity training sessions on the previous day.
HRV Analysis	Daily, Time Domain

Author	Iellamo et al. (2004)
Sport	Elite Male Rowers (n=8)
Aim	To test the hypothesis that training-induced variations in T-wave amplitude at higher training loads are paralleled by changes in HR spectral profile.
Main Findings	From 50% to 100% of training load, there was a significant decrease in HRV and increase in sympathetic tone. As training reduced to 50% during the World Championships, HRV returned to base line and a return of autonomic indices to previous levels was seen.
HRV Analysis	Non-Daily – Frequency Domain

I’ll discuss my thoughts on the questions I listed above in my next post.

Please share any studies pertaining to HRV usage in a team setting that I may have missed in the comments below or e-mail me andrew_flatt@hotmail.com

I joined twitter recently too @andrew_flatt

References:

Cipryan, L. & Stejskal, P. (2010) Individual training in team sports based on ANS activity assessments. Medicina Sportiva, 14(2): 56-62 Free Full-Text

Ke-Tien, Y.(2012) Effects of Cardiovascular Endurance Training Periodization on Aerobic performance and Stress Modulation in Rugby Athletes. Life Science Journal, 9(2): 1218-25. Full-Text

Oliveira, RS. et al. (2012a) Seasonal changes in physical performance and HRV in high level futsal players. International Journal of Sports Medicine. DOI: 10.1055/s-0032-1323720 Abstract

Oliveira, RS. et al. (2012b) The correlation between heart rate variability and improvement in soccer player’s physical performance. Brazilian Journal of Kinanthropometry, 14(6) Abstract

Parrado, E. et al. (2010)Percieved tiredness and HRV in relation to overload during a field hockey world cup. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 110(3): 699-713 Abstract

Rodas, G. et al. (2011) Changes in HRV in field hockey players during the 2006 World Cup. Apunts Medicina de l’Esport, (46): 117-123 Abstract

Planning the Recovery

Posted on November 18, 2012 by hrvtraining

The inclusion of HRV monitoring into my training has caused me to change my perspective a fair bit on the subject. It has also provided me with a lot more questions than answers, but I don’t consider this to be a bad thing. My main interest and focus has always been on how to increase strength. A quick look over at my bookshelf and I can see that I have accumulated a small library on the topic. In pursuit of increasing my own strength I’ve been on an ongoing mission to discover and learn the best training methods and programs that can get me stronger. Today’s post is about the polar opposite of what I’ve been spending years of my life on learning. That is, the opposite of training. HRV monitoring has inspired me to consider not just appropriate planning of training loads, but the planning of recovery and restoration modalities – the opposite of physically stressful training.

First I’d like to assert my current position or philosophy on training; Your workouts are only as effective as the quality of your adaptation to them. This is analogous to the nutritional concept of being not necessarily what you eat, but what your body assimilates or absorbs from what you eat (I believe it was Poliquin who said that). I believe that the more advanced you get with your training, the more this statement applies. To elaborate on this concept, if you’re out-training your body’s ability to favourably respond to the stress, it doesn’t matter how perfect or scientific your program is. This is what makes monitoring something like HRV so invaluable. Understanding complex training methods and being able to apply them is simply one facet of the overall process. The recovery process also requires planning, structure and strategy.

At this point I wish I could tell you how to perfectly strategize and plan your recovery but I simply don’t know the answers. What I do know, and I’m stealing this term from Mladen Jovanovic, is that a complementary approach to training is necessary. Putting a ton of time into devising your next training cycle must involve considerations of recovery processes. This is not to say that that you must actively perform some mode of recovery at all times but rather that it would be wise to consider matching increases in training stress with a logically applied increase in recovery strategies to assist in the recovery and adaptation process.

Below is a brief list of factors I’ve been considering more when planning my training/recovery process;

(Note that the following are simply stated to provoke thought, I’m not recommending anything in particular as I’m not qualified to do so)

Sleep: Quality and length are obviously important during all phases of training. Can Inclusion of daily naps at certain times/phases be of any benefit? What about time of day training? Myllymaki and colleagues (2011) found that late night exercise resulted in higher heart rates during the first few hours of sleep compared to control however no effect on overall sleep quality or nocturnal HRV was seen. Perhaps post exercise static stretching would further reduce HR post-exercise (see below: static stretching) – You can monitor your sleep with mobile apps although I have yet to do this.

Nutrition:

– Macronutrients, caloric intake (matched to body composition and/or weight class goals), manipulation of macronutrients according to training phase (i.e. higher volumes accompanied with higher carbohydrate intake?)

– Micronutrition (Ensuring adequate vitamin and mineral consumption. Does this change with variations in training load?)

– Anecdotally I can say that I almost always see an acute spike in HRV the morning after a night of purposeful overeating.

– Ingesting foods that are anti-inflammatory? Reducing or eliminating foods that are pro-inflammatory? For a discussion on nutrition and HRV see this post.

Supplements: Inclusion of ergogenic aids at appropriate times; vitamin D over winter; supplemental forms of Zinc, Magnesium, C, etc. Rather than taking certain supplements year round would they be more effective by being cycled in at certain times?

