Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The effect of functional overreaching on parameters of autonomic heart rate regulation

  • Original Article
  • Published:
European Journal of Applied Physiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Correlations between fatigue-induced changes in performance and maximal rate of HR increase (rHRI) may be affected by differing assessment workloads. This study evaluated the effect of assessing rHRI at different workloads on performance tracking, and compared this with HR variability (HRV) and HR recovery (HRR).

Methods

Performance [5-min cycling time trial (5TT)], rHRI (at multiple workloads), HRV and HRR were assessed in 12 male cyclists following 1 week of light training (LT), 2 weeks of heavy training (HT) and a 10-day taper (T).

Results

5TT very likely decreased after HT (effect size ± 90% confidence interval = −0.75 ± 0.41), and almost certainly increased after T (1.15 ± 0.48). rHRI at 200 W likely increased at HT (0.70 ± 0.60), and then likely decreased at T (−0.50 ± 0.70). rHRI at 120 and 160 W was unchanged. Pre-exercise HR during rHRI assessments at 120 W and 160 W likely decreased after HT (≤−0.39 ± 0.14), and correlations between these changes and rHRI were large to very large (r = −0.67 ± 0.31 and r = −0.78 ± 0.23). When controlling for pre-exercise HR, rHRI at 120 W very likely slowed after HT (−0.72 ± 0.44), and was moderately correlated with 5TT (r = 0.35 ± 0.32). RMSSD likely increased at HT (0.75 ± 0.49) and likely decreased at T (−0.49 ± 0.49). HRR following 5TT likely increased at HT (0.84 ± 0.31) and then likely decreased at T (−0.81 ± 0.35).

Conclusions

When controlling for pre-exercise HR, rHRI assessment at 120 W most sensitively tracked performance. Increased RMSSD following HT indicated heightened parasympathetic modulation in fatigued athletes. HRR was only sensitive to changes in training status when assessed after maximal exercise, which may limit its practical applicability.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

ANS:

Autonomic nervous system

DALDA:

Daily analysis of life demands for athletes

ES:

Effect size

FOR:

Functional overreaching

HR:

Heart rate

HRend:

Heart rate at the end of exercise

HRR:

Heart rate recovery

HRV:

Heart rate variability

HT14:

Heavy training

Ln RMSSD:

Natural logarithm of the root-mean-square difference of successive normal R-R intervals

LT7:

Light training

NFOR:

Non-functional overreaching

OT:

Overtraining

rHRI:

Maximal rate of heart rate increase

rHRI120 W :

Maximal rate of heart rate increase assessed at 120 watts

rHRI160 W :

Maximal rate of heart rate increase assessed at 160 watts

rHRI200 W :

Maximal rate of heart rate increase assessed at 200 watts

rHRI120–200 W :

Maximal Rate of Heart Rate Increase assessed during transition from 120 W to 200 watts

SD:

Standard deviation

TRIMP:

Training impulse

T10:

Tapering

W:

Watts

5TT:

Five-minute time trial

60TT:

Sixty-minute time trial

References

  • Al Haddad H, Laursen P, Chollet D, Ahmaidi S, Buchheit M (2011) Reliability of resting and postexercise heart rate measures. Int J Sports Med 32:598–605

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Aubry A, Hausswirth C, Louis J, Coutts AJ, Buchheit M, Le Meur Y (2015) The development of functional overreaching is associated with a faster heart rate recovery in endurance athletes. PLoS ONE 10:e0139754

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banister EW (1991) Modeling elite athletic performance. In: MacDougall JD, Wenger HA, Green HJ (eds) Physiological testing of the high performance athlete. Human Kinetics, United States, pp 403–424

    Google Scholar 

  • Bellenger CR, Thomson RL, Howe PRC, Karavirta L, Buckley JD (2015) Monitoring athletic training status using the maximal rate of heart rate increase. J Sci Med Sport 19:590–595

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bellenger CR, Fuller JT, Thomson RL, Davison K, Robertson EY, Buckley JD (2016a) Monitoring athletic training status through autonomic heart rate regulation: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Med 46(10):1461–1486

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bellenger CR, Karavirta L, Thomson RL, Robertson EY, Davison K, Buckley J (2016b) Contextualising parasympathetic hyperactivity in functionally overreached athletes with perceptions of training tolerance. Int J Sports Physiol Perform 11:685–692

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bland JM, Altman DG (1995) Calculating correlation coefficients with repeated observations: part 1-Correlation within subjects. BMJ 310:446

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Borresen J, Lambert MI (2008) Autonomic control of heart rate during and after exercise: measurements and implications for monitoring training status. Sports Med 38:633–646

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buchheit M (2014) Monitoring training status with HR measures: Do all roads lead to Rome? Front Physiol 5:73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen J (2010) Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Sage, Hillsdale, NJ

