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HRV heart rate variability. 
These devices have been popping 

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up all over the place over the 
last couple of years and they've

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become pretty popular. 
And so in this episode of the 

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podcast, I'm going to teach you 
everything you need to know 

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about HRV that you can know 
whether or not you should spend 

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a few 100 bucks on a Garmin 
watch or a Woop band or an Apple

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Watch or whatever it may be. 
Because some of you listening to

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this, an HRDV device might make 
literally 0 difference in the 

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results you see. 
But for some of you, it can 

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provide you with extremely 
useful information to alter your

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training and your recovery plans
that you can get better results 

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in everything that you do in and
outside of the gym. 

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And so throughout this podcast, 
I'm going to break down the 

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different tools you can use as 
well as explain and define what 

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HRV really is, why it's an 
effective tool to gauge your 

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stress and recovery levels, and 
exactly how you can use those 

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metrics to adjust your training 
accordingly week to week. 

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Greatest things in life all 
start with a challenge. 

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You must accept that everything 
is hard before it gets easy. 

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Every, every, every, every, 
everything you want in life 

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begins with a hard path begins. 
The first thing to understand 

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with HRV heart rate variability 
is that it's not just about 

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fitness. 
A lot of people assume this is 

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strictly used for athletes, 
especially ones who are doing 

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endurance sports or things like 
mixed martial arts where you're 

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constantly going from a low 
intensity to a high intensity 

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and being explosive, right? 
That's not the case. 

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HRV can be a tool to really just
gauge your overall health, 

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well-being, and stress levels. 
So somebody could be just 

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training a couple days a week, 
but they have an extremely 

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taxing and stressful lifestyle 
due to their career or their 

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family situation or maybe some 
trauma they're going through and

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their stress levels are chaotic 
and they need to recover and 

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take care of themselves and 
their well-being. 

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They can use HRV as well. 
In fact, sometimes that might 

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even be a more applicable way to
use it for most people. 

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However, I would suggest most 
people who are probably going to

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land on this video based on the 
other types of content we 

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create, which is all fitness 
based. 

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You should be using or 
considering using HRV if you 

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want to make sure you're getting
the most out of your training 

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and not allowing the stress from
other areas of your life to 

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enter into your training 
recovery. 

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Because if your other areas of 
life are busy or hectic are 

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stressful and that's causing a 
level of stress that is then 

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bleeding into your training, 
allowing you to not train as 

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hard as you can, not train as as
often as you can, or not recover

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well enough to continue training
often enough to get the result 

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you're after, then using HRV 
might be something that you want

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to do. 
So what exactly is HRV? 

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Well, the definition is pretty 
damn literal. 

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I mean, it's right in the name, 
heart rate variability, and it 

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means it's the variability 
between heartbeats. 

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So we're literally trying to 
measure the time in between each

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heartbeat. 
So, for example, if you have 60 

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beats per minute, that does not 
necessarily mean that you have 

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one beat per second sixty times 
in a row to lead to a minute, 

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because you could have 0.98 
seconds and then you can have 

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1.02 seconds. 
It could be 0.7 seconds. 

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There is going to be variability
because each beat is going to 

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take a different amount of time.
And that means there's going to 

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be space and gaps in between 
each beat that vary over the 

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course of many heartbeats. 
And that's what HRV is 

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measuring. 
It is measuring the time between

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each and every heartbeat. 
Now, why care? 

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Why should you care about your 
HRV score, right? 

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And why should you care about 
the time between each heartbeat,

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which seems very minuscule, 
seems kind of like a small minor

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detail to be paying attention 
to. 

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But that small minor detail is 
the best way to gauge what type 

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of autonomic nervous system we 
are stepping into. 

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And so the autonomic nervous 
system has two branches. 

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We have the parasympathetic and 
the sympathetic. 

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The sympathetic nervous system 
is our fight or flight. 

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This is the, you know, people 
talk about the caveman. 

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There's a Saber tooth tiger and 
it has to Sprint and get away or

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attack. 
That is our sympathetic nervous 

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system. 
Stress demand high stimulus. 

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This is strength training. 
This is power development. 

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This is go, go, go. 
High stress in your life. 