Massage: Beneficial in periods of high loading? Massage has been show to acutely increase HRV in athletes (Arroyo-Morrales 2008) and healthy subjects (Delaney 2002). See Patrick Ward’s site for more insightful discussions on HRV and massage.

Static Stretching: I understand that static stretching is a bit of a hot topic and is widely debated. But static stretching post-workout increases HRV (Mueck-Weymann 2004, Farinatti et al. 2011) and therefore more rapidly initiates the recovery process. How much of an effect this may have on the overall process I cannot say but it’s worth considering.

Cold Water Immersion: The effect this has on recovery is debateable (see a good article by Dr. Marco Cardinale here) but it does appear to enhance parasympathetic reactivation post-exercise in athletes after supra-maximal cycling exercise (Buchheit et al 2009). The psychological effects of this shouldn’t be ignored either. Does it matter if something like this actually helps if the athletes wholeheartedly believe it does? When I played football during my undergrad the cold tubs were a MUST during training camp. None of us questioned this. If we sat in the cold tub we thought we helped our recovery. If we didn’t we would expect to be more sore the next day. Placebo effect?

Active Recovery: From personal experience I’ve seen a noticeable difference in perceived recovery, also reflected in my HRV scores with active recovery work. However, incorporating active recovery at certain periods and removing it from others may enhance its effects.

To reiterate, the above modalities may or may not be the answer to continued progress. However, their strategic planning and application throughout training may allow you to better handle the higher training loads necessary to stimulate further progress. We periodize the amount of stress we apply to our body’s, why not also periodize modalities that theoretically may enhance our ability to tolerate that stress at the appropriate times?

For the strength coaches reading this, I’d be curious to know how much thought and planning goes into this aspect of your training with your athletes. Do you have your athletes use different recovery interventions? When and why? Do you monitor this?

I am still young and relatively inexperienced compared to many of you that may be reading this. I can say that from my experience coaching strength and conditioning at the collegiate level that monitoring can be an extremely arduous task given the limited amount of time available with the athletes. Not to mention, the process of monitoring is time consuming in and of itself, making it difficult to do when you’re responsible for several teams.

Leave me a comment or send me an e-mail to continue the discussion.

andrew_flatt@hotmail.com

References:

Arroyo-Morrales, M. (2008) Effects of myofascial release after high-intensity exercise: A randomized clinical trial. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 31(3): 217-223.

Buchheit, M. (2009) Effect of cold water immersion on postexercise parasympathetic reactivation. American Journal of Physiology, 296(2): 421-427 Full-Text

Delaney, J. (2002) The short-term effects of myofascial trigger point massage therapy on cardiac autonomic tone. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 37(4): 364-371

Farinatti, P. et al (2011) Actue effects of stretching exercise on the heart rate variability in subjects with low flexibility levels. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 25(6): 1579-1585

Mueck-Weymann, MG., et al (2004) Stretching increase heart rate variability in healthy athletes complaining about limited muscular flexibility. Clinical Autonomic Research, 14(1): 15-18

Myllymaki, T. et al (2011) Effects of vigorous late-night exercise on sleep quality and cardiac autonomic activity. Journal of Sleep Research, 20(1): 146-153

HRV Measurement Position Article

Posted on November 11, 2012 by hrvtraining

Recently an article of mine regarding standing vs. supine HRV measurement was posted here. The article includes;

A brief discussion of autonomic control of heart rate during supine rest and in response to orthostasis (standing)
A summary of some research pertaining to standing HRV measurements
A presentation of data I collected over a 2 week period where I measure and analyze both my standing and supine HRV scores in response to training load.

Check it out here.

5 New HRV Studies

Posted on November 7, 2012 by hrvtraining

There’s plenty of great research being done on HRV and its application to sport’s training. I’ll do my best to keep you apprised of the latest findings by periodically compiling abstracts of relevant studies. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to many of these newer studies and therefore will reserve comments until I do. In the meantime, check out the abstracts of some of the most recent research on HRV and athletes.

Leti, T., & Veronique, AB. (2012) Interest of analyses of heart rate variability in the prevention of fatigue states in senior runners. Autonomic Neuroscience: Basic & Clinical, Ahead of print

Background The use of heart rate variability (HRV) in the management of sport training is a practice which tends to spread, especially in order to prevent the occurrence of fatigue states.

Objectives To estimate the HRV parameters obtained using a heart rate recording, according to different exercise impacts, and to make the link with the appearance of subjective fatigue.

Methods Ten senior runners, aged 51 ± 5 years, were each monitored over a period of 12 weeks in different conditions: (i) after a resting period, (ii) after a day with training, (iii) after a day of competition and (iv) after a rest day. They also completed three questionnaires, to assess fatigue (SFMS), profile of mood states (POMS) and quality of sleep.

