Forum posts to 'Forum'

Re: General Feedback for a Beginner

SteveL — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:42:46 +0000

You mention ithlete can calculate our maximum aerobic heart rate. Where do I find the instructions for that?

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Re: Difference between ithlete and Bioforce?

DShen — Sat, 12 May 2012 18:35:19 +0000

FYI i just got word from Joel Jamieson that he shipped out the first set of his HRV training books!

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Re: Difference between ithlete and Bioforce?

firefighter — Sat, 12 May 2012 17:44:17 +0000

Thanks I am purchasing the ithlete today should be fun.

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Re: Difference between ithlete and Bioforce?

moderator — Sat, 12 May 2012 17:00:17 +0000

You can use both apps with the same equipment & see which you like best !

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Re: Difference between ithlete and Bioforce?

moderator — Sat, 12 May 2012 16:59:40 +0000

Lots of good stuff in this thread. If I can add my 2c worth:
1. When lying down, your parasympathetic nervous system is dominant and the sympathetic switched off (unless you are chronically stressed / overtrained).
2. Sitting and standing both involve some degree of sympathetic activation in order to maintain blood pressure to the brain (important for some people!). This inevitably results in increased heart rate & usually though not always decreased HRV.
3. My opinion is that sitting or standing involve the body having to balance both branches of the nervous system and this makes the HRV measure more sensitive (this is also the principle behind the Rusko and other orthostatic nervous system tests).
4. Deep breathing is therapeutic & if done with a calm mind stimulates the parasympathetic 'rest & recovery' branch of the nervous system. We are partnering with some experts in this field to bring out apps that use HRV just to relax you. hmmm....

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Re: Flu Affect Numbers

moderator — Sat, 12 May 2012 16:44:47 +0000

One way I like to think about HRV is as a 'health barometer'. Goes down when your getting sick & comes up again when you are recovering. This latter observation is pretty useful for colds & mild flu, since although the blocked nose etc can last for two weeks, you're usually over the worst in 3-4 days and an upswing in HRV can be your guide to start training again.
On the other side, I've seen people lose 50 pts off their HRV with swine flu. Training definitely not advised !

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Re: White Line = Blue Or Green?

moderator — Sat, 12 May 2012 16:40:29 +0000

Hi Kai
As explained in the earlier post on this thread, I chose not to use green every time the reading is above baseline, but preferred to reserve green for when the app sees a good recovery day, like for instance on the 8th April, when you went from quite a low reading to well above baseline.
The period between 15-22 April seems to be effective training for you, because although your body became increasingly fatigued, after that date your readings have been much higher and your baseline has moved upwards, indicating an improvement in your aerobic fitness.
Thanks for sharing this data - it's very interesting!

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Re: HRV crash: average 75's to low 50. 3 months since 50's HRV

moderator — Sat, 12 May 2012 16:31:52 +0000

Hi Nathan
How are you doing right now? any update you would like to share?
If the low HRVs persist, I would go and get yourself checked out, just to eliminate any other condition that might be bringing your system down.

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Re: ithlete HRM

moderator — Sat, 12 May 2012 16:21:24 +0000

Hi Kate
I'd like to do an Android version of the HRM, but it's a question of having the resources to work on it.
I would like to say that we would have a version around the end of this year, but I can't promise with so many other projects to finish first!

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Re: Difference between ithlete and Bioforce?

firefighter — Sat, 12 May 2012 15:18:57 +0000

I am going to purchase either the Ithelte or the BioForce. I am not and endurance athlete, I do CrossFit style workouts which lead me to the 8 weeks out web site. As a 48 yo firefighter in the US my plans are to start incorporating some of the information from the Ultimate MMA Conditioning book. So my question is , Do the devices work the same? If so then I can just download the app for each and compare like some to others apparently have done. That would be great then I would just purchase the book The Ultimate Guide to HRV training when it becomes available.
Thanks for any help
Steve

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Re: Difference between ithlete and Bioforce?

sprintman — Fri, 11 May 2012 04:49:14 +0000

DShen, thanks for you reply. I've been pretty consistent with taking it in the morning, shortly after getting up and have decided to stick with the supine position for now for both the Ithlete and the Bioforce Apps respectively. It's just crazy how much my HRV lowers (and HR goes up) when I do the tests standing; quite a charge on my sympathetic NS I suppose!

