Hey, what's up triathletes?
Taran here.
We've all heard about training with the standard metrics like heart rate, VO2 max, power, vertical
oscillation maybe.
But one of the best training metrics that you probably haven't heard of that is a really
good way to assess how ready you are to give her hell in the next workout and how recovered
you are in case you're a little bit fatigued and you don't know it, is heart rate variability.
Stick around, because today I'm going to tell you how you can use heart rate variability
to become a better version of you.
You're already a pretty good you, but we want you to be a better you.
Now for starters, I want to thank Life Track who just came out with the Zoom Activity Tracker
which tracks your activities and, more importantly for the purpose of this video, is one of the
easiest ways that you can track heart rate variability.
I've been using it for about 3 weeks now to track my heart rate variability and you know
these guys.
If you look down at any treadmill, the heart rate monitor is most likely made by Life Track.
I've been using the Zoom now and I've found it to be a really consistent way to get that
heart rate variability test without having to go into a lab or do fancy dancey tests.
You wake up, you press a button.
Boom, done!
Now getting right into it, heart rate variability is a measure of how well the parasympathetic
nervous system is functioning.
That is geek speak for the system in our body that is in charge of rest and recovery and
digestion and excretion.
I love a good excretion joke around here.
How am I the only one that urinates in the shower?
Basically, HRV is a measure of how well rested you are and how well prepared your body is
to go really hard in the next workout you've got coming up that day.
One really surprising thing to me about heart rate variability is that it's counter intuitive
to what you'd expect.
You don't actually want a very consistent heart rate.
Dub-dub, dub-dub, dub-dub.
What you actually want if you're well rested is a fair bit of variability in your heart
rate.
Dub-dub, dub-dub, dub-dub.
The variability though is so slight that you won't actually be able to pick it up yourself
without one of these babies.
My Canadian science analogy of a low heart rate variability, it's kind of like a person
that's really tired just going through the motions of a day.
Somebody with really high heart rate variability is like a person that's really excited.
That is enjoying life and has spurts and rest stops.
You want your heart to beat only when it needs to, not just because it has to.
And that's what high heart rate variability is like.
The more variation in our heart rate, the better our parasympathetic nervous system
is working and the better rested we are.
Lower heart rate variability numbers mean that you probably need some rest or a lighter
workout, and these numbers are so exact that you probably won't even notice that you're
feeling tired until you see the number come out on the HRV test and then you might think
to yourself, "yeah, I've had a few hard workouts throughout the last few days and I am a little
bit fatigued."
It's actually like a leading indicator of fatigue that's about to come.
Not digging yourself too deep a hole before you go too far.
Totally sold on heart rate variability testing?
Good!
Here's how you do it.
For starters, you need a heart rate variability tester.
Like I said, I am currently using the Life Track Zoom.
Time of day, things that you've eaten.
Your mood, your stress level.
These are all very important metrics to what your heart rate variability is going to be.
I recommend doing it first thing in the morning, basically as soon as you get up.
In the case of the Life Track Zoom, you hit a button, you chill out for that couple of
minutes, number comes out, done.
Now if you get numbers in the high 70's, 80's and 90's, you're well rested.
Give her hell in the next workout.
If you're getting numbers in the low 70's and into the 60's you either want to back
off in the next workout or take an outright rest.
The first couple times that you do the test it's essentially going to mean nothing so
over a few days start tracking your HRV numbers, how you're feeling in workouts, if you're
feeling fatigued or if you're feeling good.
What you'll see is that there's going to be trends and correlations that develop between
your HRV numbers and how your workouts are going.
Then you can use that to start guiding the rest of your workouts.
There you go, that is heart rate variability testing.
There's going to be a few more videos because Life Track Zoom has been so kind as to send
this out and partner with Triathlon Taran for a few videos coming up.
If you want to know more about heart rate variability make sure you subscribe to the
channel and like and comment in this video.
Let me know what you want to see about heart rate variability and the Zoom coming up in
future videos over the next month.
I hope this helped.
As always, thank you for liking, commenting, sharing and subscribing.
Happy and hard training, triathletes and good luck in your next triathlon.
You can get right in there.
Right ... Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.