Results The HRV indices (heart rate, LF (n.u.), HF (n.u.) and LF/HF) were significantly altered with the competitive impact, shifting toward a sympathetic predominance. After rest and recovery nights, the LF (n.u.) increased significantly with the competitive impact (62.1 ± 15.2 and 66.9 ± 11.6 vs. 76.0 ± 10.7; p<0.05 respectively) whereas the HF (n.u.) decreased significantly (37.9 ± 15.2 and 33.1 ± 11.6 vs. 24.0 ± 10.7; p<0.05 respectively). Positive correlations were found between fatigue and frequency domain indices and between fatigue and training impact.

Conclusion Autonomic nervous system modulation-fatigue relationships were significant, suggesting the potential use of HRV in follow-up and control of training. Furthermore, the addition of questionnaires constitutes complementary tool that allow to achieve a greater relevance and accuracy of the athletes’ fitness and results.

Edmonds, RC., Sinclair, WH., and Leicht, AS. (2012) The effect of weekly training and a game on heart rate variability in elite youth Rugby League players. Proceedings of the 5th Exercise & Sports Science Australia Conference and 7th Sports Dietitians Australia Update. 5th Exercise & Sports Science Australia Conference and 7th Sports Dietitians Australia Update Research to Practice , 19-21 April 2012, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia , p. 183.

Introduction: To date, the majority of research related to rugby league has investigated movement patterns, injury mechanisms and the effects of training workload and a game on player fatigue. Interest in monitoring player workloads and recovery has increased recently, with heart rate variability (HRV) proposed as an important monitoring tool in both individual and team sports [1, 2]. Due to the high physical demands associated with rugby league, monitoring alterations in cardiac autonomic control via HRV may lead to improved player management and enhanced performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of weekly training and a competitive game on HRV in elite youth rugby league players, and to identify the importance of HRV as a monitoring tool for Rugby League player preparation.

Methods: Youth rugby league players (n=9) were monitored during supine rest (10 min) at 2 days prior to a game (Pre-2), day of the game (Game Day), and 1 (Post-1), 2 (Post-2) and 4 (Post-4) days following a game. Heart rate (HR) recordings were recorded via a chest strap transmitter with beat-by-beat intervals during the last 5 min of supine rest analysed for time domain, frequency domain (low frequency [LF], high frequency [HF]) and non-linear measures of HRV. Player daily training load was calculated from players’ rating of perceived exertion and session duration as previously described (Foster, 1998). Significant (p<0.05) differences in HRV over the monitoring days were identified via 1-way ANOVA and post-hoc pairwise comparisons with a Bonferroni correction or a Friedman’s test with a Conover post-hoc comparison, where appropriate. Relationships between HRV variables and training loads were identified using Spearman’s rank rho (ρ) correlation coefficients.

Results: All time domain and nonlinear measures of HRV were similar over the 5 monitoring days except for mean HR, which was significantly greater on Game Day and Post-1 compared to Pre-2 (73.0 ± 5.7 and 80.1 ± 8.1 vs. 64.9 ± 8.7 beats per minute). On Game Day, LF and the ratio between LF and HF were significantly increased and remained elevated until Post-2 (Figure 1). In contrast, HF was significantly reduced on Game day and remained low until Post-2 (Figure 1). A strong negative correlation was identified between mean HR and training load on Pre-2 (ρ = -0.783, p < 0.05) with a strong positive correlation identified between HF and training load on Pre-2 (ρ = 0.700, p < 0.05).

Conclusion/Discussion: Prior to a competitive game, elite youth, Rugby League players exhibited a significant reduction in HRV that was sustained for at least 24 hours post-game. This withdrawal of parasympathetic and/or increased sympathetic control of HR possibly may result from pre-match anxiety as well as the physical demands of the game. Strong relationships between HRV and training load at Pre-2 indicate that early monitoring may assist in identifying training workloads for the upcoming week. The current results support HRV as an important monitoring tool for managing training workload.

Plews, DJ., Laursen, PB., Kilding & Buchheit, M. (2012) Heart rate variability in elite triathletes, is variation in variability the key to effective training? A case comparison. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 112(11): 3729-41.

ABSTRACT: Measures of an athlete’s heart rate variability (HRV) have shown potential to be of use in the prescription of training. However, little data exists on elite athletes who are regularly exposed to high training loads. This case study monitored daily HRV in two elite triathletes (one male: 22 year, VO_2max 72.5 ml kg min⁻¹; one female: 20 year, VO_2max 68.2 ml kg min⁻¹) training 23 ± 2 h per week, over a 77-day period. During this period, one athlete performed poorly in a key triathlon event, was diagnosed as non-functionally over-reached (NFOR) and subsequently reactivated the dormant virus herpes zoster (shingles). The 7-day rolling average of the log-transformed square root of the mean sum of the squared differences between R–R intervals (Ln rMSSD), declined towards the day of triathlon event (slope = −0.17 ms/week; r ² = −0.88) in the NFOR athlete, remaining stable in the control (slope = 0.01 ms/week; r ² = 0.12). Furthermore, in the NFOR athlete, coefficient of variation of HRV (CV of Ln rMSSD 7-day rolling average) revealed large linear reductions towards NFOR (i.e., linear regression of HRV variables versus day number towards NFOR: −0.65%/week and r ² = −0.48), while these variables remained stable for the control athlete (slope = 0.04%/week). These data suggest that trends in both absolute HRV values and day-to-day variations may be useful measurements indicative of the progression towards mal-adaptation or non-functional over-reaching.

