Welcome to the Get Fit Guys, quick and dirty tips to get moving and shape up.

My name is Brock Armstrong and I am the Get Fit Guy.

And today we're going to talk about a thing called heart rate variability.

You know, researchers at Harvard University have actually gone as far as to say that measuring your heart rate variability

is, and I quote, a visual insight into the most primitive part of your brain, which sounds

great, but how can us fit folks use it to our advantage?

Now a few weeks ago, listener Megan wrote to me on Facebook and she said,

Hey, Brock, would you explain heart rate variability or HRV in layman's terms? I've heard a lot about

it, but I don't quite understand the concept or its use. Well, I thought that was a great

suggestion because HRV is a technique that has been growing in popularity

and acceptance in the sport and fitness world. So, here you go, Megan, HRV 101.

Now, most athletes know that getting enough rest after exercise is essential to performance, but

still, many of us over-train or feel guilty or lazy when we take a day off.

But relentless training can break even the strongest athletes and rest is a necessity to allow your body to repair, rebuild, and strengthen.

So given that it's difficult for many of us to know when to

train hard and when to back off, let's look at a few different ways that we can measure our

current state of recovery before we get into HRV. Now the first one I want to talk about is

resting heart rate. You know, some sport scientists have confirmed a link

between fluctuations in your resting heart rate and overreaching or overtraining. But this link is

not easily understood nor directly correlated and many factors get in the way of it being

100% reliable for most of us. But still, measuring your resting heart

rate first thing in the morning is a good place to start. Now, keep in mind that day-to-day

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