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Parasympathetic is chill. 
This is relaxing, this is 

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getting a massage, maybe doing 
yoga and stretching and 

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meditating and these kind of 
things because we are in our 

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parasympathetic tone, which is 
rest and digest or recover. 

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So we have these two types and 
we have to be able to balance 

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them, but the only way for us to
truly know we are more 

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dominantly in one versus the 
other is to track our HRV. 

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Now we can guess because most 
people can say I'm really sore, 

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I'm really tired, I'm really 
stressed out, I'm anxious. 

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You're probably in your 
sympathetic nervous system. 

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However, when you start training
a lot, you might be stressed on 

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an internal basis. 
You might be stressed in your 

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joints, in your muscles, or 
might be inflammation you're 

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unaware of. 
And you're not going to be able 

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to intuitively understand that, 
right? 

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But your HRV score can tell you 
that you are in a stressed 

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state, and that can guide us in 
our training and everything 

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else. 
So when we use HRV, it's just a 

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tool to track these two things. 
And if we look at our HRV 

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scores, it's really just looking
at which ones high and which 

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ones low. 
If our HRV score is really high,

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we have a high number. 
And I'm just speaking in 

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generality, right? 
High as in good. 

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Because the Garmin watch the 
aura ring, the woops, they all 

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track it differently, right? 
They all have different scoring 

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and stuff like that. 
But all of them follow the same 

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pattern. 
Meaning when HRV is high, you 

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have a high score, whether the 
bar is raised or the number is 

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up. 
That typically means you are in 

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the green light. 
And that is you can train, you 

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can do whatever because you are 
mainly in a parasympathetic 

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tone. 
You are recovered. 

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That's what that means. 
If your HRV is low, that means 

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you're stressed out, you're in 
the red. 

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That means that you are under 
recovered and you might not be 

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able to perform at your best 
because maybe you just got done 

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performing or you had some poor 
sleep or some argument or some 

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bad day at work. 
But you had something go on that

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caused a lot of stress in your 
life. 

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And now your HRV score is tanked
because of your nervous system 

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being shifted into this 
sympathetic tone. 

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Now knowing what I just said, 
you would probably assume high 

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is good, right? 
A high HRV means good. 

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It means better, it means you're
recovered. 

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It means like that's where we 
want to be. 

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And that's not exactly what it 
means. 

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Because the truth is, if your 
HRV score is always up, it means

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that there's no stress present, 
which in certain areas of your 

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life is amazing. 
You don't really want stress 

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present, but if you are trying 
to grow, if you're trying to get

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stronger, if you're trying to 
run faster, if you're trying to 

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lose body fat, if you're trying 
to do anything that requires a 

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stress before an adaptation can 
occur, which is how every type 

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of performance or body 
transformation happens, right? 

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You can't build muscle if you 
don't first stress the muscle by

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creating a high demand stimulus 
that breaks down the muscle 

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tissue and therefore you recover
from the stress and adapt by 

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growing bigger, stronger 
muscles. 

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Well, if we never get to that 
stressed state, we are actually 

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never pushing our body to a 
place where it is going to be 

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required to adapt to that 
stimulus and actually build 

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muscle from it. 
And so as you can see on this 

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chart, we want to have a balance
between these two. 

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We actually want to be able to 
stress our body out so that we 

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can essentially adapt in a 
favorable way because whatever 

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goal you're chasing requires you
to adapt from a stress. 

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The adaptation is the goal, the 
stress is the path, but you 

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cannot adapt if you don't 
recover. 

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And that's why, as you can see, 
there's these up, down bars 

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because we need to be recovered 
in order to go to the gym, hit 

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it hard and apply a great amount
of stress. 

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But then we need to back off so 
that we can recover from that 

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stress. 
But once we are recovered from 

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that stress, now we got to go 
back to the gym and apply that 

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stress once again. 
So we have this pattern of being

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being stressed and recovered, 
stressed and recovered. 

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And that's what a good HRV score
is. 

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In fact, if you really think of,
again, just looking at the name 

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as literally and logically as 
you can, heart rate variability,

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if there's no variability in 
your score and it's just 

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constantly good, it means you're
not pushing yourself in the gym.