Tian, Y., He, ZH., Zhao, JX., Tao, DL., Xu, KY., Earnest, CP. & McNaughton, LR. (2012) Heart rate variability threshold values for early-warning non-functional overreaching in elite women wrestlers. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, Ahead of print

ABSTRACT: Functional overreaching (FOR) represents intense training followed by a brief reduction in performance, then a rapid recovery (<2 wk) and performance super-compensation. Non-functional overreaching (NFOR) occurs when the reduced performance continues ≥ 3 wk. Heart rate variability (HRV) is a promising tool for detecting NFOR. In this study, we examined HRV thresholds in 34 elite women wrestlers (mean ± SD: age 23±3 yr; height 165.6±6 cm, weight 63±8 kg) for FOR/NFOR during training before 11 major competitions. Supine HRV was analyzed weekly at the same time of day using time and frequency domain methods. We observed that the time domain index, square root of the mean of the sum of the squares of differences between adjacent RR intervals (rMSSD, ms), denoting parasympathetic tone, showed those responding normally to training (82.76 ms, 95% CI 77.75, 87.78) to be significantly different to those showing a decrease (45.97 ms, 95% CI, 30.79, 61.14) or hyper-responsiveness (160.44 ms, 95% CI, 142.02, 178.85; all, P< 0.001). Similar results were observed for mixed sympathetic and parasympathetic signal standard deviation of the NN intervals (SDNN, ms): Normal (65.39; 95% CI, 62.49, 68.29), decrease (40.07; 95% CI, 29, 51.14), and hyper-response (115.00; 95% CI, 105.46, 124.54; all, P< 0.001) and synonymous frequency domain components. An examination of the 95% CI shows a narrow band surrounding a normal response compared to broader bands accompanying adverse responses. Thus, severe perturbations both above and below normal responses lasting >2 weeks indicated an athlete’s transition to NFOR and, hence, are useful for assessing possible overreaching/training.

Maior, AS., Carvalho, AR., Marques-Nesto, SR., Menezes, P., Soares, PP. & Nascimento, JH. (2012) Cardiac autonomic dysfunction in anabolic steroid users. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, Ahead of print

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to evaluate if androgenic-anabolic steroids (AAS) abuse may induce cardiac autonomic dysfunction in recreational trained subjects. Twenty-two men were volunteered for the study. The AAS group (n = 11) utilized AAS at mean dosage of 410 ± 78.6 mg/week. All of them were submitted to submaximal exercise testing using an Astrand-Rhyming protocol. Electrocardiogram (ECG) and respired gas analysis were monitored at rest, during, and post-effort. Mean values of VO(2) , VCO(2) , and V(E) were higher in AAS group only at rest. The heart rate variability variables were calculated from ECG using MATLAB-based algorithms. At rest, AAS group showed lower values of the standard deviation of R-R intervals, the proportion of adjacent R-R intervals differing by more than 50 ms (pNN50), the root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD), and the total, the low-frequency (LF) and the high-frequency (HF) spectral power, as compared to Control group. After submaximal exercise testing, pNN50, RMSSD, and HF were lower, and the LF/HF ratio was higher in AAS group when compared to control group. Thus, the use of supraphysiological doses of AAS seems to induce dysfunction in tonic cardiac autonomic regulation in recreational trained subjects.

How to increase HRV Part 3: Aerobic Exercise

Posted on October 30, 2012 by hrvtraining

As the title implies, this is the third installment to a series I started several months ago that discusses the various factors that can help improve our HRV. The first two posts can be read by clicking on the respective links below.

How to increase HRV Part 1: Inflammation

How to increase HRV Part 2: Nutrition – Featuring contributions from my friend Marc Morris PhD(c)

I will first discuss (very briefly) some research and the key physiological adaptations that occur in response to aerobic exercise as it is these changes that ultimately affect the function of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). I will then provide some thoughts on how to include aerobic work into your training in effort to improve our overall health, recovery and capacity for training. Like always, I will include some anecdotal experience and a bit of theory. This article is primarily directed at strength athletes/individuals.

It’s important to clarify what exactly I’m referring to when I saw “aerobic exercise”. For the purpose of this article “aerobic exercise” is referring to some form of activity that maintains an elevated heart rate above resting conditions. This is a very broad and vague definition but for good reason. Depending on one’s current physical condition, aerobic work may be simply going for a walk, while in very fit individuals aerobic work may include longer distance running, swimming, cycling, etc. It can be tempo runs, circuit training, sled work, mobility drills or dancing if that’s your thing.

Aerobic Exercise as a Means to Increase HRV Among Various Populations

Children (age 6-11) who initially had low HRV scores saw significant increases in HRV after participating in a 12-month moderate exercise program (Nagai, 2004).

