HRV monitor

[Vlad Klipinitser]

Is anyone using an HRV monitor while doing a GB course? I'm using the BioForce one right now with F1. What have you noticed?

[Douglas Wadle]

Not sure what you'd gain from using it in a max strength endeavor.  They're useful when it comes to conditioning work or endurance work. If the information you gain doesn't change what you're doing, no sense in worrying about it.

[Vlad Klipinitser]

MT Nordic,

HRV monitoring has been shown in research to correlate well with max strength and power. Much of this has been studied in the sport of weightlifting. All training impacts CNS function so even non-endurance training can cause fatigue. I feel like tracking this can show program progress and how well you're doing managing 3,4, or 5 days of training with other lifestyle factors. For example, if 4 days of F1 and H1 constantly show a lower HRV score, maybe one should scale back to 3 days or address lifestyle factors dealing with improved recovery?

Just a few thoughts. I'm interested in further discussion on this topic.

[Keilani Gutierrez]

i'm interested too. I've kept in touch with a few forum members outside of the forum and one of them used one for some time and i'd be interested in knowing how he finds his results going since he has allowed himself more recovery than when we last discussed his using of one.

[Karl-Erik Karlsen]

I agree with Nordic. Don't really see how this trinkets impact on your training justifies it's price. Unless you have cash to burn, of course.
Doesn't tell you anything really useful for GST, that you can't tell by how you are feeling. If you feel beat down, take a day or two off. Don't need a 200 dollar app to tell you that.

Might be useful as an extra tool (after the basics are in place) for endurance athletes or people who are training up to a competition to see when they should back off or how their stress management is going, or how cardiac adaptation is progressing. IF you get accurate readings and you know what you can attribute the changes to. Which I guess isn't all that certain.

As Nordic says, if it doesn't change the way you approach your training - why bother? Just another superfluous thing to think about and detract you from the important basics. Concentrate on doing your days work focused and with as aesthetically pleasing form as possible.

[Douglas Wadle]

I'm well familiar with the data on HRV testing. If you're looking for recovery measurement tools, nothing beats a few cheap easy tests. Sleep hours and sleep quality, resting HR, reaction time, and Dan John's favorite, the dot test, for measuring nervous system. Again, though, this stuff is important if you're peaking for competition, etc, and much less so if you're just training. To be honest, I've used many tools over my athletic career, and nothing is better than your subjective sense of how you feel. I think adding an expensive tool like HRV is just going to distract you. If you want to know how many times to workout a week, try it out at different levels and you will see which gives you better feeling. If you're working out 4 x per week and you feel tired, you're not building from workout to the next, your morning HR is up, your sleep quality is down, you should cut back. Conversely, if you feel fresh, you're sleeping well, etc, then try 5 sessions and see how it goes. The science of recovery is very interesting, and most data looks at peaking for competition in elite athletes. The helpfulness in weekend warriors and fitness enthusiasts is much more muddy.

[Vlad Klipinitser]

Kage and MT Nordic,

 

I'm not sure how it would get on away from the basics. This only monitors training, doesn't dictate it. With a pre-set program like GB courses, HRV would be utilized only in monitoring recovery and matching it to progress. Also, it shows much more than cardiac adaptation so like I previously stated, it can be used outside of the endurance realm. 

 

I do agree that people with a high level of awareness may be able to get some of the monitoring benefits of HRV but recovery doesn't always correlate with how you feel or even your resting HR. Days where I felt great but had a lower HRV scores were never as good of training days as those where I didn't feel 100% but had a high HRV score and had a great training session.

 

Also, I am doing F1 as my strength training concurrently with other training(endurance, sprints, MB circuits) and technical skill work in karate to prepare for competition so I suppose it matters more to me in regards to peaking and being optimally recovered on a specific competitive day. 

[Karl-Erik Karlsen]

I'm just saying the general trainee here would probably not notice much of a difference between using a HRV monitor and going by feel - so that in terms of price I don't see it as a very high-yield investment, for most of us.
Also, that the more you complicate things with measurements and numbers, for many people it obscures the basics: eat, sleep, train, enjoy. And as Nordic said - you'll do your 3-4 F workouts every week anyway (should). If you feel like crap the day you are going to the gym, maybe postpone it one day and get more sleep that night.

Not saying it doesn't work at all for strength, but probably better for endurance - and in your case, for peaking. So if F/H is your only game, then I wouldn't personally invest 200 $ in it.

[Michael Blythe]

http://www.sweetwaterhrv.com

Works with a standard heat rate monitor .

The app is only like $5.00 if you already have a iPhone / pad.

Works good I just got it so not sure how good it is for GST . But fun to play with .

[Amy Vogel]

I have an emwave(iphone version) and polar heart rate strap, both of which can be used to measure hrv.   I haven't tried using for exercise, but I have heard people talk about using morning HRV as a measure of fatigue and when to take rest days. 

[Shaf]

Actual scientific research for HRV for strength/power is pretty sparse.  Bioforce has an interest in promoting their HRV system for a broad range of athletes.  In fact I fully agree with MTNordic about it's utility for the vast majority of people.  On the other hand, using an HRM to guide your conditioning and endurance work will generally help you out more than just doing it by feel.

 

For those not wanting to shell out the Bioforce fees, iThlete and the Sweetbeat app mentioned above work just as well with a Polar H7 HRM, which you can get for $55 or so on Amazon.  I prefer the iThlete, since it doesn't make all sorts of ridiculous claims.

 

About the only thing HRV indicated to me was that steady state aerobic training improved it along with resting heart rate and my HRV takes a dive almost always 1-2 days before I get sick.  Both iThlete and Sweetbeat apps indicate that.  I had good sessions on days wiht a low HRV score and bad sessions on days when the HRV score indicated I was ready to go.

 

The other thing that seems to improve HRV in most people is meditation, either freehand or using a brainwave induction track.