Tip Stress and Heart Rate Variability Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness Training Tip Stress and Heart Rate Variability Use this tool to find out if you' re recovered enough for another heavy session by Susan Birch June 22, 2018August 18, 2019 Tags Cortisol Control, Tips, Training A Good Way to Gauge Recovery Heart rate variability (HRV) is an excellent way to check your response to stress. There's considerable research on this topic and many devices available to do this. HRV is the measurement of time between each heart beat, and this is highly variable. Since our response to stress activates the sympathetic nervous system, this will result in the release of cortisol and other hormones that increase heart rate and blood pressure. When this happens, the time between each heart beat becomes more regular, improving your fight-or-flight ability. On the other hand, when we recover from stress, the parasympathetic nervous system is stimulated. This restores the healthy variability between each heartbeat. This information tells us a lot about our recovery from training and stress in general. When our HRV is high, it's a green light that our nervous system is in balance between stress and recovery. When our HRV is low, this indicates a low tolerance to stress, poor recovery from exercise, and possible inflammation. HRV can change on a daily basis. When used with other markers of well-being such as sleep, mood, and energy, this can be a great tool to plan workout intensity, recovery days, and nutrition needs. There are a number of devices out there you can purchase to test HRV. Essentially these help determine your baseline and then they tell you when you're in sympathetic or parasympathetic dominance. These are often color coded. So green means you're good to go, orange means you're needing some recovery – maybe an easier workout day, or some light mobility/stretching. Red means you need to take a rest day until you're back in green again. When you go into sympathetic dominance, unless it's extremely high, usually backing off on the training or doing short easy workouts for a couple days will afford you enough recovery. When you're in parasympathetic dominance the best solution is some proper rest for full recovery. Often the scores will slowly get higher and then suddenly plummet into parasympathetic dominance and this can be tricky to get out of. Interestingly, it often precedes the onset of flu or some other illness. Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Training How Tall Guys Get Jacked The rules of size training change a bit for tall lifters. Check out these lifting guidelines for lanky guys. Bodybuilding, Training Jimmy Smith October 20 Videos Tip Master the Deadbug Core Exercise Keep your lower back flat. Completely exhale as you lower your legs and arms to the floor. Inhale on the way back up. Keep the non-moving limbs still. Add a band to ramp it up. Abs, Exercise Coaching, Tips Travis Hash June 8 Training 3 Ways to Move Better and Lift Harder Do these movements before your next workout! Not only will they loosen you up quickly and make you feel awesome, they'll enhance performance. It Hurts Fix It, Mobility, Soft-Tissue Techniques, Training Mike Sheridan May 16 Training A Simple Way to Grow Legs Build big legs. Hug a puking pail. Hate your life. Who could ask for anything more in a training program? Check it out. Bodybuilding, Legs, Training Tony Gentilcore April 30