Elderly sedentary folks (men and women between 65-75 years old) saw an increase in HRV and cognitive test scores after 12 weeks of aerobic exercise (1hr/day, 3d/wk) compared to a group who performed only stretching (1hr/day, 3d/wk) of which saw a decrease in cognitive test scores (Albinet et al, 2010).

After 6 months of aerobic exercise training, both older (age 60-82) and younger men (age 24-32) showed an increase in HRV (Levy et al, 2004)

Gamelin et al (2007) put healthy young men (untrained, age 21) through 12 weeks of aerobic training followed by 8 weeks of detraining to determine its effect on HRV. An improvement in HRV was seen after the 12 weeks however HRV scores returned to pre-test levels after only 2 weeks of training cessation. “Twelve weeks of aerobic training are sufficient to achieve substantial changes in Heart Rate Variability; and only two weeks of detraining completely reverse these adaptations.”

I should mention that there are several studies that showed no improvements in HRV following exercise intervention. It appears that there is a threshold of exercise intensity required to augment vagally mediated HRV. Essentially, it’s important for heart rate to remain elevated beyond a certain level for a certain amount of time performed consistently over a certain time period for noticeable HRV changes to be seen. I realize that last sentence didn’t help anyone but I don’t believe this threshold level has been clearly established. My interpretation of the research that I’ve seen is that you simply need to be consistent and put more effort into it than a leisurely walk, although that may be a good start for some. Older people generally require longer exercise interventions as sympathetic activity increases with age.

Anecdotally, I can say that when I incorporate regular active recovery workouts (moderate aerobic intensity) my baseline HRV score is higher and I see quicker and higher spikes in HRV following an active recovery day. Furthermore, I almost always see decreasing baseline HRV trends when I do not include active recovery work. I can definitely see the corresponding relationship between HRV and aerobic work capacity. When my aerobic capacity is high my HRV is typically higher (baseline level). With consistent downward trends in HRV I’m typically detraining (due to illness, high stress, or anything that results in lack of training). Thus, at least in myself, when my aerobic capacity is higher, my HRV is typically higher.

* Note that this does not include acute changes in HRV but rather weekly/monthly trend changes.

Physiological Adaptations

Without trying to sound like an Ex. Phys text book I simply want to touch on some key adaptations that take place in response to aerobic exercise that influence ANS activity and therefore HRV changes. In response to aerobic exercise we will typically see that;

– Resting heart rate decreases

– Cardiac output increases

– Heart volume and size increases (Left Ventricle)

– Red blood cell size and count increases

– Capillary density increases

– Myoglobin increases

– Breathing rate decreases

– Blood pressure decreases

– Baroreflex sensitivity increases

– Renal-Adrenal function increases

– Parasympathetic tone increases

– Sympathetic tone decreases

*I used both the NSCA Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning text and Primer on the Autonomic Nervous System Text for the above information.

I’m reluctant to say that all of the above directly affect HRV. The primary factors from the above list that impact HRV the most would be the changes in Sympathetic and Parasympathetic tone.

The ANS is responsible for responding to a stimulus/stressor and creating the necessary adaptations to allow us to resist the same stimulus/stressor in future incidences. Therefore, regardless of what type of athlete you are, improving your overall capacity for stress is beneficial. Our performance can be limited by our capacity for work. HRV score is a reflection of how much stress you can handle that day. Therefore we want to do what we can to position ourselves to better tolerate and adapt to our training.

Aerobic Work for Anaerobic Athletes

Let me be clear and state that I’m not advising powerlifters or throwers to go for a 1 hour run 3-4x/wk. However, in the interest of increasing workout volume/density and recovery, some aerobic capacity work can be helpful. Louie Simmons and Dave Tate have been preaching this for years. I recall plenty of articles where they discuss sled dragging, “feeder” workouts, etc. You can call this a “base” or “GPP”, “Anatomic Adaptation” or whatever you want. The bottom line is, we need to increase our body’s ability to handle training stress, recovery from it, then handle progressively more training again.

I understand that resistance training can elevate heart rate and maintain it over resting conditions. However, can you honestly tell me that you can go play a pick- game of basketball and not be completely winded after 5 mins? I used to not perform active recovery/work capacity workouts. If I did anything even somewhat strenuous for over 20 minutes that day my workout would be ruined. I’d purposely avoid physical activity so that I wouldn’t compromise my workout. Now that my work capacity is much higher I no longer have this issue.

Here are some thoughts on how to incorporate some aerobic capacity work into your training without negatively effecting strength progress;

– If it’s possible, take longer in your warm-ups. Here’s an example of a warm-up I do on Squat and DL days;

6 min aerobic exercise (incline treadmill, bike, skipping, etc), 5 min dynamic stretches, 5 min lower body mobility, 5 min “activation” type work for glutes and core (due to previous low back issues), 5 min upper body mobility (shoulders, t-spine) and external rotation work, some form of box jump or KB swing to finish. By the end of this I’m sweating and my joints feel great.

– Perform some type of activity on your off days. If you have terrible work capacity start off extremely easy with 10 mins of incline treadmill walking or the stationary bike. Over time work up to 20-30 mins. Generally I don’t exceed 40 minutes of work.

