ithlete for Team Sports

Training and competition require precise loading. The fine line between overtraining and being under prepared is a difficult one for coaches and athletes.

Overtraining frequently results in injury, illness and diminishing performance. The body can endure just so much continual physical stress before it begins to breakdown, leading to frequent colds, coughs, and significantly increased risk of injury. Measurement and monitoring of recovery enables players to train smarter, thereby preventing overtraining.

The key point is that we are all individuals, and respond in our own unique way that cannot be forced to fit into a standardised training plan. Judging the right balance of training load and recovery is a challenge even for the most experienced athletes. Measuring and tracking your daily fatigue and recovery level using heart rate variability (HRV) is the scientific principle behind ithlete.

"An optimal training process is based on the alternation of training load and recovery in order to allow the adaptation induced by training stimuli to take place. Too often athletes underestimate this essential need, and when they don't improve their performance, they usually increase training volume and intensity, thinking that is what is needed to improve. More often, this lack of improvement is due to the lack of recovery between training sessions, not because you are not stressing the body enough." Dr. Aldo Sassi of the world-renowned Mapei Center in Milan.

Training = Workout + Recovery

Many teams follow pre-planned group training sessions, with most athletes taking responsibility for additional workouts too. Workouts are measured precisely in hours and repetitions, but recovery only in subjective measurements such as feeling of fatigue. Only the best athletes measure their recovery accurately, with tools such as ithlete.

So How Do You Know When to Workout and When to Rest?

The answer is ithlete, which measures heart rate variability; the time gap between your heartbeats when you're resting. Heart rate variability can help coaches and athletes in team sports that require speed and power with various degrees of conditioning to have a more precise compass with training and recovery.

The heart speeds up when you inhale, and slows down when you exhale; the difference is known as heart rate variability. A healthy, well rested body will produce a wider gap than a stressed out, over trained body.

Measuring HRV with ithlete is not unlike the morning ritual of taking a resting heart rate, taking just 60 seconds to complete. Research has proven that measuring and tracking HRV presents a more precise picture of your overall health, to determine fatigue, overtraining or approaching illness.

ithlete Guide to Training with HRVUnderstand more about over-training and training with heart rate variability. Download the Guide

Convenient, Informative, Inexpensive: ithlete

Previously used solely by a small group of elite athletes and their coaches HRV was time consuming, expensive and difficult to track. Until now; ithlete makes measuring and tracking HRV convenient and affordable.

User friendly and intuitive ithlete means athletes can now measure and interpret HRV themselves, and in only 60 seconds. A signal is sent from your chest strap monitor to a small receiver which attaches to your smart phone or tablet. The app displays a colour coded graph of your HRV score as well as a train/train easy/rest recommendation, enabling you to get the most from your training and avoid injury.

A high reading combined with a normal resting pulse is good news - you can train hard that day. A low reading means you should take it easy, providing you with a guilt free rest or lighter intensity day. And while your body is in recovery mode, your muscles are busy getting stronger.

Athletes can now record both their training load and any comments to further enhance the meaningful data provided by ithlete. Progress over time is conveniently displayed in both graphical and numerical format by ithlete, enabling preparation for events and increased fitness and performance.

Results can be sent to the coach or team doctor at the click of a button, via email or dropbox, facilitating remote monitoring. This is a great feature for coaches during off season and when athletes are travelling.

All you need to get started today is a compatible chest strap, ithlete receiver and ithlete HRV app; and all for less than the price of a couple of massage sessions!

Injury Prevention/Reduction Strategies

The ithlete system works with existing injury reduction strategies, directing both sports medicine and performance training. Injures can make or break a season, for years enormous resources and efforts have been invested in to the prevention and reduction non-contact injuries. Many organizations have found great systems and methodologies to help fight the injury bug, but without clear objective data on the physiological recovery status, teams still have a long way to go.

Ithlete is not a replacement to current methods, but a way to compliment successful methods for better results. Using ithlete can open coaches to new avenues of monitoring to further reduce injuries with teams. This affordable biofeedback training tool will finally give you the competitive edge you've been looking for.

HRV Monthly Chart Explained...

Amber lines occur after intensive workouts and indicate the need for extra rest and recovery. Green lines occur when the body has recovered well. White lines indicate normal HRV levels. Blue lines show the overall trend and moves upwards significantly during the final week of this chart, when little exercise was performed.

Today's HRV number is displayed at the top of the screen. Unlike resting pulse, a higher number is better.

The three coloured indicators at the top right show the amount of change in HRV that has occurred over the past day, week and month. The Daily Change is used as a traffic light for training, whereas the week and month indicators show positive or negative trends.