I also have been taking the Ithlete measurement first, followed by the Bioforce. Like you said though, maybe the first measurement kind of primes the breath and thus the Parasympathetic NS a bit making the 2nd measurement a little better? Who knows..but it's interesting to fool around with nevertheless!

Keats

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Re: ithlete HRM

Big Kate — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:30:50 +0000

are you working on an Android version of this app?

I could buy a different dongle and other apps but I would much rather give my money to you!

thanks

kate

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Re: Difference between ithlete and Bioforce?

DShen — Thu, 10 May 2012 04:32:19 +0000

I too have been tracking with both apps. I take an ithlete reading first, then bioforce right after. I have found that in most cases the apps yield numbers very close. Occasionally the apps yield numbers that are very different - who knows why! It could be their algorithm or it could be the fact that I simply had rising anxiety and doing ithlete first meant I started with a bit more patience, which disappeared thru the 2.5 min reading of bioforce right after.

I also have experimented with positions. I find that standing and sitting yield similar numbers for me. However, if I am lying down the numbers can be much different, usually much higher as you describe.

I make this to be because of the fact that lower HRs usually mean higher HRV numbers due to the higher parasympathetic nervous system effect resulting from lower HR (yes geeking on the details of HRV here!). The important thing is that you are consistent from day to day, and not worrying about standing/sitting/lying down within a day. Similarly, you should take the reading at the same time each day, ie. right after getting up in the morning, going to the bathroom, and the taking the reading.

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Re: Difference between ithlete and Bioforce?

sprintman — Wed, 09 May 2012 23:40:49 +0000

I have been using both Apps for a little while to see how similar they are in HRV and HR readings. What's interesting is that my HRV totally crashes down into the 60's when I do the standing Ithlete test. If I at least sit or lay down using the Ithlete the number goes up to the high 70's (my normal baseline) or even 80's. Today when standing my Ithlete HRV was 65.4 with a HR of 70.4 When done a few minutes later lying down I got a score of 85.1 with a HR of 58.5;;BIG DIFFERENCE! Is that normal to have the type of fluctuation from standing to lying. Maybe I should do it standing then but then might never train out of fear of ruining myself with such a low HRV! I did train intensely today and had a pretty good session.

When I use the Bioforce I always take the test lying down as instructed by Joel and typically get mid-high 70's or low 80's on a good day. Occasionally I get down into the 60's but that is usually after a very hard training session the day before (sprinting and lifting).

Have other people found these type of variations from standing to sitting or supine? Have other people messed around with taking both the Ithlete and Bioforce tests at the same time?

Thanks,

Keats Snideman

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Re: Flu Affect Numbers

MountainBikeRider — Wed, 09 May 2012 13:48:54 +0000

I had flu in March and my HRV sank 40 points as my standing heart rate went over 100. iThlete saved me from a Mothers' Day visit

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Re: Flu Affect Numbers

DShen — Sat, 05 May 2012 17:50:05 +0000

i believe i read somewhere that HRV can jump right before you get sick. then of course it crashes because you're sick. so i would say this is matches up with that bit of trivia.

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Flu Affect Numbers

SteveL — Sat, 05 May 2012 16:49:46 +0000

Prior to getting a mild case of the flu my readings were in the 70s. Yesterday with a bad cold and a low grade fever it crashed to 51. Today I feel a bit better and it's up into the 60s. Does the flu account for this?

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Re: White Line = Blue Or Green?

BaarRacer — Wed, 02 May 2012 21:36:40 +0000

Hello,

i think i have the same problems. I don't get a green line since three weeks! At the beginning of measurement there were 2 days with a green line. Since three weeks i have only white or orange lines. Even there was a orange line while the HRV increased!

Here are some screenshots of my values:

There was a big drop between 15 an 25 april. But i felt very good at this time an there was a very tough and good race in this week, too.

What do you think? Do i have a problem with my trainingsplan?

(here some additional facts about me: male, 28 years old, main sport: XCM MTB racing; five trainings days per week, ~12000km per year)

Thanks!

Kind regards.

Kai

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Re: White Line = Blue Or Green?