– Perform mobility circuits and kill two birds with one stone. Improve your mobility and aerobic capacity at the same time. Just keep your HR elevated.

– Perform low intensity sled work (various drags)

– Perform circuits of body weight exercise (Blast Strap/TRX stuff, single leg work, etc.)

– Complexes with BB’s, DB’s or KB’s.

Keep in mind that the goal is to facilitate recovery while at the same time gradually increasing work capacity. Therefore, do not perform 20 sets of hill sprints or maximal effort complexes on day 1 if you plan on moving any kind of decent weight that week. The goal is to;

Maintain an elevated heart rate
Enhance blood flow to sore muscles

What about intervals?

Yes, interval work can provide much of the benefits that aerobic exercise has to offer. However, intervals are much more stressful and taxing. Interval work can be better tolerated after a sufficient level of work capacity has been established. If you’re not concerned with strength levels than by all means proceed with intervals. However keep in mind that conditioning work with intervals is not necessarily facilitating recovery and will likely result in a lower HRV score the following day. Assess your situation and goals and make an appropriate decision.

If you progress your work capacity properly you shouldn’t see any negative effect on your strength levels. This isn’t about “concurrent” training were we want to build endurance and strength at the same time. It’s more about keeping strength the priority and gradually building work capacity at an intensity low enough that it doesn’t contribute to overall stress but rather facilitates recovery from it. This is how I prefer to do it.

Approaching this with athletes in a team setting is a different animal and I will hopefully share my thoughts on that another time as this article is already longer than I wanted it to be.

Summary:

– Aerobic exercise will typically increase HRV, better HRV results in more favourable responses to training

– Aerobic exercise can be anything that maintains an elevated HR

– Strength athletes can benefit from increased work capacity

– Progress from very low stress active recovery work to higher levels over time

– Use these workouts to facilitate recovery, improve mobility, enhance blood flow and maybe do the stuff you need to do that you can’t get to during your main lifts

If you have anything to add, refute, share, etc. I’d love to hear it. Comment below or email me andrew_flatt@hotmail.com.

I joined Twitter recently so we can interact there too @andrew_flatt.

References

Albinet, C. A., Boucard, G., Bouquet, C. A., & Audiffren, M. (2010). Increased heart rate variability and executive performance after aerobic training in the elderly. European Journal of Applied Physiology. 109(4):617-24

Gamelin, et al. (2007) Effect of training and detraining on HRV in healthy young men. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 28(7): 564-70

Levy, WC., et al. (2004) Effect of endurance exercise training on HRV at rest in healthy young and older men. American Journal of Cardiology, 82(10): 1236-41

Nagai, N., et al (2004) Moderate physical exercise increases cardiac autonomic nervous system activity in children with low heart rate variability. Journal of the International Society of Pediatric Neurosurgery, 20(4): 209-14

Psychological Considerations With HRV Monitoring

Posted on October 21, 2012 by hrvtraining

When I first started recording HRV measurements in August of 2011 I didn’t really know what to expect. I had no strategy for how I was going to interpret the data or put it to use practically. Other than reading Q&A posts from Landon Evans on elitefts, I didn’t know too much about HRV. All I knew was that it sounded interesting, logical and it was something cool to buy. I didn’t even own a compatible device to operate the app on so I bought an iPod touch.

Up until that point I was training religiously. Three weeks on followed by a one week deload. I didn’t miss workouts. I would try to hit my planned numbers at all costs. This method of training worked very well. I got big and strong training like this. Upon purchasing my ithlete device I kept my training structure the same and simply recorded HRV every morning. I decided to analyze the data later and see what I learned. Was I stronger when HRV was high? Was I weaker when HRV was low? What was HRV when I got hurt or sick? Etc. I ended up with 6 months of data of pre-planned training. I discussed my observations in this article.

Basically, I learned that with some simple modifications to my daily training plan, I might be able to see some benefits. I’d say the biggest benefit has been being able to back off the training when my body needs it rather than trying to assume. Pre-planned training failed to account for real life incidences that effect training. HRV monitoring also allowed me to better adjust training in response to illness, allowing me to maintain strength better upon return.

A common topic that arises when discussing the applications of HRV among colleagues is the potential psychological effects. What are they? How does this effect performance?

Here are some example scenarios with some brief thoughts;

HRV score is low and therefore you expect to feel weaker

– In my experience I’m definitely weaker when HRV is well below baseline. But this is often because a well below baseline score happens; after an intense workout day; when I’m ill; when I perform a very different workout than I’m used to. I’ve found that moderately below baseline scores don’t typically affect my strength. This may be different for you or your athletes. The simple solution would be to keep yourself or athlete blind from the HRV score for an observation period and see what you learn. However, the idea that HRV score can impact how you will perceive training is very real.

HRV score is high and therefore you expect to feel stronger

– I can’t say that I’m stronger than normal when HRV is above baseline. But I’m certainly not weaker. This again should be tested during an observation period where the trainee is uninformed of HRV score. I must admit that upon seeing a good HRV score I immediately get excited. As if I have permission to train hard. Obviously my perceptions are influenced by my HRV score (based on my previous observations). We probably don’t want this happening with athletes. A good test for me might be to do another observation period. With what I know now about HRV I’m no longer impartial. Perhaps in the future I will test HRV blind for a month or two and see what happens.

