HRV, Off-season, Changes in Training Load

This week we share a great read put together by Peter Glassford including a few case studies of data collected on athletes he coaches using HRV4Training Pro. You can find the article here.

"Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and resting heart rate are great ways to monitor your body and get objective feedback on how your body is handling the training you are putting in. It is important (and valuable) as a gauge of your ‘fitness’ because it also does not discriminate between training stress, work stress, bad sleep stress, or 5 shots of tequila stress! This is a common criticism of TSS or other output measures that are telling you the training stress of your workout but not the stress/strain your body is experiencing from that workout nor from the above lifestyle stressors"

The Overview screen in Pro makes it really easy to understand when stress is significantly higher than normal (HRV baseline going below your normal values), and it is probably a good idea in these cases to slow down a little, as shown by recent research on HRV-guided training.

Similarly, positive adaptations to increased load (stable or higher baseline) provide additional confidence in the work being done, as Peter shows consistently in the blog post below. This is an important point that is often misunderstood, as you accumulate more training load and get in better shape, your HRV should be stable or increasing, highlighting how you are responding well to your training (despite the high load, this is what positive adaptation is all about!).

Thanks Peter and enjoy the read everyone.

You can try Pro at https://www.HRV4T.com and use code BIGPICTURE for 10% off

***

Peter is a Registered Kinesiologist and Certified Cycling Coach who has been instructing MTB skills since 2000. His coaching clients are mostly busy, masters-aged offroad cyclists who want to optimize their health and performance while balancing family and work. ​He races Mountain Bikes but dabbles in many other disciplines including BMX, cyclocross, running and triathlon. Peter is also the co-host of The Consummate Athlete Podcast with his wife Molly Hurford.

***