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You're always recovered and 
you're never applying enough 

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stress to actually transform 
your physique. 

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So with that being said, this is
kind of what I recommend as the 

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ideal ratio because balance 
really is the key here. 

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A good rule of thumb is to have 
two to three low HRV days per 

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week. 
That means you have 4 to 5 

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moderate or high HRV days per 
week. 

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And I say moderate to high 
because it's not always going to

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be perfect. 
Like this graph you see on the 

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screen is perfect. 
It's it's high green, low red, 

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high green, low red. 
It's just like perfect across 

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the board because AI designed 
it. 

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So it's trying to be perfect, 
but that's not reality. 

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What is reality is probably like
green, red, yellow, green, red, 

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yellow, green, because you are 
going to be probably training 

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while you're still recovering 
from that stress that you 

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applied. 
So if you are in the red, it 

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means yesterday you hit it hard,
you did your job. 

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You should probably have a rest 
day or an active recovery day 

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the next day. 
You still might not be in the 

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green, but if you're in the 
yellow, if you're moderate, you 

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shouldn't take another rest day.
We need volume in order to grow.

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We need intensity in order to 
build muscle. 

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But you can choose exercises 
that are less intense or less 

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intensive on the nervous system,
on the joints and don't require 

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as much recovery demand from 
you. 

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You could also choose to do a 
lower intensity cardio on that 

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day to just continue recovery, 
but still work on the 

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adaptations you're after, like 
aerobic capacity, if that's your

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goal. 
So the point is, is that it's 

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not going to be perfect and it's
never going to be exactly 2 to 3

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low and four to five high. 
It could be moderate. 

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You could have a whole week of 
low and just need a deload week.

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You could have, despite 
programming perfectly. 

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You could have a whole week of 
moderate and feel like you're 

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pushing it in the gym, but maybe
you're just not getting after it

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as much as you thought or you're
really on top of everything 

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else. 
Maybe you can do more volume 

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than you realize because you're 
sleeping 9 hours a day, Your job

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is cush and not stressful right 
now, and you are in a state or a

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season that you can apply more 
stress. 

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Well, your HIV score is going to
tell you that and you should 

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follow it. 
But if it's constantly in the 

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red, I can promise you you're 
probably too stressed and you 

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need to look at it now. 
If you have done everything 

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under the sun and you are still 
in the red, seek out a 

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professional, whether it's a 
coach or a doctor or something. 

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Because there's probably 
something going on that is 

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throwing off your score on HRV, 
which is very rare. 

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But there are times where people
can be taking it off and not 

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being consistent, or they're 
doing something that throws off 

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their score and they're reading 
so it's not accurate. 

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Or you got something going on 
that's stressing you out and you

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just don't even realize it. 
Go seek professional help. 

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So now that we know HRV can be 
useful, we know what it is, we 

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know why it works and how it 
works, and ultimately we know 

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that it's just a guide. 
It's going to tell us what we 

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can do with our training and 
when we're recovered when we're 

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not. 
And that's the biggest thing 

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that you need to look at. 
The first step in actually 

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applying this information and 
doing something with it is to 

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get an HRV device. 
So get some kind of device 

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that's going to track it. 
The top five HRV devices 

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according to ChatGPT, which I'm 
assuming means that what is most

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popular on Amazon and what is 
purchased the most often is 

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going to be these five devices. 
The first one is going to be the

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Whoop Band, which is known for 
its 24/7 tracking, detailed 

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recovery metrics and user 
friendly app. 

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This is ideal for athletes. 
This is one that is really 

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common across people. 
And just from my experience, I 

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think it's probably one of the 
easier ones to wear and use 

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because it's it's a very light 
band that goes on your wrist. 

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You can also get ones that go on
your upper arm. 

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And I do believe they have a 
chest strap monitor as well. 

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So they have different options 
and it's just not clunky. 

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It's not getting in the way of 
training. 

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So it is a good device. 
And I would say this too, and 

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this goes for every device I'm 
going to go over the devices 

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00:11:47,320 --> 00:11:49,760
that are going to be the best 
and most accurate, have the most

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research because they are the 
most successful. 

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00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:54,320
And therefore they actually 
invest money back into research 

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00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:56,960
to prove that their device 
works. 

