43 - Marco Altini and HRV4Training

1:00 what is HRV (heart rate variability) and how is it relevant to training?2:00 a summary of the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system3:00 the state of the parasympathetic branch allows us to monitor global stress on the body5:30 on the usefulness of trying to quantify training and non-training stresses and the care that must be taken when doing so8:00 factors affecting HRV and the autonomic nervous system: sleep, alcohol, illness, travel, training, work, relationships. But the effects are very individual!12:30 how quickly do we see responses to stressors? Acute response occurs within 24-48 hours. Chronic response takes longer: 1-2 weeks or more.14:45 HRV measurement best practicesMeasure daily, at the same time of day / night, use proven measuring methods, 17:30 what can you do knowing your acute and chronic HRV data?18:30 if acute reading is low, then the capacity for more stress is reduced. Marco recommends reducing intensity on that day of training.19:30 a case study in HRV-guided training - where training modification was only made when the HRV baseline (long-term trend) was below normal - demonstrated that this form of training was more effective than traditional programming with no accounting for HRV.21:30 stable HRV is the goal! It is not meant to ‘improve’ over time.23:00 interpreting low acute HRV score on race day. Lower is not necessarily bad.23:30 understanding atypically high acute scores26:15 interpreting chronic HRV data and trends27:00 stable or increasing baseline is a sign that you are coping well, whereas a decreasing baseline suggests accumulation of stress that is not being resolved28:00 coefficient of variation monitors the magnitude of variations between measurements. A high CoV  could signal some trouble adapting to a novel training stimulus or life stressor.30:15 a low CoV combined with an abnormally low HRV trend is a sign of a system struggling with global stress and may be a signal for a state of chronic high stress - which, of course, is to be avoided.33:30 is HRV-guided training a substitute for a periodized plan? 36:15 is it useful to try to measure HRV during training?38:15 what about live, but not-during-training HRV monitoring like Garmin’s Body Battery feature?42:15 Michael’s struggles with a single daily measurement45:30 body position in testing: all okay so long as the position is the same from one day to the next. 46:45 the technology used by HRV4Training50:30 using the Big Data collected by HRV apps for studies and new features55:00 how does the athlete HRV4Training app work and what does it do?58:00 the HRV4Training Pro platformLearn more about HRV4Training or Marco at their respective websites  and follow them on Instagram and Facebook. Read part 1 of Marco's guide to HRV-guided training on Medium. Then use the links in the article to access parts 2 and 3.