DShen — Wed, 02 May 2012 16:47:58 +0000

i think your use of white is fine. it was just not explained anywhere since you talked about the other colors. i just wanted to make sure i knew what it meant!

INTERESTING - there is a difference between the colors of the change boxes and the line. that is something that i had not consciously registered before!

is the line's color affected by the colors of these boxes? or how should we, as users, read and interpret those box colors? thanks!

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Re: White Line = Blue Or Green?

moderator — Wed, 02 May 2012 13:55:27 +0000

Hi David
White is normal. Strictly defined as +/- 1 Standard Deviation (SD) from the mean (baseline).
The philosophy behind the app is to alert you to something which is changing more than it would by chance alone.
The significance of amber & red are self evident, but perhaps green takes more explaining. I reserved green as a Daily change for occasions when you have recovered pretty well.
I had been under the weather for a few days with a cold just below the surface, making me feel tired and a bit achy. My scores were low 70s, whereas I am normally just below 80.
Today, I went from a 71 to a 78, and got a green daily change and green line. Although I still had slight sniffles, that told me I was ready to train again, so I went out for a 2hr ride and really enjoyed it, I felt strong and fast.
I'm starting work on updating the Users Guide, and will put much more explanation in the second edition.

Feel free to disagree with the philosophy - I know some people have asked why not just have everything except amber & red as green.

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Re: HRV crash: average 75's to low 50. 3 months since 50's HRV

nathan — Tue, 01 May 2012 10:04:56 +0000

The initial 6 weeks after the crash to 50's I had the classic signs of overtraining, elevated resting heart rate and I found it really hard to get to sleep and maintain unbroken sleep, but now my sleep patterns have become normal, constant 8 hours.

I am not convinced that HRV is so low because I have detrained because my standing resting heart rate (recorded during HRV) is still in the 80's when it used to be sub 60's. I also get 1 random day a week where i'll record a HRV of 70 plus, so I feel like my body is slowly on the mend. Past attempts to increase training have resulted in a drop in HRV, I guess I'm going to just wait it out till at least when my standing resting HR sits below 70 and HRV is 65, then carefully increase my weekly intensity ( TRIMP scores).

Overtraining is a black hole!!

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Re: HRV crash: average 75's to low 50. 3 months since 50's HRV

DShen — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:11:02 +0000

Also you're only running about 12 minutes a day, even if running 7 days a week. That's not a lot of stimulus to your system at all. I am not surprised that you have detrained down to the 50s in HRV. As SteveL mentioned, other factors might also affect HRV like sleep, stress, etc.

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Re: HRV crash: average 75's to low 50. 3 months since 50's HRV

SteveL — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:58:37 +0000

How has your sleep quantity and quality been?

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White Line = Blue Or Green?

DShen — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 15:30:27 +0000

Just to clarify - in ithlete I get a lot of white lines. The included manual and the PDF manual available here don't ever mention white as a line color. Does it equal the green, meaning I can work out normally and/or really push today? Also, I have never seen the blue color line except in the moving average line. Thanks!

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HRV crash: average 75's to low 50. 3 months since 50's HRV

nathan — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 13:32:16 +0000

My HRV readings have dropped from a base of greater that 70 HRV, to a base level of sub 55, this new low level has been the norm for 3 months after a two week crash in my HRV from 82
to 49.

Since I have gradually cut back on exercise to now only running 14 km's a week (2 km's a day) at 6 min/ km pace. Before hand I was clocking 90 plus km's a week for at least the 3 months at around 5 min/ km average pace.

I couldn't show a pic up. But would love to share my data to get a feel for what you guys think.

Thanks

Nathan

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Re: equipment doesn't work Version 2

moderator — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:19:27 +0000

Moderator back - with apologies. Just trying to do too many things in parallel at the moment.
Will try to be timely with the comments, but do appreciate everyone weighing in with their experience.

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Re: Equipment doesn't work...

moderator — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:16:47 +0000

With apologies for the late reply - please anyone that is having trouble getting started get in touch directly with ithlete.support@myithlete.com so we can get you up & running as soon as possible.

