About us - HRV Fit Ltd.

Like many endurance athletes - runners, cyclists and triathletes - I use a heart rate monitor. It helps me measure how hard my body is working during training as well as keeping me just to the right side of the red line during competition. Since I wasn't getting any younger and I liked to keep pace with the top local and yes, younger riders, I began investigating smarter training methods that would improve my performance but without the risk of injury due to overtraining. And this is how I found out about heart rate variability. In time, I became convinced that I needed to incorporate HRV as part of my own athletic training. My bike times had leveled off and I often wondered if I had been training too intensely without allowing for sufficient recovery. So I looked around to see what commercial products were available and came across software from companies such as Omegawave and FirstBeat Technologies. Both products are highly regarded, and used by top athletes under coach supervision. Yet these products cost from $1,000 to more than $20,000. And even though HRV is now included in high-end heart rate monitors from Polar and Suunto, they lacked several important measurement criteria, such as color-coded warning indicators, the ability to visualize your trends graphically, and the simplicity of a quick morning test that anyone can fit into his or her daily routine.

I came to the conclusion that there was not an easy-to-use, affordable product that could give one a direct and daily measure of HRV. But all was not lost. I am an engineer by profession. With my background and work experience at Philips Electronics, building an HRV system did not seem particularly daunting, though the process would turn out to be a longer journey than I first anticipated. I read almost 500 research papers on HRV and consulted with many experts, cardiologists, coaches and trainers. My device had to be scientifically valid, practical, and uncomplicated to use.

By early 2009, I had completed ithlete's first working system (which I immediately submitted to various patent offices in several countries). Several months later, I had created a small receiver, as well as a working app for the iPod touch and iPhone, which I specifically chose because of the great user interface and processing power. During this time, as I used the ithlete prototype, my confidence and belief in HRV continued to grow. Here was a simple measurement that took only 60 seconds each morning, and seemed to know my body better than I did.

The first customer to download an app from the iTunes and obtain a receiver from the ithlete website was a cyclist from Wiltshire, U.K. Since then, close to 3500 athletes have purchased ithlete - and the number continues to grow, and not just in England but worldwide. Users include professional & recreational runners, cyclists and team sports players.  Some have had injuries and want to avoid repeating them, some want to optimise their periodisation, but some are just regular middle-aged people wanting to lose weight using a frequent exercise program and who want to avoid doing too much too soon.

I hope you enjoy using ithlete as much as I do - it's a great training tool!

Feedback and suggestions for improvement are also very welcome - just click on the Contact tab or email ithlete.support@myithlete.com

Simon.

Simon Wegerif, creator of ithlete and founder of HRV Fit Ltd.