The effects of heart rate variability guided training on cardiovascular fitness, and heart rate variability, in dancers. / Austin Lui (2022)

Dancers may be at a higher risk of injury due to lacking cardiovascular fitness. However adding supplemental cardiovascular training to a dancer’s schedule increases training load, and may increase risk of injury. The purpose of this study is to use a six week heart rate variability (HRV) guided training programme, with the aim of increasing cardiovascular fitness. The secondary aim is to allow for sufficient autonomic nervous system (ANS) recovery during the intervention, measured with HRV. Participants (n=5) completed the study, though not all participants completed all aspects of the study. Participants (n=5) completed pre-intervention V̇ O2max testing prior to starting the intervention, to obtain V̇ O2peak and V̇ O2max values for participants. Participants (n=5) then completed 49 days of daily HRV measurements along with a short questionnaire, immediately upon waking. On day eight of HRV measurements, participants started a six week HRV guided training programme. This consisted of two workouts per week, with workout intensity guided by HRV measurements. If HRV fell below the minimum worthwhile change (MWC), participants completed a low intensity (LI) workout. A high intensity (HI) workout was completed if HRV did not fall below the MWC. Following the intervention, participants (n=4) completed postintervention V̇ O2max testing. A paired t-test found a significant increase (p = 0.027) in V̇ O2peak following the intervention. All participants were categorised as high responders in changes of V̇ O2peak. On average, participants’ HRV (LnrMSSD7dayrollingaverage) did not trend downwards during the intervention, suggesting adequate ANS recovery during the intervention. However this was not the case for all participants. Paired t-tests found a significant reduction (P = 0.028) in HRV (LnrMSSD7dayrollingaverage) during the seven days leading up to menses, and a significant reduction (P = 0.045) in HRV (LnrMSSD) the day following alcohol consumption. It is recommended that individual HRV trends are monitored, to assess individual ANS recovery. Although further research is needed, the findings of this study suggest that HRV guided training may be a useful method for improving cardiovascular fitness in dancers, while allowing for adequate ANS recovery. Further research is needed in dancers to assess ANS recovery using HRV, following dance class, rehearsal, and performance.