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Re: HRV lower lower lower - supplements the answer?

moderator — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:13:13 +0000

I get an immediate improvement from my morning latte!
Although caffeine is thought of as a 'fight or flight' type stimulant, research by Japanese found that moderate doses (240mg) produced a marked increase in parasympathetic HRV for about 90mins, starting about 10mins after ingestion. They did not look at larger doses, and I think its possible the effect reverses at some point though.
Bear in mind though that anything that makes you feel good is also likely to improve your HRV at least temporarily, since mood originates in the same part of the brainstem that the heart control (ANS) parasympathetic nerves do.
Do I get today's 'HRV trivia' award?

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Re: Very High Readings Even a Couple 100's Plus

moderator — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:07:06 +0000

Good discussion guys.
It is indeed possible to have numbers over 100, and the highest that has been reported to me is 112 in the case of an Australian professional athlete.
Research studies have often shown correlation between HRV and VO2 max, but aerobic capacity is by no means the whole story. Genetics, age, weight, diet, lifestyle and even breathing technique all contribute to HRV.
That's why ithlete places so much emphasis on changes compared to your own baseline - that's what really matters.
But if all other things are kept equal, if your training leads to an upwards trend in your HRV, it is quite likely that your aerobic capacity is also improving. VO2 max is largely genetically determined but eg maximum speed or power at lactate threshold would be good measures to test this out, and a great study by Dr Martin Buchheit found that in a running club ONLY those athletes whose HRV improved during their training program also improved their 10K running times.
Powerful stuff!

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Re: Peaking for races or events with HRV as a guide?

moderator — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:56:25 +0000

Thanks Mark
Please be sure to let us know how you get on in the IM
Good luck from the ithlete Team

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Re: Difference between ithlete and Bioforce?

moderator — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:53:58 +0000

ithlete is the world's first simple, convenient daily measure of HRV to be brought to the iPhone and Android devices. It uses a patented measurement technique and paced breathing in order to get good reliability from a short 1 minute measure, and is designed to be used in the standing or sitting positions. The standing position is especially important for well trained endurance athletes, whose resting heart rates can be significantly below 60 beats per minute.

The BioForce app has been designed as a customization of ithlete for Joel Jamieson of 8weeksout.com to leverage his experience of more than a decade training martial arts athletes using the high end Omegawave HRV system. The measurement protocol of this system requires the user to lie or sit still for two and a half minutes and does not require paced breathing. The BioForce app is intended to be used in conjunction with Joel's book on training with HRV, and forthcoming services in the next year.

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Re: How closely does the resulting HRV number correlate to HR?

moderator — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:51:54 +0000

Good, $64K kind of question. I believe the answer is 'yes' and in fact some Australian researchers developed a formula where they aimed to maximise the product of daily HRV and 3-day TRIMP. The study was just based on a single athlete unfortunately, so we don't know if it's generally applicable. BUT it fits with what a lot of coaches recommend for tapering, which is a big reduction in volume to allow adaptation (HRV rises) whilst maintaining some intensive race pace sesssions. These keep the adrenal system working, preparing the body for 'fight or flight' and preventing the athlete from becoming sluggish from complete rest.
Would be interesting to hear anyone else's thoughts & experience here!

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Re: R-R graph peaks/values = breath in/out?

moderator — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:45:53 +0000

Hi (from a fellow geek!)
Yes, in fact you can derive breathing rate data from the R-R intervals. I wrote an algorithm for a medical device maker to do that for Emergency Rooms.
The principle is called EDR (ECG Derived Respiration). I think the breathing data is still present during the rise from sitting to standing, but is probably obscured by the overall spike.

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Re: How to stabilize mental/physical state to eliminate variable results

moderator — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:41:58 +0000

Hi and sorry for the slow reply - been working hard on the new website which is coming soon with more resources to support current & potential users.

The phenomenon where heart rate varies with breathing is known as Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA for short). Heart rate increases when you breathe in and decreases when you breathe out. So your observation is correct! This effect is due largely to the parasympathetic nervous system and in very fit people can be an almost 2:1 ratio between inhaling & exhaling HRs, so for example your average HR might be 60, but when inhaling it goes as high as 80 and as low as 40 when exhaling. Quite a dramatic change. It is thought that the evolutionary origin of this phenomenon is when mammals lived in water, they came up for air for a short time and had to absorb as much oxygen as possible during that time, then when diving, they needed the HR to slow right down to conserve resources. Seals & whales have much bigger RSA than humans.

