Recent studies point to HRV as being helpful in deciding how
much and when an athlete should train. For example, a group of
Finnish researchers (Kiviniemi et al 2007) compared HRV guided
training during a generic training programme. The researchers
monitored two groups of moderately trained athletes. The
athletes trained six days a week for 40 minutes a day. Group 1
followed an identical training plan and group 2 adjusted their
daily workload by using HRV indices. Both groups trained for a
period of four weeks. The authors found that the HRV-trained
group displayed a greater training effect compared to the
generically trained group. The study gives support to our
recommendation that training should be individualized for
optimum gains. We must acknowledge however, that this study was
limited in its duration (only 4 weeks) and as it included only
moderately trained runners its application to better trained
athletes is not clear. Nevertheless, the findings from this
study and other recent studies do point to the