What is HRV?
HRV stands for heart rate variability. Heart beats have healthy irregularities and natural variability in the spacing between our heat beats. Even if your heart rate is, say, 60 beats per minute, this doesn’t mean that your heart beats exactly once a second.
The interval between your successive heartbeats can be, for example, 0.87 seconds in one interval, and 1.04 in the next.
This variation among the intervals between your heartbeats is called hear rate variability. HRV is a measurement of the balance between our parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems. These two systems make up the autonomic nervous system, which controls most of our body’s involuntary functions.
Our body is constantly in a situation determined by balance or by predominance of one of these two nervous systems. While the body is stressed, the sympathetic ‘fight or flight’ nervous system is more active, and the parasympathetic is less active.
High and low HRV
A high HRV value in cycling is a good sign that your body has recovered correctly and can respond to stress. High HRV is an indication of cardiovascular health, fitness, calm and ability to handle stress and exercise.
For us cyclists, this means that your body will be able to handle more intense training loads, necessary for long or hard sessions.
A low HRV value, on the other hand, can indicate mental and physical stress often associated with overtraining. This would indicate that more rest and recovery will be needed.
In a recent study of well-trained cyclists [1], training prescription based on HRV could result in a better performance enhancement than a traditional periodization.
Benefits
As a coach, I can track the HRV changes in relation to different training adaptations or even changes on diet from the athletes I coach.
HRV, can be used to improve the effectiveness of athlete’s training plan by allowing me to make more scientific objective decisions on the type of training session that a rider should do one day to the next.
This is great as it enables me to coach with much greater flexibility, not just building plans in advance but continuously tweaking them based on athlete’s body responses. These decisions are based on how the individual recovered from the latest training sessions.
Additionally, HRV can be also used to prevent overtraining, injuries and mental burn-out. Like any training tool, such a power meter, you must combine HRV with how you feel, your goals and your periodisation to accurately make the best decision on the day.
How to measure HRV?
HRV needs to be measured at the same time of day to be relevant, where measurements should be compared to the individual’s baseline in order to show significant changes, indicative of temporary imbalances. Furthermore, it’s important to note that HRV values are different for each individual. There is therefore no point comparing yours with that of another person. The important factor is your daily HRV against your own baseline.
There are several apps out there which track HRV, some free and some paid. My recommendation is those that link up with compatible heart rate straps rather than the one that uses your phone rear camera to try and detect it.
Matteo Cigala
Founder & Head Coach