Your HR should indeed vary rhythmically with your breathing to get a good reading, and I agree, it takes some people a bit of time to get used to doing this. Took me a couple of months, but my readings are now so stable that I can spot small trends in a very predictable way.

Finally, regarding absolute value of HR and HRV - it used to be thought that the two branches of the nervous system always worked in antiphase ie when parasym went up, symp went down and vice-versa. This is now known not to be true. So you can have 'co-activation' of both branches when your HR is higher than normal & your HRV is high also. I have observed in several athletes and myself that you can perform really well on these days - you are both rested / recovered AND primed for action!

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Re: Ithlete and Wahoo BlueHR

moderator — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:25:39 +0000

Good question!
We are working on a Bluetooth Smart (low energy) interface for the app right now, however the R-R interval profile needed for HRV analysis is optional in the standard, so we will have to check with each Bluetooth Smart HR strap to see if they are compatible. Unlikely that the cheaper Far East sourced products will be - one that I contacted was not even aware of the R-R interval profile in Bluetooth.

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Re: How to take reading?

SteveL — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 17:09:13 +0000

Thanks worked great! My first reading this morning while standing was a 62. That's a lot different that lying down had been. Course I had run the previous two days and then last night ran and then biked so perhaps I'm tired!

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Re: HRV goes up after hard circuit training session

MountainBikeRider — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 07:45:21 +0000

It's all coming back to me now.....

I first used iThlete in February 2011. I vaguely remember reading about parasympathetic overreaching…. Since then I misplaced the manual and lost the iThlete receiver in June 2011. Eventually, I bought a new one in March and started tracking HRV again.
Thanks for the help.

Andrew.

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Re: HRV goes up after hard circuit training session

DShen — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 22:43:56 +0000

If you check out the ithlete manual, dowloadable from this site, there is a section on this which sounds like what is happening to you:

There is one situation where you can get a red
daily change indicator directly on the first day,
and that is if your resting heart rate has suddenly
lowered significantly, often accompanied by an
unusually high HRV reading. This could indicate
the onset of parasympathetic overreaching, where
your body is really exhausted. It's a condition
that's difficult to diagnose reliably, and hard to
cure, so if you see a red daily change, together
with an unusually low heart-rate always ask
yourself honestly if there's a reason or if you have
been overdoing it. If in doubt, repeat the test after
doing some gentle warms ups, household tasks,
or light stretching.

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Re: How to take reading?

DShen — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:45:18 +0000

re: deleting - in the app, when you hit the "i" button for info, it says that you can go to Edit and see the rows of readings, and then swipe right on any one of them and a delete button will show up to delete a reading. But there is no way to delete everything at once. What a drag! well, you don't have all that many so you can delete the few one by one for now....

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Re: How to take reading?

SteveL — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:44:39 +0000

My resting heart rate is around 50 so I think I've been doing this wrong. How do I delete the entire file and start over? I've only got two weeks worth of data so no big deal starting over. Thanks!

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Re: HRV goes up after hard circuit training session

MountainBikeRider — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:07:38 +0000

Thanks Marko. Very interesting.....

So those days with a high HRV mean that I have done too much the day(s) before and my body is working excessively hard to recover - sort of a super-rest mode? This tricks the iThletre software I presume.

So the high reading is not a problem as such, but the best course of action would be to rest or only light exercise the following day? Perhaps a short gentle 10 miniute mile run?

Looking at my figures I do seem to be less than 100% - poor sleep, HRV drops dramatically the day after, and as HRV goes up my HR goes down.

Another indication is on the graph itself. Not the one I linked to but the view immediately after my morning test. The line showing the big increase is red. Normally, only big decreases are red.

I'll provide an update tomorrow. I planned on having a lunchtime run, but I'll rest for a few days and monitor.

I have also thought about my diet. I have lost over 15 pounds in 3 months following a low-carb diet. I have not noticed any performance loss in my activities: Mountain biking, running, circuit training. I'm just wondering if lack of carbs could play a part?

Just found this: http://www.myithlete.com/hrv-strength-and-conditioning/show/462#post462

Thanks,

Andrew.

