Key result
Heart rate variability spectral analysis accurately determined the heart rate at the second ventilatory threshold during ski-mountaineering, showing no significant difference compared to the standard ventilatory method (174.3 vs 174.3 bpm).
Why the study?
Does heart rate variability analysis accurately assess ventilatory thresholds compared to gas exchange methods in elite ski-mountaineers during a field test?
Observational (n=9)
Blinded assessors
No
Does heart rate variability analysis accurately assess ventilatory thresholds compared to gas exchange methods in elite ski-mountaineers during a field test?
Effect estimate: r = 0.91
Absolute Event Rate: 174.3% vs 174.3%
p-value: p=>0.98
Heart rate variability time-varying spectral analysis can accurately determine the heart rate associated with the second ventilatory threshold during a field ski-mountaineering test, offering a practical tool for training evaluation without gas analyzers.
May support gas-free VT2 assessment in ski-mountaineering field tests; leaves open prospective validation before wider use.
The capacity to predict the heart rate (HR) and speed at the first (VT1) and second (VT2) ventilatory thresholds was evaluated during an incremental ski-mountaineering test using heart rate variability (HRV). Nine skiers performed a field test to exhaustion on an alpine skiing track. VT1 and VT2 were individually determined by visual analysis from gas exchanges (VT1V and VT2V) and time-varying spectral HRV analysis (VT1fH, VT2fH and VT2H). VT1 could not be determined with the HRV methods used. On the contrary, the VT2 was determined in all skiers. No significant difference between HR and speed at VT2H and VT2V was observed (174.3 ± 5.6 vs. 174.3 ± 5.3 bpm, and 6.3 ± 0.9 and 6.3 ± 0.9 km h(-1), respectively). Strong correlations were obtained for HR (r = 0.91) and speed (r = 0.92) at VT2H and VT2V with small limits of agreement (±3.6 bpm for HR). Our results indicated that HRV enables determination of HR and speed at VT2 during a specific ski-mountaineering incremental test. These findings provide practical applications for skiers in order to evaluate and control specific training loads, at least when referring to VT2.
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Cassirame et al. (2014) conducted an observational in Healthy elite ski-mountaineers (n=9). Heart rate variability (HRV) spectral analysis vs. Ventilatory method (gas exchange) was evaluated on Heart rate at second ventilatory threshold (VT2) (r = 0.91, p=>0.98). Heart rate variability spectral analysis accurately determined the heart rate at the second ventilatory threshold during ski-mountaineering, showing no significant difference compared to the standard ventilatory method (174.3 vs 174.3 bpm).
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