Hurrah, cold has cleared up so I’ll be working out tonight when I get home.
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Taking in clothes is like shortening hifi cables - always regret it later on 
I think this looks like a modern term to describe the techniques I was taught 30 years ago to control breathing, heart rate, and manage stress/ trauma/ pain in competition.
In lots of technical sports and events you need precision and control as well as your athleticism and where getting psyched up and receiving an adrenalin boost will be counterproductive.
As a gymnast, to stay perfectly still in a handstand, or to maintain an iron cross like a statue (whilst withstanding gravity and extreme effort/ pain!), I was coached in slowing the breath, and using that and mental effort to try to slow/ steady the heart-rate. There’s as much use of visualisation as there is breathing technique - and its quite similar to tools used to visually ‘shunt’ pain away from you - “put your pain in the cave” etc.
If you think about two equally physically gifted athletes, with the same training, nutrition and coaching etc, at the upper level of competition where consistency and coolness are required in a technical sport, its usually the one who is the mentally tougher and who can control their emotions that will more often that not win. HRV as they’re calling it is part of that overall toolset as well as sports psychology etc.
What context are you looking at HRV btw?
Out of curiosity, really. It’s discussed as a tool to guide training, identify fatigue and overtraining, readiness to train.
I’m sure I remember seeing a paper where they compared HRV guided training and standard training and there wasn’t much, if any, difference. I got the app out of geeky curiosity- I don’t plan on using it to guide when I train. That said, I did a couple of readings in October when I was still feeling pretty burned out and the values I got were pretty low. I did it at the end of last week and the value (RMSSD) was much better.
Ah okay, the things you signposted talk more about measurements/ diagnostics rather than the active management techniques which I was describing above.
I might be getting it completely wrong but that side of things as I read it doesn’t appeal to my either natural or taught preferences to focus on things you can actively do to manage problems away, over and above interpreting and adapting to a problem that surfaces through measurement.
I’m probably wholly misinterpreting it though based on that prejudice!
I was wrong- the study showed that HRV guided training was more effective
I guess it didn’t compare it with athletes/coaches adapting their training based on how they were feeling though (i.e. it seems that the control group just ploughed on with their prescribed work outs regardless)
That’s it, I’ve made a new start to training. Not done anything since maybe end of May last year.
Did some squats and good mornings but just taking it easy. Feels good to have started though 
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Good job. Keep going, don’t push too hard at the start.
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Got back late last night but managed 40 mins including lunges, deadlifts and some pressing. Need more sleep.
Good effort. I managed the push ups 30 secs apart this morning. The first 2 or 3 felt better than last time (easier to keep good form) but the last couple felt harder!
Felt pretty good on the bike yesterday, probably the best I have for a long time, and climbing out of the saddle felt noticeably easier, perhaps down to the push ups. I’m realising now just how fit I was last year though, even when I was feeling burned out.
Really good effort - it gets harder from here! Don’t hesitate to slow down the rate that you reduce your rest intervals if its looking like you’ll fail one of the last reps. Do not sacrifice good form for chasing reps! Keep going.
Went to the Gym today… it looks nice.
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Thanks, I was going to ask that actually!
I’m hoping that the marginal gains from gentle aerobic exercise from walking and being more active throughout the day, weight loss, increased strength/core, and the cycling I’m doing (at the moment, my commute totalling an hour and a longer ride on Sunday) starts to add up to getting back to my old form on the bike. I’m not worrying too much about doing anything specific on the bike at the moment, just riding with harder efforts a d recovery as I feel like it. Largely just short ~30 min sessions and plenty recovery with days off the bike midweek so hope that it adds up to getting better without overdoing it…
I did my resistance band physio exercises last night while rice was cooking for tea. The plan is to introduce kettle bell swings in a week or so. The one my wife uses is too heavy for me so I ordered a lighter one 
I’m hoping, as i think I mentioned before, that building this up steadily means that fitness and weight is more sustainable. I had great fun cycling for 4 months last year 
I’d like to enjoy 12 this year.
At work there are glass walls between offices so I was able to check my form (everyone else has left 
). Looks good! 
I was worried I thought I was doing it correctly but actually wasn’t
I didn’t want to push it (since I did my scheduled reps today and should recover for Thursday) but I can do at least 3 in a row with good form 
(i.e I could have gone on, but took your advice on not pushing it)
Does that suggest I’m not going catabolic?
Very misleading, they mean shorter higher intensity cardio, not reps.
Yes. Lazy, poorly written, and meta-analyses should be taken with pinches of salt.
But Nam’s been so moderate of late, thought I’d wave a red rag to see what happened. 
Progression is everything , and the longer you can keep it going the better (there are other tactics for dealing with plateaus).
So wether it’s load, reps, reduced rest, increased time under tension, total volume etc you just want to keep the increments coming. Sometimes they come quickly especially as a noob, but when they slow down you need to find ways of eeking out the smallest thing improvement until your body adapts.
Looks like you’re doing great so keep it going and remember gains are a marathon and not a sprint.
Fucking hamstrings. Bloody killing me.