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ForEliteAtheletes to FunRunners
23
So how do we know when to train hard and when to
ease off?
Well that’s the 6 million dollar question. With all our
DRS coaching clients, after a period of strenuous
exercise (normally 4-6 weeks), we always schedule
in a rest week where we ask our members to take a
break from strenuous exercise to allow time for the
body to recover.
Cue HRV Coaching. (Heart Rate Variability)
Initially only used with heart patients in hospitals,
HRV is currently being used on professional athletes
and elite sport teams to determine when athletes
should train and when they should rest and has only
recently been brought over to the UK. After all, if
you’re exercising when your body needs rest then it’s
a complete waste of time and energy right?
By monitoring your heart rate variability first thing in
the morning you’ll be able to tell whether it’s
1) OK to train as normal that day.
2) OK but go easy.
3) REST!
On the flip side to this if you’re one of these people
that likes to “talk themselves out of training” by saying
you’re feeling tired but your HRV score says you’re ok
to train then this will be just the kick in the butt you
need to stop procrastinating and just ‘work out!’
Factors that can affect your HRV:
• psychological stress
• late nights/poor sleep
• constantly training hard
• poor nutrition
I’ve been trialing this over the last few years as
despite my past I STILL have a tendency to always
train hard when I workout and I’ve got to say it’s
really helping me out. In the picture above there is
an example of how my HRV picked up on a virus and
how it stopped it from becoming worse.
Let me just briefly explain it. It works as a traffic light
system, GREEN meaning it’s fine to train, yes even on
those days you’re tired and will look for any excuse
to get out of it. AMBER means it’s ok to train but take
it easy, no beasting yourself as you could be doing
more damage than good. RED is STOP! It’s time
to rest. Even if you’re in the mindset that you must
There are some great
apps out there which
you can easily use to
keep track using your
own phone or tablet.
RACE: TRAINING
HRV is
far more
accurate
which is why
they use it in
hospitals
I guess.
But even this
approach
is a bit hit
and miss,
especially if
we’re ok to
train during
this week.
train because it says so on your plan or you have an
event or it helps you get through your day. You MUST
learn to stop when your body tells you to. A higher
HRV score is correlated with younger biological age
and better aerobic fitness. Scoring really low on any
given day is usually nothing to worry about. It is your
average over time that matters the most but it is the
traffic light you really need to take note of.
Working towards improving your average HRV over
time is a good and achievable goal.
So because I took a break from training, got more
sleep and made the necessary nutrient amendments
to aid with recovery my HRV score rocketed up again.
Back in the day I would have ignored my virus
symptoms and just trained anyway which would have
pushed me further into the red meaning it would have
taken longer to recover from the virus and I would
have potentially done more damage.
So, by monitoring your HRV you can potentially stop a
cold or a virus dead in its tracks if you know what you’re
doing. It’s important to add here that your HRV is NOT
heart rate training. Heart rate training is not as accurate
as HRV. Heart rate works but only up to a point and it
can tell us only so much about our bio rhythms.
If you’re TRULY interested in HRV coaching with me
then let me know and we can talk about it. If you’re
not, that’s fine but just be aware that there’s a time
and a place for training hard and it will vary from
individual to individual.
The times are changing, it’s time
to LISTEN to your body rather
than just beasting yourself
every time you exercise
and hoping for the best.
Whatever you decide to do I wish you all the best :-)
If you’d like to find out more about HRV coaching with Sam
& his team then email
