The Lowdown
Monitoring Heart Rate Variability is so much more valuable than just monitoring heart rate.
Heart rate variability (usually known as HRV) is a relatively new method for assessing the effects of stress on your body. It is measured as the time gap between your heart beats that varies as you breathe in and out. Research evidence increasingly links high HRV to good health and a high level of fitness, whilst decreased HRV is linked to stress, fatigue and even burnout. ithlete measures your HRV, as well as your resting heart rate, every morning during a 1 minute test. After you have built up a baseline over a few days, the ithlete software algorithms compare your daily readings with baseline to determine if any significant changes have taken place. These are reflected in traffic lights for today's training and a chart to help you track trends.
Importance of Recovery
Most fitness enthusiasts know that you don't get fitter during exercise, you get fitter recovering from exercise. The key point is that we are all individuals, and respond in our own unique way that cannot be force fit into a standardised training plan. Judging the right balance of training load and recovery is a challenge even for the most experienced athletes. Measuring and tracking your daily fatigue and recovery level using HRV is the scientific principle behind ithlete.
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Heart rate monitors provide important feedback about the intensity of exercise, but can't measure the cumulative fatigue of workouts or the subsequent training effects. However, new innovations using heart rate variability (HRV) data mean that's about to change. Sports Scientist & Coach Eddie Fletcher has collected extensive data from a number of sports and endurance activities, and explains that, in general there is a tendency for training to be at the high end of extreme with a prevalence of over training and under recovery. There is a general belief amongst athletes that ‘working hard' is a virtue when it comes to improving fitness. Equally at the social end of participation (charity running for example) many competitors are under prepared for the physiological effort required.
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Make no mistake, monitoring your heart rate variability is one of the most significant training concepts of recent times. It could potentially be your secret weapon – the one thing that differentiates you from your competitors. It is one step beyond what top athletes like Paula Radcliffe do when they diligently record their waking heart rate and use it to decide whether or not they should train. I rate it up there with heart-rate based training and Power Meters for cycling in terms of it’s importance. But for once, it’s something that doesn’t break the bank or require a 6-inch instruction manual. Using an i-pod application is inexpensive, simple to use and time effective.
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Simple measures of the small changes in each beat of your heart can provide a wealth of information on the health of your heart & nervous system; such measures are called heart rate variability or HRV. Originally applied to assess the risks for patients who suffered a heart attack, HRV analysis is now becoming a standard tool in sports science research & coaching practice.
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Simon has had a long time interest in both electronic technology & endurance sports. He worked for Philips Electronics for 15 years, to VP level, and has been inventing & developing electronic products since the age of 11. A keen cyclist & former triathlete, Simon decided to combine his two passions, and the concept of ithlete was born.