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00:11:57,040 --> 00:12:00,760
So look at the device and find 
the research using the device. 

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00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:04,400
And especially when a device 
like the Woot band is it's all 

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this is all it does. 
There's no whoop watch and whoop

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00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:10,840
necklace and oh also we sell 
whoop clothing and I mean I'm 

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sure they do 'cause every brand 
does but you get the point. 

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I'm going to talk about Apple 
Watch in a SEC. 

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Apple is not a HRV company. 
The Apple Watch is a smart 

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watch. 
It just also does HRV. 

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So it's probably not going to be
the best one to use. 

253
00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:26,320
But #1 whoop #2 is. 
Or ring. 

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00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:28,680
This is very similar to whoop as
far as what it tracks. 

255
00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:32,200
It tracks HRV during sleep 
instead of the other ones 

256
00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:33,480
actually tracking it after 
sleep. 

257
00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:39,200
You wake up and test it most of 
the time accordingly with 

258
00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:41,080
exceptional accuracy, which I 
would agree. 

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00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:43,680
The ordering does well with 
tracking HRV as a score. 

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00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:47,360
It provides detailed readiness 
scores every morning when you 

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00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:48,120
wake up. 
It is. 

262
00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:49,840
I've used this as well. 
I've tested most of these. 

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00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:52,480
It's a really easy app to use. 
The thing about the ordering 

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that I don't like is that you 
can't wear it when you lift. 

265
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It gets in the way. 
It's very annoying and it just 

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gets scratched up. 
I don't want to lift with 

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00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:00,880
jewelry on, so I always took it 
off. 

268
00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:03,120
And then it kind of defeats the 
purpose of tracking your 

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00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:05,000
activity. 
So I'm not a huge fan of 

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00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:07,720
ordering for that and for the 
purpose of step counting. 

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00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:10,320
When I type a lot, and the more 
I type, the more my fingers 

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00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:13,240
move, the more my fingers move, 
the more likely that my step 

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00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:15,360
count is inaccurate. 
And I found that to be true when

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I wore the ordering and I wore 
another device on my wrist and 

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they were different and I 
actually wore a pedometer. 

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I put it in my pocket. 
I tracked all three to see 

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'cause I have clients that asked
me this and the ordering was way

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higher than the rest of them via
step count. 

279
00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:29,800
The third device is a Garmin 
watch. 

280
00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:33,200
Garmin's do include HRV tracking
so that's what I'm wearing right

281
00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:34,720
now. 
I don't actually use this for 

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HRV tracking to be honest, but 
it's a great tool for GPS 

283
00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:43,760
functioning and for running. 
I think Garmin is Agps and a 

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00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:45,840
running company. 
It's not an HRV company. 

285
00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:48,400
It works and it does track your 
heart rate well because it has 

286
00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:50,080
to while running. 
So I think it's honestly 

287
00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:54,400
probably the best runner up to 
WOOP for HRV performance wise. 

288
00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:58,960
But they they are again, like if
we're just talking HRV, get a 

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00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:01,840
company that just does HRV. 
They're going to pour the most 

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00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:05,760
research into that topic. 
The third one is the Polar H10 

291
00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:08,560
chest strap, one of the most 
accurate HRV monitors on the 

292
00:14:08,560 --> 00:14:10,880
market. 
And it's the least convenient 

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00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:13,480
for most people because you have
to wake up, you got to put on 

294
00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:15,000
your chest. 
A lot of times you got to get it

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00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:18,120
a little wet because the sensor 
has to read you and you have to 

296
00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:20,120
have it damp. 
Unless you get like get real 

297
00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:21,880
sweaty during your sleep, then I
guess you can just throw it on, 

298
00:14:22,120 --> 00:14:24,280
but you put it underneath there 
right after you wake up. 

299
00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:26,400
You can't drink coffee, you 
can't eat anything, nothing like

300
00:14:26,400 --> 00:14:27,560
that. 
First, right when you wake up, 

301
00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:30,040
put it on. 
You have to lay down and then 

302
00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:32,200
basically meditate and do deep 
breathing while it tracks your 

303
00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:34,800
score for about 1 to 2 minutes. 
And so there's a timer and it's 

304
00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:37,400
doing it very inconvenient. 
That's the last thing I want to 

305
00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:38,640
do when I wake up at 5:00 in the
morning. 