HRV score doesn’t appear to make sense – something’s wrong with me, or the device

– Something may be wrong with you or the device. Or, something may be wrong or inconsistent with your measuring procedure (position, you didn’t go to the bathroom first, disturbed measurement, etc). Additionally, you must consider all of the other factors that affect HRV. I wrote a post on many of these factors here. In short, you must factor in daily nutrition, training load, familiarity of training session, travel, caffeine intake, mental stress, etc. It isn’t just training load that can impact your HRV score.

– Trouble shooting ideas: Check your pulse (on wrist) while recording the measurement to make sure the animated heart is in fact in synch with yours. Make sure the valid pulse indicator is green during the measurement. Make sure that you follow the breathing prompts consistently every measurement (This must be the same every time). Take several measurements in a row. If you do this keep in mind that successive measurements will change slightly (a few bpm and a few points on HRV) but they should be in the same ball park. Be careful when interpreting successive measurements. I find that I get a bit impatient/anxious when recording several in a row which will obviously effect HR.

– If you measure standing (my preferred position) give yourself a minute to stabilize and let your heart rate adjust. Typically upon standing HR will jump up real high to account for the change in blood distribution requirements followed by a marked drop and then an evening out where it comes back up a bit. It may look something like this;

Lying down HR = 51

Standing HR (immediately after standing) = peaks at 102

Standing HR (after several seconds) =drops to 54

Standing HR (once stabilized) = 60

*These figures were made up based on what I recall from performing these tests

HRV score is low and therefore I might get hurt/perform terribly

– One must keep in mind that come game day, athletes are typically experiencing some form of anxiety. This can be good or bad. Either way it can have a pretty big impact on HRV score that morning which will likely provide a skewed result. Therefore, game day measurements should probably be interpreted with caution. I’d prefer to keep the score from the individual so that it doesn’t mess with their head. Rate performance over time and see how it matches up with HRV. Studies have been done that have looked at this that I’ve discussed in several other posts. See what you find and how it compares. If you do please let me know what you find!

HRV score is low and therefore I’m overreaching, overtraining, etc

– Again, all other factors must be considered when a score is analyzed. Probably the easiest measurement you can do to determine if one is in fact overreaching is to have them perform some performance tests like a vertical jump or grip strength. Additionally, assess their workout cards to see if their numbers are declining. If they are in fact over doing it performance will decrease with HRV.

Closing thoughts:

For the individual trainee: My best advice that I can give individuals who have an HRV device is to put yourself through an observation period. Try and measure your HRV blind and proceed with your normal pre-planned training routine (or whatever you typically do without the guidance of HRV). Try and document important events that may have effects scores in the “comments section” and keep a training log. It’s hard to analyze data based purely on memory. Having background knowledge of HRV before you use is it can be a blessing and a curse. You’ll likely have expectations or may already be impartial.

For monitoring athletes: In team sport athletes, the less they know about HRV the better (in my opinion). If they can simply take their measurements and forward you the data that is all they need to know and do. If you can somehow manage to have them measure without seeing HRV score then that would probably be best. This will remove the psychological effects that can potentially occur.

In smaller teams and individual sports, this comes down to a judgement call based on your relationship with the athlete and their personalities. By the athlete knowing what their HRV means, how their lifestyle affects it and so forth, you may be able to get more “buy-in” to your program, guidelines, etc. Individual athletes are typically different than team sport athletes. An individual sport athlete typically takes more initiative, holds themselves more accountable, etc. They may respond to it by taking better care of their nutrition, sleep, reducing overall stress, performing active recovery and restoration modalities etc. The alternative would be to keep them vaguely informed and approach them the same way as the team sport athlete.

What’s your take on the psychological issues associated with HRV? What observations have you made? I’d like to hear about them. Let me know in the comments below or via e-mail andrew_flatt@hotmail.com

All about the ithlete HRV device

Posted on October 14, 2012 by hrvtraining

Today I’d like to provide some more information on the ithlete device. I will be linking back to previous posts to spare myself from re-writing things I’ve already covered. The FAQ section on the ithlete website provides very thorough responses to common questions so I recommend reading through that as well. I encourage anyone with further questions to contact me directly.

What is ithlete?

The ithlete HRV system is a handheld heart rate variability measurement device that operates on most smart phones and tablets. This is significant because prior to the development of devices such as ithlete, acquiring HRV measurements was cost prohibitive due to the expensive equipment and software required to perform the measurement and analyze the data. Many of these devices also required a trained technician. The ithlete allows individuals to easily perform HRV measurements at home for a fraction of the original price.

What equipment is required to use ithlete?

You will need;

– a heart rate strap

– the ithlete ECG receiver

– compatible smart phone/tablet/iPod

– the ithlete HRV app available in the iTunes store and Google Play store for Android.

