Heart rate variability

rom

Anyone have any opinion of these. I am going to go with this rater than resting HR.

I ordered one of these.
http://myithlete.com/ithlete-ECG-Receiver.html

Basically your HR should be the opposite to a metronome aka variable. BT LE and ANT+ HRM's give HR every second rather than the analogue ones like polar ft1.

I got recommended by someone who compared all the cheaper kits with the high end kit (10k approx) and this was the only comparable one.

I feel that resting HR is a number that can be hard to act on but this is clearer.

sconhome

Had a customer showing me this app yesterday. Very impressive was of monitoring your daily stress score & readiness for training (if you don't have a Polar of course )

Krusty_Clown

Sounds interesting, but it's quite an investment, just to get an alternative reading from your resting HR. Specifically, £60 (or €70) for the unit plus HR strap (if you don't have one already) plus $10 (€7) for the app purchase. So a €77 investment. Could you pick up a Polar watch/strap that does the same for similar money? Do low-end Polar HRMs measure HRV? I reckon I'll stick with my Instant Heart Rate App for the time-being.

sconhome

Its only the units that upload to polarpersonaltrainer.com the RC3 / RCX3 and upwards that feature the stress indicators. The basic models don't.

rom

The polar polar ft1 has the T31 strap which is the cheapest one works according to the FAQ. I use the Instant Heart Rate App too but do you act on it. What do you do if your HR is 5-8 beats above where it should be ? Do you take a day off ?

sconhome

The FT1 has user definable zones, but AFAIK does not factor day to day user stress or training factors like the app or the previous mentioned watches.

From the reading and demo of the app it charts your daily HR data and based on accumulating data will suggest you are ready for a hard session, a recovery type session or simply a day off.

The PPT.com does it on the back of the data collected during training session and makes the same red, amber, green flag recommendations on training load; based on HRV.

Not sure how they work, but it does and I find it a great measure of how ready to train the body actually is.

Krusty_Clown

rom wrote: »

I use the Instant Heart Rate App too but do you act on it. What do you do if your HR is 5-8 beats above where it should be ? Do you take a day off ?

Nope, can't say that I do. I use it more as a measure of general fitness and health, rather than guiding day to day activities. I'm currently hovering around 43bpm, which is a chunk higher than my pre-marathon level of around 38. If I was feeling unwell though and my RHR was around 48+bpm, I'd take is as a sign!

Ceepo

rom wrote: »

The polar polar ft1 has the T31 strap which is the cheapest one works according to the FAQ. I use the Instant Heart Rate App too but do you act on it. What do you do if your HR is 5-8 beats above where it should be ? Do you take a day off ?

Not to be smart there Rom, but going with this method over rest hr, imo is a waist of time if you dont know what to to with it after,

How much more accurate is it ? +/-%,

Not that i am an expert on hr, but a few things i would go on are,
Rest hr, imo is not how fit you are but how recovered you are, eg my rest hr is 43 if i train very hard, and am not recovered the next morning my rhr will be higher 45/6, if i had planned to do a session on a given day and my rhr was to high in the AM, say 49/50 +, i would leave the session for that day and do it the day after, thats not to say i would not train at all but would just do an easy training run.
If your doing 2 hard sessions a week and doing them to hard this could be a reason for slightly raise hr, eg normal recovered rhr 43, not recovered 45,

I would take my rhr about 3/4 times a week before i get up counted for 1 minute,

Now to part 2, just because rhr is in normal range, this does not mean that all is well, eg rhr 43, start running and i might struggle to keep it within easy zone (145) could be underling problem, so its not all plain sailing, (virus getting sick) however it maybe down to external factors (head wind, hill).

I have no idea how any of the app's work tbh, but imo you need to keeping a eye on your hr as you are training not just when you are finished, not sure if you can do this or not,

rom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soj-1cQ-Yfs

It does look much better than resting HR to me based on this as I can see how long it takes me to bounce back.

Ceepo

rom wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soj-1cQ-Yfs

It does look much better than resting HR to me based on this as I can see how long it takes me to bounce back.

I am aware of the concept of this but never used it,and not suggesting that its rught/wrong,
More my point was having this information is only useful if you know what to do with it.
It may well be a better way of checking rhr values but you still have to check hr when running, as running on values like PE can be different to what is actually happening with HR.
Just trying to be helpful

rom

Ceepo wrote: »

I am aware of the concept of this but never used it,and not suggesting that its rught/wrong,
More my point was having this information is only useful if you know what to do with it.
It may well be a better way of checking rhr values but you still have to check hr when running, as running on values like PE can be different to what is actually happening with HR.
Just trying to be helpful

I have no idea if it will be any benefit to me but I'll give it a go. I like the way it can show how long it takes you to recover from session.

sconhome

Here's what Polar looks like (no smart comments about missed sessions etc )

The red flags are days where the intensity or training load has been high and further training is not recommended, so day off or very easy recovery day should follow. Yellow flag, high intensity is not recommended in following day, basic or easy session.

Green = good to go hard again.

Basically a means of monitoring your overall wellbeing. A couple of continuous red flag weeks and you are most likely sick or injured. Stay in yellow / amber all the time and you are not getting the most out of each session.

Ithlete seems to give similar feedback based on the measurement of your resting heart rate each day.

hypersonic

I know I'm digging up an old thread but I've just bought some kit and plan on using HRV to try and improve my training.

Are there people out there using this, and how has it worked out?

It would appear to be a great tool to measure recovery so I'm surprised it hasn't caught on more, is it just to tedious to use?