306
00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:41,600
I want to try to keep waking up,
not lay back down and track my 

307
00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:44,560
heart rate. 
However, Polar is probably like 

308
00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:46,080
the OG in it. 
It's also why if you look at 

309
00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:48,240
these devices, it's the most 
ghetto looking. 

310
00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:51,920
The other one's got like gold 
finishes and stuff like Polar is

311
00:14:52,040 --> 00:14:54,240
just, I don't know it, it 
doesn't like it's not the 

312
00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:57,200
newest, the shiniest, the 
coolest, but they're one of the 

313
00:14:57,200 --> 00:14:58,440
OG's. 
They were one of the first ones 

314
00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:00,200
to do it. 
So I will say they probably are 

315
00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:02,880
the best and most accurate for 
getting a general score every 

316
00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:05,480
day for your HRV. 
But if you want to track all the

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00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:08,200
other stuff and you don't want 
to wear a heart rate monitor on 

318
00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:10,840
your chest all damn day, it's 
probably not the one to go with.

319
00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:15,080
And the last one is Apple Watch,
which it's not specifically an 

320
00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:18,320
HRV device. 
It just has apps from third 

321
00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:22,400
parties that can track your HRV.
And that means it is a very, 

322
00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:25,720
very, very expensive digital 
watch that kind of tracks HRV on

323
00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:27,160
the side. 
I probably wouldn't recommend 

324
00:15:27,160 --> 00:15:28,200
it. 
I don't think it's the best for 

325
00:15:28,200 --> 00:15:31,440
these things, but it's cool and 
Apple Watch is cool. 

326
00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:34,160
So there's that. 
I would go with the loop strap 

327
00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:36,800
out of all these or the Polar or
the the Garmin, Those are the 

328
00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:39,040
three most versatile. 
The Garmin and the loop strap 

329
00:15:39,040 --> 00:15:41,360
are are are probably my 2 top 
for sure. 

330
00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:45,280
So now that we know what devices
we can use, what do we do to 

331
00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:46,400
read it? 
So this is really simple. 

332
00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:49,440
Number one, you need to track 
your HRV every single day. 

333
00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:52,760
HRV is absolutely pointless if 
you don't track it daily because

334
00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:55,960
even in the first couple weeks, 
the score kind of means nothing.

335
00:15:55,960 --> 00:15:57,760
You're not going to change 
anything in your training or 

336
00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:00,320
your lifestyle based on the 
score of the first couple weeks.

337
00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:05,760
It's the sequence of consistent 
days and weeks stacked up that 

338
00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:08,920
really starts to give you an 
accurate score, which gives me, 

339
00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:12,200
you know, goes to my next point,
which is focus on the trend over

340
00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:14,480
days. 
Not a single score. 

341
00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:18,440
So you can wake up and see the 
score, but day 12345 all the way

342
00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:21,040
through the probably second 
week, those individual scores 

343
00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:23,120
don't mean much, but after a 
couple weeks you can see the 

344
00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:24,880
trend. 
And then after a month or two, 

345
00:16:25,160 --> 00:16:28,760
you can see a trend and where 
it's going and your, your device

346
00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:30,800
is going to be able to start 
reading things better. 

347
00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:32,800
So consistency is very 
important. 

348
00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:35,160
It's important to follow the 
trend, not any individual day. 

349
00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:38,000
Don't get married to 1 number. 
Look at the whole trend. 

350
00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:40,440
It is also very important to 
make sure you do this first 

351
00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:42,440
thing in the morning. 
Either A, you're wearing a 

352
00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:45,120
device that tracks it all day 
and then it gives you a score in

353
00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:47,200
the morning, or B, you do it in 
the morning. 

354
00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:50,040
If you're using something like a
Polar or even a Whoop strap or 

355
00:16:50,040 --> 00:16:52,320
something where you're just 
using it to put on and track 

356
00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:56,040
your HRV, that is a point in 
time in the morning where you're

357
00:16:56,040 --> 00:16:58,840
going to have your best baseline
stable state. 

