The use of resting heart rate and heart rate variability to monitor stress and predict performance following hypoxic repeated sprint training in rugby players

Content Partner: Lincoln University. Heart rate variability (HRV) is a non-invasive, low-cost measure of autonomic nervous system balance that is associated with training stress. While HRV has been used previously to monitor training stress in endurance athletes during live high altitude training protocols, little research exists on the use of HRV to monitor stress in team sport players during repetitive sprint training in normobaric hypoxic conditions. The aim of this research was to investigate whether heart measures such as HRV and resting heart rate could detect changes in training stress due to hypoxia. A secondary aim was to then investigate whether such measures could predict performance change post-training.