What Is Heart Rate Variability?
Heart ratea measure of how many times your heart beats per minuteis commonly used to measure your cardiovascular exertion.
“Your HRV should be high because, in healthy individuals, the variation of heartbeats is chaotic.
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The more fixed the time is between beats, the more prone to disease you are.”
“They’re dynamic, they can adapt to where the ball goes.
You want your heart to be similarly adaptable.”
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However, true heart rate variability is measured over weeks and months.
So a very high HRV (read: super variant) isn’t indicative of something bad.
In fact, the opposite is true.
If you wear an Apple Watch, it’ll automatically record an average HRV reading in the Health app.
“I wouldn’t hang my hat on this,” though, says Dr. Scott.
(
Rather, every person has a different HRV that is normal for them, says Froerer.
(So, no, there’s no ideal HRV number.)
“It’s more meaningful if it’s compared within the same individual over time.”
“Heart rate variability is an even more in-depth look at that training,” says Dr. Menolascino.
But HRV can also be used to show if someone is over-training.
But, you don’t need to be elite to use HRV in your training.
Do youneedto monitor your heart rate variability?
No, not necessarily.
Still, it might be useful if you’re motivated by data.