358
00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:01,680
So your body, your heart rate, 
everything is going to be in its

359
00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:04,680
most stable raw place. 
This is why it's good to take 

360
00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:07,160
your weight even in the morning.
But we haven't had a bunch of 

361
00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:09,000
fluids going through us. 
We haven't had any caffeine. 

362
00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:12,040
There's no stimulants literally 
being consumed. 

363
00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:15,920
But also visually looking into 
lenses or, or screens, it is our

364
00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:18,520
most stable and raw state. 
It's the best baseline that we 

365
00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:23,400
can use to track HRV and not 
have anything as a variable 

366
00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:26,280
distract or or detour that 
track, right? 

367
00:17:26,280 --> 00:17:28,200
That, that record, we're going 
to be able to get a score that's

368
00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:31,040
very raw. 
And then last after consistent 

369
00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:33,360
use, let it help guide your 
training. 

370
00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:37,160
Don't let it dictate because 
there's going to be times where 

371
00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:39,920
you're stressed from something 
and it it might actually tank 

372
00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:42,720
your HRV. 
And I still believe you should 

373
00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:44,960
go train because you might need 
to actually relieve that stress 

374
00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:46,720
by going to the gym. 
The gym might be a safe place 

375
00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:49,760
for you that you actually feel 
so much better in life and you 

376
00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:52,200
don't want to skip the gym 
constantly because of that. 

377
00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:56,240
Now if you are constantly low, 
it does mean it should guide 

378
00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:58,880
your decisions with your 
lifestyle, with your sleep, with

379
00:17:58,880 --> 00:18:00,440
your nutrition, with your 
hydration. 

380
00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:03,440
Maybe even with the type of 
training we can still train in 

381
00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:07,720
the gym and tone down the the 
demand on your nervous system by

382
00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:11,320
lowering the loads and going for
higher reps, using less barbell 

383
00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:14,400
movements, using more machines 
and cables and bands, doing more

384
00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:18,200
mobility and cardio. 
Low intensity metrics versus 

385
00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:21,560
hard high intensity stuff. 
Like there's ways to make your 

386
00:18:21,560 --> 00:18:25,000
training less intense and and 
cooperate better with a lower 

387
00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,400
HRV score. 
So I don't suggest that you skip

388
00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:32,080
the gym if your HRV score sucks,
but you got to let it guide your

389
00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:35,160
decisions is the point. 
Again, don't let it dictate your

390
00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:38,320
program entirely or what you do.
Let it guide your decisions out 

391
00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:40,920
of the gym to help you influence
your decisions in the gym. 

392
00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:45,320
And if you're outside of the gym
lifestyle is on point, but your 

393
00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:48,080
HIV score is still low and 
you're not recovering, then 

394
00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:50,320
maybe you do need to tone down 
the training and you can let 

395
00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:55,680
this guide you in doing that. 
So to conclude, this really 

396
00:18:55,680 --> 00:18:57,760
boils down to a few answers in 
my opinion, right? 

397
00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:00,920
Like, is this critical for 
results? 

398
00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:03,760
No. 
Is it helpful for stressed 

399
00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:05,280
individuals? 
Yes. 

400
00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:08,680
Is it a useful tool for serious 
lifters and athletes? 

401
00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:11,040
Yes. 
Is it worth it for body 

402
00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:12,960
composition results? 
Maybe, Right. 

403
00:19:12,960 --> 00:19:15,120
So I think that at the end of 
the day, you don't need this. 

404
00:19:15,120 --> 00:19:17,480
This is like a supplement. 
It's a cool tool that can help 

405
00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:20,840
you, but you don't need it. 
There's a lot of data to support

406
00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:24,840
what HRV is and how it can 
impact you, but you don't need 

407
00:19:24,840 --> 00:19:25,640
it. 
It's not critical. 

408
00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:28,160
Is it helpful for people who are
stressed? 

409
00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:31,040
Absolutely. 
It can be the red flag that 

410
00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:32,280
actually kind of slaps you in 
the face. 