Link for App in iTunes

Link for App in Google Play Android Store

The heart rate strap and ithlete ECG receiver can be purchased together or separately.

A brand new version of the ithlete receiver has just been released that is compatible with nearly all versions of iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. It also operates on nearly all Android phones and tablets.

What is heart rate variability (HRV)?

I provide an explanation of HRV in this article.

Essentially, we are getting a non-invasive look at the function of our autonomic nervous system. An HRV score will tell you when your body is better able to handle greater stress (higher training loads) and when it can’t. This is ideal for appropriately applying hard training on the right days and reducing training when needed. This will allow for better adaptation and reduce our risk of overtraining.

How does the app work and what functions does it have?

An HRV measurement with ithlete consists of the following steps (screen shots below);

1. Put on heart rate monitor strap with conduction pads moistened and plug ithlete reciever into device.

2. Initiate app and wait for “start” button to turn green as it waits for your heart rate to stabilize.

3. Hit “start” and follow the breathing cadence that the app displays.

4. “Save” your score, enter comments if desired.

5. At this point you are complete. You can review your trend, input training load, analyze your data or whatever you need to do.

Image of app ready for measurement

The duration of the measurement is 55 seconds.

When the measurement is complete your screen will look like this;

If you are satisfied with your measurement you will have the option to “Save” the measurement “with comments” or without. I prefer to use the comments option to document notes about training, stress, sleep etc. If for some reason the measurement was disturbed you can simply hit “Don’t Save” and redo the measurement.

Once you have finished with your comments the app will take you to the “Chart” page. Here you will see your HRV Score with color indication, weekly change and monthly change. Your data will be charted across the bottom of the screen so you can clearly see your day to day variations. HRV trends can be viewed in 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, or all time displays.

The color indications inform you of what type of training is recommended based on your HRV score.

Green = Higher training loads

White = Moderate to high training loads

Amber = Reduce loads

Red = Rest

*77 was my actual HRV Score this morning, the image from above with a score of 70 was from a measurement I did just now to get the screen shots for this post.

In the trend displayed above the Blue horizontal line represents baseline HRV. The white and colored deflections are your day to day changes in HRV. When you first get ithlete it will take a few days to establish a baseline HRV score. Once baseline is established you will be able to judge your recovery status based on if your score is above or below baseline.

Generally, an abundance of any form of stress or a combination thereof (mental, physical, poor nutrition) can result in a below baseline HRV day. Quality eating, sleeping and regular exercise will result in better scores. The HRV trend is very informative as you can learn how your body reacts to various workouts, eating habits, travel, etc.

If you rotate your device sideways your trend will appear with training load values as depicted below. You can see a clear disturbance in my trend as I traveled to the US and generally had a highly stressful week. The vertical purple bars represent my training load. More info on interpreting your data will be presented further below.

By selecting the “Edit” option from the menu along the bottom of the screen you will be taken to the screen shown below. This is a collection of all of your data ever recorded.

In this section you can input your training load for the day you select as shown below. Typically I input my training load from the previous day each morning. Once you enter the training load score it will appear on your chart in the expanded view. This screen also gives you the ability to e-mail your data or export it to drop box. This is handy for coaches and trainers who want to see their athletes data.

How should I measure HRV?

Perform your HRV measurement after you wake up and go to the bathroom. Do not perform any tasks that will create unnecessary stress or alter heart rate significantly. I prefer measuring with ithlete in the standing position and I provide a very thorough explanation of why here. The key is to be 100% consistent with your measuring procedure to have the most meaningful data.

How do I know what training load to input?

This will depend on what type of athlete you are and what type of training you do. See this post for ideas on how to do this. I personally use Session Rating of Perceived Exertion (sRPE).

How do I interpret my HRV Trend?

See this post for my thoughts on HRV trend interpretation.

How do I use HRV to guide my training?

See this post for my thoughts on HRV guided training and periodization.

Is HRV only for Athletes?

Anyone can benefit from monitoring their HRV. See this post if you are a non-athlete or recreational lifter.

What evidence exists to support HRV training?

For plenty of research that lends support to the efficacy of HRV training please see this post.

For more relevant information browse the following posts:

HRV, Adaptation, Progression, Training Adjustments

Illness, recovery time, travel stress, monitoring, etc.

HRV in a team setting

HRV and Nutrition

HRV and Inflammation

How effective is pre-planned training?

If you have any questions that were not addressed in this post or the ithlete Q&A please send me an e-mail. The purpose of this post was to show everyone how the ithlete HRV app functions and to provide information about why HRV monitoring can enhance your training and lifestyle.

HRVtraining

HRV research and consulting by Andrew Flatt Ph.D.

Tag Archives: heart rate variability

HRV Values: Indications of Training Readiness

Recent HRV trend analysis and a new collaboration

HRV in a Team Setting: Follow-up Thoughts

HRV Monitoring in a Team Setting: The Research

Planning the Recovery

HRV Measurement Position Article

5 New HRV Studies

How to increase HRV Part 3: Aerobic Exercise

Psychological Considerations With HRV Monitoring

All about the ithlete HRV device

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