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Re: HRV goes up after hard circuit training session

Marko1056 — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:13:25 +0000

Hello,
I have had similar readings after hard sessions. One in particular was a long winter ride,cold, windy and some of the younger lads tipped up who are 7 stone wet through and good riders.
Needless to say the next day I was thoroughly washed out I had ridden too hard and too far for my level.
That morning my HRV was high and the HR was low. I also find that when I over cook it to that level I sleep badly. My HR on going to bed would not come down although as I've just said by the morning it has dropped considerably.
I have read that it is a sign of over reaching causing the Parasympathetic side of your nervous system to become dominant in order to recover having hammered the sympathetic side the day before.
Now as I'm just a user of this I am more than happy to be corrected. But I too was surprised at the result and having read as many articles as I could find on it that's the answer I came up with.

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HRV goes up after hard circuit training session

MountainBikeRider — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 08:36:13 +0000

Hi,

There are a few odd readings in my HRV file that I hope can be explained.

On three occasions I have had an unusually high readings (77 to 84) despite a hard training the day before and, in once instance, not sleeping well too. I would have expected the HRV to go down. On a different note, you might spot the very low HRV readings - I think I had flu over those 3 days.

Here are my readings with comments:
Date Time HRV HR Ind Comments Sleep Activity Effort
2012-03-11 Sun   08:41   66.4   64.8   N   Hard gardening today       50
2012-03-12 Mon   04:38   59.1   67.6   A   Weights - Upper body       50
2012-03-13 Tue   06:20   75.1   62.5   G   2.3 mile run @ 7:56 pace       70
2012-03-14 Wed   06:20   57.3   68.3   A   21 mile ride. Fishpond & LW & back       70
2012-03-15 Thu   06:21   60.6   65.1   W   Felt tired when I awoke. CT not easy today.       90
2012-03-16 Fri   06:18   64.6   62.5   W   Drove home       10
2012-03-17 Sat   06:23   59.0   66.5   W   Hard bike ride. Fell ill in the evening.       95
2012-03-18 Sun   09:34   24.1   100.2   A   Very lethargic, tired and achy
2012-03-19 Mon   07:39   41.1   80.8   R   Very lethargic, tired and achy
2012-03-20 Tue   09:30   44.6   76.4   W   Lethargic, tired and achy
2012-03-21 Wed   08:20   60.7   65.5   W   Returned to work       10
2012-03-22 Thu   06:20   61.2   62.4   W   Short run       50
2012-03-23 Fri   06:24   57.4   66.6   W          10
2012-03-24 Sat   06:52   55.4   64.4   W   Feel tired. Eyes sore. Gardening    3   30
2012-03-25 Sun   07:47   57.6   65.4   W   Gardening       30
2012-03-26 Mon   04:38   62.0   62.4   W   Early start. Upper body weights    3   20
2012-03-27 Tue   06:22   60.0   63.9   W   Sleep was interrupted. Do not feel rested.    3   60
2012-03-28 Wed   06:23   84.7   66.9   G   Woke up too much again. Legs feel tired after last night's 20m   2   10
2012-03-29 Thu   06:27   52.9   67.9   W   Woke up 4 times.     2   90
2012-03-30 Fri   06:48   59.7   67   W   Cramp and legs tired from CT. Slept late.    4   20
2012-04-01 Sun   07:47   62.9   62.4   W   Sleep just isn't good at the mo. Getting up too often   3   70
2012-04-02 Mon   08:55   51.4   69.9   A   Busy day yesterday.     4   50
2012-04-03 Tue   08:38   68.0   77.3   W   Slept like a log.     5   50
2012-04-04 Wed   08:41   57.2   64.8   W   Perfect sleep. 5   10
2012-04-05 Thu   09:08   66.3   62.2   W   Right leg and hip still sore.     5   50
2012-04-06 Fri   08:14   66.5   63.1   W   HRV was measured 90 minutes after getting up.    5   10
2012-04-07 Sat   07:45   58.0   63.4   W   Cleaning up all day    4   10
2012-04-08 Sun   08:17   55.4   65.2   W   Easter Sunday. Stressful day    4   10
2012-04-09 Mon   08:23   52.7   71.1   A   Cleaning up all day again...    4   10
2012-04-10 Tue   05:25   62.4   65.8   W   Late readings taken. Hard ride    5   70
2012-04-11 Wed   06:21   77.5   70.6   A   Legs and glutes are tired after yesterday's power ride    4   80
2012-04-12 Thu   06:21   67.5   63.7   W   Tired body. Sleepy head. CT    5   75
2012-04-13 Fri   07:15   53.7   70.2   A   Tired today. Yesterday's CT was hard work.    4   80
2012-04-14 Sat   07:59   57.2   72.7   W   Sleep disturbed. Laid a gravel path. 7 hours of shovelling   3   80
2012-04-15 Sun   07:21   60.3   66.8   W   Bike ride and gardening    4   70
2012-04-16 Mon   04:41   56.6   66.2   W   Legs are tired. Early start. Weights &Abs Session   4   50
2012-04-17 Tue   06:22   57.5   69.8   W   Good sleep. Nike CT hard work.    5   95
2012-04-18 Wed   06:28   80.6   68.1   G   Hard Nike CT yesterday not helped by killer abs session on Monday   4
Graph here: http://db.tt/bi5YTB20

