The Relationship Between Heart Rate Variability and Maximal Oxygen Uptake in Elite Male Rowers

Abstract

1430 Heart rate variability (HRV) has become a widely used tool for assessing the autonomic responses of the heart during various physiological and clinical conditions. PURPOSE: To investigate the relationship between HRV and maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max) in elite male rowers. METHODS: Twelve male elite rowers were recruited to this study (18.7 ± 1.6years?190.8 ± 4.8cm?84.4 ± 7.3kg). The VO2 max test was conducted on a rowing ergometer (CONCEPT II) with an initial load of 20 stroke frequency (SF)/min. Two SF were added every 3 minutes until volitional fatigue. Heart rate, VO2, VCO2, RQ, O2-pluse, VE were recorded at 10-s interval using the CORTEX Biophysik MetaMax Portable CPX system. The measurement of HRV was based on the frequency domain analysis by calculating the power density spectrum using the fast Fourier algorithm. The parameters observed included Total Variability (TV.rri), Low Frequency (LF.rri), High Frequency (HF.rri), and LF/HF. All data were processed with SPSS 10.0 and Microsoft Excel. RESULTS: The results showed that VO2 max of the male rowers was 5.18 ± 0.42 L/min, whereas TV.rri, LFrri, HFrri, and LF/HF were 5360.1 ± 3883, 1330.9 ± 1382, 2215.6 ± 2454, and 0.838 ± 0.46, respectively. Significant positive correlation(P<0.01) was found between VO2 max and TV.rri in the subjects (r = 0.74). Similar result was observed between VO2 max and LF.rri (P<0.05; r = 0.666). In addition, there were no correlations between VO2 max and both HF.rri and LF/HF. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that: 1) the elite male rowers had a high aerobic capacity and an increased HRV responses; 2) the autonomic nervous system is important in determining performance in endurance exercise of rowers; 3) the HRV profile of rowers may be an important indicator for monitoring their long-term training effects. This regular long-term stimulus is required in order to achieve a higher VO2 max value