Reliability of recovery heart rate variability measurements as part of the Lamberts Submaximal Cycle Test and the relationship with training status in trained to elite cyclists

• Published in: European journal of applied physiology Vol. 124; no. 6; pp. 1659 - 1668
• Main Authors: Lamberts, Robert P., van Erp, Teun, Javaloyes, Alejandro, Eken, Maaike M., Langerak, Nelleke G., Tam, Nicholas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-06-2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Athletes; Bicycling - physiology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Exercise Test - methods; Female; Females; Heart rate; Heart Rate - physiology; Human Physiology; Humans; Male; Occupational Medicine/Industrial Medicine; Original; Original Article; Oxygen Consumption - physiology; Reproducibility of Results; Sports Medicine; HRR; Endurance cycling performance; LSCT; HRV; Peak power; Training status
• ISSN: 1439-6319; 1439-6327
• DOI: 10.1007/s00421-023-05385-z

Purpose
To determine if post-exercise heart rate variability, in the form of logged transformed root mean square of successive differences of the R–R intervals (LnRMSSD) can be measured reliably during the recovery from a submaximal cycle test and what the relationship of LnRMSSD is with training status of the cyclists.
Methods
Fourteen male cyclists participated in the reliability part for the study, which included performing six Lamberts Submaximal Cycle Test (LSCT), during which recovery LnRMSSD was measured over 30 s (LnRMSSD
30 s
), 60 s LnRMSSD
60 s
)and 90 s LnRMSSD
90 s
). In addition, fifty male and twenty female cyclists completed a peak power output (PPO) test (including
V
O
2peak
) and 40 km time trial (40 km TT) before which they performed the LSCT as a standardized warm-up. Relationships between the LnRMSSD and PPO,
V
O
2peak
and 40 km TT time were studied.
Results
Due to the design of the LSCT, submaximal heart and breathing rate were similar at the end of stage 3 of the LSCT, as well as during the recovery periods. The highest reliability was found in LnRMSSD
60 s
(ICC: 0.97) with a typical error of the measurement (TEM: 5.8%). In line with this the strongest correlations were found between LnRMSSD
60 s
and PPO (
r
 = 0.93[male]; 0.85[female]),
V
O
2peak
(
r
 = 0.71[male]; 0.63[female];) and 40 km TT (
r
 = – 0.83[male]; – 0.63[female]).
Conclusions
LnRMSSD
60 s
can be measured reliably after the LSCT and can predict PPO,
V
O
2peak
and 40 km TT performance well in trained-to-elite cyclists. These findings suggest that recovery LnRMSSD can potentially play an important role in monitoring and fine-tuning training prescriptions in trained-to-elite cyclists.