Anyone have any answers as it doesn't look right to me.

I am 49 years old
Measurements taken standing
Have a desk job

Many thanks

Andrew.

Posted to: HRV goes up after hard circuit training session Show Thread | Post Reply

Re: How to take reading?

DShen — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 05:32:38 +0000

From the ithlete user guide, downloadable from this website:

You can't compare readings made in different positions ie lying / sitting /
standing. The standing position is best for athletes, since athletes tend to have low
resting heart rates (anything below 60 beats per minute). Researchers have found that if
your resting heart-rate is very low lying down then the gap between heart beats reaches a
maximum value and the HRV variability does not increase further. This is not a problem
medically, but it limits the range of measurement and you might miss some changes &
further improvements in your daily value. When you stand up, your nervous system
adjusts your heart rate upwards about 10 bpm or so (depends on your height, build etc),
and you see the full range of HRV when you breathe. Researchers also found a better
ability to detect overtraining from HRV in the standing position.

So, whilst we recommend doing the ithlete measurement standing up, if your usual
resting heart-rate is in the mid 50s or higher and you are more comfortable doing the test
sitting, or even lying down, then that should be OK. Some recent research studies have
done morning HRV tests on moderately fit recreational athletes lying down and had good
results.

Posted to: How to take reading? Show Thread | Post Reply

Re: How to take reading?

DShen — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 05:31:37 +0000

From the ithlete user guide, downloadable from this website:

Posted to: How to take reading? Show Thread | Post Reply

Re: equipment doesn't work Version 2

DShen — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 05:05:41 +0000

hmm the moderator hasn't been around for a while! so i'll suggest one more thing which isn't so great, and that is to try another HR strap. if that doesn't work then it's probably a defective headphone attachment thing. It could also be dirt in the headphone plug area so you might take a peek in there as well.

hope the moderator comes back soon!

Posted to: equipment doesn't work Version 2 Show Thread | Post Reply

Ithlete and Wahoo BlueHR

atomhart — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 03:00:52 +0000

Is Ithlete compatible with the Wahoo BlueHR or will it be?

Posted to: Ithlete and Wahoo BlueHR Show Thread | Post Reply

How to take reading?

SteveL — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:04:58 +0000

Why is it important to be standing versus sitting? I'm just curious. Thanks.

Posted to: How to take reading? Show Thread | Post Reply

Re: Ithlete 2.0

Marko1056 — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 08:56:13 +0000

Thanks,
I shall have a go seated. I was of the opinion the test was to be done standing. I never really had this problem before unless my HRV has took a downturn but my readings do seem worse since the upgrade.

Posted to: Ithlete 2.0 Show Thread | Post Reply

equipment doesn't work Version 2

Fatcoach — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 11:29:56 +0000

I have the same problems as described on another thread related to faulty equipment. The app/dongle FAILS to connect to the heart monitor to give me a green start button. I've 'cold booted' the iPhone, checked the battery, and did all the same things everyone here has done but so far no joy. Anyone have any other ideas?

Posted to: equipment doesn't work Version 2 Show Thread | Post Reply