Why Every Heart Needs an HRV Monitor. Part 1
I have to face it, I’m a gadget girl! I track my sleep and can run my business from my iPhone. One of my favorite gadgets to date is the BioForce Heart Rate Variability Monitor (HRV). Actually, it is such an important tool I might be understating its importance and brilliance if I simply call it a “gadget”. Joel Jamieson researched the technology behind the HRV, and its roots run deep into Russian athletic heritage. I know, because my Father, an Olympic fencer, remembers the Russian team using a top secret heart tracking device. I now realize that it must of been the HRV. Most of us could not afford an HRV in its beginnings, as it was quite a large device and available to few. Now, Joel has made the HRV available on many Apple and Andriod devices, and most of us will be able to afford it!
Why is the BioForce HRV so special? Through its feedback it can help us balance a high stakes commodity stress. If you don’t have stress you die and too much of it will kill you! The BioForce HRV gives you feedback on cumulative stress and even when the body is compensating for stress. The body does not differentiate emotional stress from over-exercise stress, or poor eating stress, or injury stress. Our sympathetic nervous system, the one that gives us the “oh, sh*t” response, better known as the “fight or flight” response is triggered by a multitude of stimuli in our current modern environment, including the ones I have listed above. We might not even realize it when our environment or way of life is causing us potential health problem. That is why I personally use it and why I now use it as a tool to help folks monitor their lifestyle. It is mostly used in the realm of training readiness, but I think it can be used beyond that to help us be aware of our stress load and optimize our lifestyle choices.
Below are two videos I’d like you to view that had a major impression on me. The first features James Fitzgerald. He is a coach that I have huge respect for, I listen to every word he has to say because of his broad base of knowledge in the Strength and Conditioning field. The second video with Molly Galbraith, speaks to women in general, those of us who tend to “get it done” with little attention to our own health and ourselves.
Next week I will get more in-depth about HRV and let you know how I am planning on making it a key tool in every one of my client’s programs.
Click here for Why Every Heart Needs An HRV Monitor, Part 2.
NEN Workout, No Equipment Needed!
*10 vertical jumps, 10 push ups, 10 sit ups- 4 rounds, ~GO!
*please warm up accordingly.
