When you hear the phrase “heart rate variability training” you might (understandably) assume that it has to do with tracking your heart rate during your workouts.
However, heart rate variability training is not used during your workout. But it might be a tool you can use to inform your workout.
While heart rate refers to the amount of heartbeats per minute, heart rate variability refers to the variable amount of time in between each of your heartbeats.
For example, some heartbeats may be 1 second apart. The next may be .8 seconds apart. And the next after that might be 1.3.
The average of these “gaps” is your heart rate variability or HRV.
This heart rate variability is regulated by your autonomic nervous system and is impacted by many factors such as: Gender, age, hormones, sleep, stress, core body temperature, and metabolism.
Your HRV is an indicator of how your body handles stress; whether that’s stress from physical exertion, emotional stress, or illness.
A longer time between heartbeats (or a higher HRV) indicates that your body can recover from stress faster and that your heart rate will return to normal more quickly after exertion.
How Can I Measure My Heart Rate Variability?
The most accurate way to measure your heart rate variability is to have your doctor run an EKG.
But there are a lot of fitness trackers (like the apple watch!) that allow you to measure your HRV at home!
It’s worth mentioning that chest worn heart rate trackers tend to be more accurate than wrist worn trackers. It’s also worth noting that not all heart rate monitors track HRV as well.
That said, trackers like the Apple Watch and the Oura Ring aren’t a bad place to begin.
If you’ll only be measuring your HRV for a 5 minute window, it’s best to measure your HRV right when you wake up. This ensures you’ll be rested, relaxed and your heart rate won’t be affected by blood sugar spikes, or caffeine intake.
However, if you wear your monitor (as you might a chest, wrist, or finger tracker) giving it the entire 24 hour day to track gives it even more information to determine an accurate HRV.
Just like tracking your cycle, tracking your HRV varies person to person. So, to find your baseline, track your HRV for a week.
Okay, I Don’t Understand. Aren’t Heart Rate and HRV Linked?
Yes and no.
Obviously during times of exercise or stress when your heart rate rises, your HRV will lower. That is, the gaps between heartbeats will get smaller.
However, unlike heart rate, if your body is feeling stressed, your heart rate variability will lower even if you’re not exercising or experiencing any sort of immediate stress.
Let me use an example.
At DWL we have a dancer who uses her apple watch daily. It tracks her cycle, her sleep patterns, and yes, her HRV.
Recently, this dancer underwent a minor surgery.
Leading up to surgery her HRV readings were around 48 milliseconds per minute.
However, the week after surgery her HRV dropped to about 33 milliseconds per minute.
The week after surgery she wasn’t working out. In other words, her heart rate was not elevated like it would be during exercise.
But her HRV was affected. And her experience is in line with this study that followed HRV before and after hip surgery!
Isn’t that awesome?! Despite feeling “normal” only a couple days post-op, her body was still responding to the stress of undergoing a surgical process.
What Is Heart Rate Variability Training?
Lower than normal HRV in athletes is an indication that the body is under stress and might need a break.
Heart rate variability training is the structuring of your workouts based on this biofeedback.
Athletes who consistently track their HRV will push themselves on days when their HRV is a higher number (longer time between heartbeats) because this means their bodies are primed to handle and recover from stress.
Conversely, on days when their HRV is abnormally low, they will choose to rest or participate in active recovery activities.
Does That Work?
Heart rate variability training has been shown to increase strength and VO2Max (aerobic capacity).
However, keep in mind that this type of highly focused training requires reliable heart rate trackers.
That said, the Apple Watch and Oura Ring have been tested and found to be accurate enough to track stress levels.
In other words, if you’re using one of the above fitness trackers (or something like them) they are a great tool for those days when you’re trying to decided “to gym or not to gym.”
But if you really want to create a training program completely based on HRV levels, using a chest monitor will provide you the most accurate information.
What if My HRV is Low? How Can I Fix That?
Most people who have low HRV increase their HRV by exercising more.
Think about it, the more short windows of stress you place your body under, the better your body gets at recovering from stress.
But exercise is just one piece of the puzzle.
A high HRV means that your body recovers from stress well, and to recover from stress well you need to give it the tools to do so!
If you are a person who works out regularly in both aerobic and anaerobic methods (cardio/not cardio) and your HRV is still low, you might want to take a look at these other factors:
Hydrate:
You can survive one week without food. You can only survive three days without water.
Water is one of the most efficient ways to support your body. Your body needs water to work and exercise, stress, illness, even breathing all utilize water.
Give your body adequate water to recover from workouts, long walks, warm weather, auditions, rehearsals, illness, etc and you will greatly increase your body’s ability to recover.
Fuel Yourself:
The type and amount of fuel your body receives will greatly impact both your performance and your recovery from workouts and other stressors.
Make sure you are eating enough carbohydrates and proteins to support muscle recovery and energy levels!
Fats are important too, but more on those in just a minute!
Not only do you need to consume to right types of food, but you need to eat enough of it. Fueling your body means consuming enough for it to not only run, but thrive and grow.
Don’t Ignore Your Hormones:
Remember when I talked about the importance of consuming fats in your diet?
Dietary fats play an important part in the hormone production and balance of our bodies.
Culturally we are told to avoid them. And while we don’t need to consume as many fats as we do carbs and protein, it does serve us to ensure we’re consuming enough of them regularly.
While we’re chatting about hormones, let’s talk about caffeine intake.
Drinking copious amounts of caffein will impact the hormone production of cortisol.
Cortisol is the body’s stress hormone.
Remember what heart rate variability detects? Our bodies perception of stress.
When we consume coffee after coffee – or a coffee followed by a green tea followed by a pre-show celsius – our bodies produce more cortisol.
This increases the amount of “stress” your body thinks it’s under and can impact your sleep and, in turn, your HRV levels.
Get Plenty of Quality Sleep
With late night performances it can be challenging to wind your body down. But learning how to support quality sleep in your life will greatly impact how your body handles all kinds of stress.
Make sure you wind yourself down with a consistent bedtime routine.
Try and avoid screens 30 minutes before you go to bed.
You might even want to evaluate what position you sleep in so you can wake up free of any aches and pains from poor sleeping positions.
Bottom Line
Heart Rate Variability Training has shown to lead to significant fitness gains.
Once again we are learning that listening to the biofeedback from our bodies can drive use closer to our goals than ever.
Even if you don’t have a chest monitor, you can still use the biofeedback from whatever fitness tracker you use to help you make wise decisions about your training.
Having one of those days where you aren’t sure if you’re just unmotivated or if you genuinely need to rest? Take a look at you HRV.
Maybe your body is needing some time to recover from the hard work you’ve put in lately.
And remember, biofeedback is specific to your body.
If you’ve been working out consistently for a few months and your HRV is low, it might mean that instead of exercising more, you might need to look into ways to support faster recovery.
If you haven’t been great about your workouts or you haven’t been incorporating much cardio into your routine, your low HRV might be telling you to exercise more.
And if you’re feeling lost after learning about all of this, feel free to reach out to us. Whether we are your coaches or not, we want to see you succeed! Drop us a DM on instagram @dancerswholift or send us an email at dancerswholift@gmail.com
Want to learn more about what your body is telling you and how to support it? Give these blogs a read: Overcoming Plateaus and Setbacks, Let’s Talk About Stress, Ba-by! Stress Management For Dancers, 7 Epic At Home Core Exercises (That Aren’t Crunches!)