Heart Rate Variability is Correlated with Perceived Physical Fitness in Elite Soccer Players

Abstract

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) has been typically used to monitor athletes’ physical fitness readiness. The supine position maximizes parasympathetic tone, which is important for monitoring in continuous aerobic sports, however, this is not the case of team sports that rely on anaerobic intermittent bouts, thus increasing sympathetic activation and vagal withdrawal. We hypothesized that HRV during sympathetic activation and vagal withdrawal would be a useful marker to evaluate perceived physical fitness in team sports. HRV was measured in both supine and standing positions during the mornings of 4 match days in 14 professional players. The supine Root Mean Square of the Successive Differences (RMSSD), as well as spectral analysis indices were recorded. Perceived physical fitness was assessed after each match by means of a visual analogue scale (VAS). Supine RMSSD was moderately correlated with perceived physical fitness (rho = 0.416), however, larger correlations were observed for supine and standing spectral indices (rho > 0.5). Correlation between RMSSD and Total Power was very large, thus questioning the usual interpretation of RMSSD (rho > 0.7). Standing Spectral HRV analyses may be a useful method for evaluating perceived physical fitness in the context of team sports. RMSSD may reflect the overall variability of HR and not only the parasympathetic influence, as observed in the current study.

The Advantage of Supine and Standing Heart Rate Variability Analysis to Assess Training Status and Performance in a Walking Ultramarathon

“…Specifically, we observed greater training volume and higher subjectively rated endurance capacity to be associated with higher indices of vagal modulation. As for subjective training status, we observed higher endurance capacity ratings in participants with lower DFA1 (i.e., greater vagal modulation) during supine rest, in line with previous findings (Ravé et al, 2020). Also, the observed positive correlations between greater vagal drive and higher training volume are in line with current findings of higher parasympathetic predominance and greater total HRV at rest in response to prolonged aerobic exercise (Hautala et al, 2001;Bellenger et al, 2016).…”

Superior Adaptations in Adolescent Runners Using Heart Rate Variability (HRV)-Guided Training at Altitude

“…Not only did we observe robust and homogenous benefits in all athletes using the HRV-guided training program but no injuries, sicknesses, or other signs of overtraining were reported in this group. This is in line with data in older individuals under normal environmental conditions [ 6 , 10 , 43 , 44 ] and suggests that HRV-guided training may not only help to optimize training efficiency but also may help to reduce the risk of overtraining and injury [ 24 ]. It is also important to note that while the training loads were manipulated differentially between subjects participating in the HRV-guided training group, and in one subject, no training adjustments were made at all.…”

How to Use Global Positioning Systems (GPS) Data to Monitor Training Load in the “Real World” of Elite Soccer

“…Monthly, a submaximal aerobic test (e.g., 4 min at 12 km/h) and countermovement jumps provide information about the aerobic and neuromuscular performance status of the players (Halson, 2014 ; Buchheit et al, in press ). Weekly at game day +3, heart rate variability during an orthostatic stand test (Ravé and Fortrat, 2016 ; Ravé et al, 2020 ), and blood creatine kinase (Hader et al, 2019 ) provide information about recovery from games. Daily, before the training a wellbeing questionnaire (e.g., muscular damage, fatigue, sleep quality) (Malone et al, 2018b ) and after the training, the session rating of perceived exertion [e.g., CR-10 Borg scale; (Malone et al, 2018b )] provide information on how each player perceives strain and adaptation of each training session.…”