411
00:19:32,280 --> 00:19:35,040
There's a lot of people, and I 
can relate to this, where you're

412
00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:39,560
just a stubborn person who does 
not want to slow down or recover

413
00:19:39,560 --> 00:19:41,160
anything. 
And sometimes people can tell 

414
00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:43,320
you. 
Sometimes you can even know for 

415
00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:45,640
a fact that you're maybe not 
sleeping enough. 

416
00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:50,200
But until you get a coach or a 
metric like an HRV score telling

417
00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:52,240
you day after day after day, you
got to do this or you're not 

418
00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:54,400
going to get where you want to 
be, you might not actually 

419
00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:56,360
create the change. 
So I think it is very helpful 

420
00:19:56,360 --> 00:19:59,080
for stressed individuals, not 
because it's a magic tool, but 

421
00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:01,920
because it might be the 
accountability and provide the 

422
00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:05,720
awareness that you need. 
Now for serious lifters and 

423
00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:08,480
athletes, I would say yes, it is
a useful tool because these 

424
00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:11,800
metrics allow you to guide, 
better guide your decisions with

425
00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:13,360
your program, with your 
intensity. 

426
00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:15,880
And you can wave your intensity 
in the gym day-to-day. 

427
00:20:16,120 --> 00:20:19,200
So you can have days of higher 
intensity, higher loads, higher 

428
00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:21,960
volumes and days of lower 
intensity, lower loads and lower

429
00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:24,480
volumes. 
And you can alternate these to 

430
00:20:24,560 --> 00:20:27,480
optimize your recovery so that 
those higher intensity and 

431
00:20:27,480 --> 00:20:30,760
volume days are trained at your 
best. 

432
00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:33,760
Because a lot of times people 
are always in that like yellow 

433
00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:37,480
or red HRV, and they have a high
volume program, but their 

434
00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:39,320
intensity and effort sucks 
because they're really not fully

435
00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:42,080
recovered, which they may not 
even realize. 

436
00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:44,640
But if you had something like 
this and then you could wave 

437
00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:46,520
your intensity up and down and 
your volume up and down 

438
00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:49,840
throughout the week, you would 
be able to train in your hardest

439
00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:53,040
and best state in those moments 
where your HRV is in the green, 

440
00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:54,400
right? 
And you can get the most out of 

441
00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:56,560
it. 
And then for athletes who are in

442
00:20:56,560 --> 00:20:59,880
combat sports like MMA or 
endurance athletes or Sprint 

443
00:20:59,880 --> 00:21:03,040
athletes, track athletes, any 
professional athlete, I think 

444
00:21:03,040 --> 00:21:05,720
it's a very useful tool because 
when it comes to conditioning 

445
00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:09,200
and cardio, it can be a very, 
very valuable metric. 

446
00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:12,400
And it can show you if you're 
becoming more well conditioned 

447
00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:15,240
for your sport. 
Because the greater your HRV 

448
00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:18,320
score is as you progress, it 
means the more conditioned you 

449
00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:20,320
are. 
If you continue to push in the 

450
00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:24,000
gym and you are running faster 
times or longer distances and 

451
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:26,960
you're able to maintain a 
positive balance in your HRV, 

452
00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:31,600
that is a direct result of you 
being more aerobically fit and 

453
00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:33,520
conditioned, which you may need 
for your sport. 

454
00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:36,280
And then lastly, is it worth it 
for body composition results? 

455
00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:38,760
I say maybe because really it's 
not going to create a calorie 

456
00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:40,360
deficit for you. 
It's not going to build muscle 

457
00:21:40,360 --> 00:21:42,160
for you. 
But if it can guide your 

458
00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:45,720
decisions to be less stressed. 
And we know that stress 

459
00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:49,440
increases cortisol, and research
shows that cortisol is directly 

460
00:21:49,440 --> 00:21:53,240
correlated with overeating due 
to cravings and excess hunger. 

461
00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:55,640
And yeah, I think it can be 
helpful because it can teach you

462
00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:57,320
that you're stressed. 
It can help you make better 

463
00:21:57,320 --> 00:21:59,920
decisions because you have more 
awareness around these things. 

464
00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:02,640
It can also help you guide your 
decisions in the gym, which may 

465
00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:04,840
also lead to more consistency as
well.