ArticleFrontiers in physiology2014
Monitoring training status with HR measures: do all roads lead to Rome?
Article in Frontiers in physiology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 319 papers, 13 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
319 citing papers in PubMed, 13 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The Acute Effects of Short-Bout High-Intensity Interval Training on Physiological and Perceptual Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Pooled it
- Wearable-Derived Heart Rate Variability Across the Menstrual Cycle, Hormonal Contraceptive Use, and Reproductive Life Stages in Females: A Living Systematic Review.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Pooled it
- Competition and training load of high-level competitive non-motorised surface water sports athletes: a scoping review of athlete monitoring methodology.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Pooled it
- Heart rate variability and overtraining in soccer players: A systematic review.Physiological reports · 2025Pooled it
- Agreement Between Heart Rate Variability - Derived vs. Ventilatory and Lactate Thresholds: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analyses.Sports medicine - open · 2024Pooled it
- The Acute Demands of Repeated-Sprint Training on Physiological, Neuromuscular, Perceptual and Performance Outcomes in Team Sport Athletes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2023Pooled it
- Submaximal Fitness Test in Team Sports: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Exercise Heart Rate Measurement Properties.Sports medicine - open · 2023Pooled it
- Does Exercise Training Improve Cardiac-Parasympathetic Nervous System Activity in Sedentary People? A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Training in women soccer players: A systematic review on training load monitoring.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Pooled it
- Monitoring stress and allostatic load in first responders and tactical operators using heart rate variability: a systematic review.BMC public health · 2021Pooled it
- Recommendations for determining the validity of consumer wearable heart rate devices: expert statement and checklist of the INTERLIVE Network.British journal of sports medicine · 2021Guideline
- Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation and parasympathetic function in patients with coronary artery disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Clinical autonomic research : official journal of the Clinical Autonomic Research Society · 2021Pooled it
- Effects of Hydrogen-Rich Water Supplementation on Exercise Performance, Autonomic Nervous System Recovery, and Blood Lactate Concentration During Repeated Sprint Exercise in Male University Athletes.Journal of sports science & medicine · 2026Trial
- Intermittent normobaric hypoxia at rest is associated with divergent cardiac autonomic trajectories in master cyclists.European journal of applied physiology · 2026Trial
- Supramaximal high-intensity interval training improves heart rate variability in older adults: A randomized controlled trial.Physiological reports · 2026Trial
- Synergistic effects of immediate post-sprint interval training low-dose hyperbaric oxygen on aerobic and anaerobic performance and recovery indicators: a four-week randomized controlled trial.European journal of applied physiology · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Recovery of Linear and Nonlinear Heart Rate Variability Metrics After Short-Term Moderate versus Vigorous Intensity Exercise: A Cross-Sectional Randomized Cross-Over Study.European journal of sport science · 2025Trial
- Influence of Trail Running Footwear Foam on Running Economy and Perceptual Metrics.European journal of sport science · 2025Trial
259 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Measures of resting, exercise, and recovery heart rate are receiving increasing interest for monitoring fatigue, fitness and endurance performance responses, which has direct implications for adjusting training load (1) daily during specific training blocks and (2) throughout the competitive season. However, these measures are still not widely implemented to monitor athletes' responses to training load, probably because of apparent contradictory findings in the literature. In this review I contend that most of the contradictory findings are related to methodological inconsistencies and/or misinterpretation of the data rather than to limitations of heart rate measures to accurately inform on training status. I also provide evidence that measures derived from 5-min (almost daily) recordings of resting (indices capturing beat-to-beat changes in heart rate, reflecting cardiac parasympathetic activity) and submaximal exercise (30- to 60-s average) heart rate are likely the most useful monitoring tools. For appropriate interpretation at the individual level, changes in a given measure should be interpreted by taking into account the error of measurement and the smallest important change of the measure, as well as the training context (training phase, load, and intensity distribution). The decision to use a given measure should be based upon the level of information that is required by the athlete, the marker's sensitivity to changes in training status and the practical constrains required for the measurements. However, measures of heart rate cannot inform on all aspects of wellness, fatigue, and performance, so their use in combination with daily training logs, psychometric questionnaires and non-invasive, cost-effective performance tests such as a countermovement jump may offer a complete solution to monitor training status in athletes participating in aerobic-oriented sports.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.