Morning Heart Rate and Training

My Morning H.R. 3/12-3/18

During training we are causing physiological stress on our bodies. In doing this the body will adapt by making physiological improvements during our rest and recovery recovery periods. So it is actually during our rest that we become stronger. When a person is repeatedly exposed to training without adequate rest the result could be overtraining. This will lead to performance plateaus and if not addressed decreases in performance.

A good indicator of how your body is doing is your morning heart rate. I first heard this from Steve Maxwell during one of his seminars. I found it pretty interesting and began monitoring myself. To do this  simply take your heart rate prior to getting out of bed. This takes away any chances of it being elevated due to activity. All you need is a watch and a notebook to record it. I personally use an app on my phone called 24/7. It both takes and records my heart rate so it makes it easy for me. You will soon notice that your heart rate is pretty consistent.  

If you see that your heart rate is elevated 7 - 10 beats above normal it is an indication that something is going on. Don't jump the gun and think that one high reading means you are suffering from overtraining. You should use this  data to help interpret the larger picture. Can you explain it? Bad night, hard workout the day before, do you feel like you are getting sick? If you look at my heart rates my average was 47 prior to March 17th. Then the morning of March 17th it was 55. Eight beats higher. I can account for this as I ran in the New York City Half Marathon the day before. I used my morning heart rate and decided to decrease the intensity of my workout for the day. I didn't skip training just dropped the resistance for my exercises and put more focus on the practicing of my technique. Reducing the intensity of my workout paid off as my morning heart rate on the 18th returned back to 48 beats per minute. If my heart rate stayed elevated I would take some time off until it normalized. Taking your morning heart rate is both a simple and effective tool in providing useful feedback about your body. Give it a try and see what you think! 

The Importance of Recovery Week

Ying/Yang Symbol used by Bruce Lee.

The importance of recovery week for our bodies can simply be found in the meaning of the Ying/Yang symbol. I came across this while reading "The Warrior Within" which is a book about how the philosophies of Bruce Lee can help you better understand the world we live in and achieve a more rewarding life. "When Yang reaches it's limit, the movement becomes tranquil, which generates Yin" (Little, 1996).  Bruce Lee interpreted this as Ying/Yang being one inseparable force of one unceasing interplay of movement.  

When I read this I immediately thought of the importance of recovery week for the health of our mind and bodies. We train hard for 8 weeks committing ourselves to intense physical training (Yang). If we simply continued this into a new training cycle we are not allowing for a return (Ying) or the interplay of activity and rest. We are therefore creating an imbalance that will lead to possible overtraining, injury or even mental burnout. Our training hits a maximal point in our eighth week and therefore we need that period of lower intensity where we can shift our focus to recovery. Our recovery week, lower activity, will then lead us to week 1 of training. In doing this we maintain a balance. 

Many of you have come to understand this in your own journey and have come to appreciate this natural ebb and flow.  It has been my experience that those that understand this are the people who maximize their results during a training cycle. They train consistently and have elevated their fitness over the course of their time training with us. If you do not appreciate recovery week maybe look back and check your training journal. Where you consistent? Did you make tangible improvements? Take this information in and see what adjustments are necessary going into the next cycle. If you do not have a training journal you have one immediate adjustment to make! Change requires discipline. It requires balance (Ying/Yang). It does not come to those who do not put forth the effort. Let's take this week to heal and learn and get ready to revitalize our bodies as the spring approaches.

Reference:
Little, J. (1996). The warrior within. McGraw Hill.