    Google Scholar 

  • Dupuy O, Bherer L, Audiffren M, Bosquet L (2013) Night and postexercise cardiac autonomic control in functional overreaching. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab 38:200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hopkins WG (2006) Spreadsheets for analysis of controlled trials, with adjustment for a subject characteristic. Sportsci 10:46–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Hopkins WG, Marshall SW, Batterham AM, Hanin J (2009) Progressive statistics for studies in sports medicine and exercise science. Med Sci Sports Exc 41:3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kannankeril PJ, Le FK, Kadish AH, Goldberger JJ (2004) Parasympathetic effects on heart rate recovery after exercise. J Invest Med 52:394–401

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kellmann M (2010) Preventing overtraining in athletes in high-intensity sports and stress/recovery monitoring. Scand J Med Sci Sport 20:95–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krogh A, Lindhard J (1913) The regulation of respiration and circulation during the initial stages of muscular work. J Physiol 47:112–136

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Le Meur Y et al (2013) Evidence of parasympathetic hyperactivity in functionally overreached athletes. Med Sci Sports Exc 45:2061

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meeusen R et al (2013) Prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the overtraining syndrome: joint consensus statement of the European College of Sport Science and the American College of Sports Medicine. Med Sci Sports Exc 45:186–205

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson MJ, Thomson RL, Rogers DK, Howe PRC, Buckley JD (2014) Maximal rate of increase in heart rate during the rest-exercise transition tracks reductions in exercise performance when training load is increased. J Sci Med Sport 17:129–133

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norton K, Norton L, Sadgrove D (2010) Position statement on physical activity and exercise intensity terminology. J Sci Med Sport 13:496–502

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pierpont GL, Voth EJ (2004) Assessing autonomic function by analysis of heart rate recovery from exercise in healthy subjects. Am J Cardiol 94:64–68

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson BF, Epstein SE, Beiser GD, Braunwald E (1966) Control of heart rate by the autonomic nervous system: studies in man on the interrelation between baroreceptor mechanisms and exercise. Circ Res 19:400–411

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rowell LB, O’Leary DS (1990) Reflex control of the circulation during exercise: chemoreflexes and mechanoreflexes. J Appl Physiol 69:407–418

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Thomson RL, Bellenger CR, Howe PRC, Karavirta L, Buckley JD (2015a) Improved heart rate recovery despite reduced exercise performance following heavy training: a within-subject analysis. J Sci Med Sport 19:255–259

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomson RL, Rogers DK, Howe PRC, Buckley JD (2015b) Effect of acute exercise-induced fatigue on maximal rate of heart rate increase during submaximal cycling. Res Sports Med 24:1–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tulppo MP, Mäkikallio TH, Seppänen T, Laukkanen RT, Huikuri HV (1998) Vagal modulation of heart rate during exercise: effects of age and physical fitness. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 274:H424–H429

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Victor RG, Seals DR, Mark AL (1987) Differential control of heart rate and sympathetic nerve activity during dynamic exercise: Insight from intraneural recordings in humans. J Clin Invest 79:508–516

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Warner H, Cox A (1964) A mathematical model of heart rate control by sympathetic and vagus efferent information. Simult Soc Mod 3:63–71

    Google Scholar 

  • White D, Raven P (2014) Autonomic neural control of heart rate during dynamic exercise: revisited. J Physiol 592:2491–2500

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by a grant from the Australian Research Council (LP140101013) in partnership with Polar Electro Oy and the South Australian Sports Institute. Researcher Bellenger was supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award from the Australian Commonwealth Government and research scholarship from the South Australian Sports Institute.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity (ARENA), Sansom Institute for Health Research, University of South Australia, 2471, Adelaide, SA, 5001, Australia

    Clint R. Bellenger, Rebecca L. Thomson, Kade Davison, Maximillian J. Nelson & Jonathan D. Buckley

  2. South Australian Sports Institute, Adelaide, Australia

    Clint R. Bellenger & Eileen Y. Robertson

  3. Polar Electro Oy, Kempele, Finland

    Laura Karavirta

Authors
  1. Clint R. Bellenger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rebecca L. Thomson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Eileen Y. Robertson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Kade Davison
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Maximillian J. Nelson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Laura Karavirta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Jonathan D. Buckley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Clint R. Bellenger.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The University of South Australia has applied for a patent on the rHRI technology described in this manuscript, and researchers Davison and Buckley are employees of the University. Researcher Karavirta is an employee of Polar Electro Oy.

Ethics approval

Was granted by the University of South Australia’s Human Research Ethics Committee, and volunteers provided written informed consent prior to participating. All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Additional information

Communicated by Keith Phillip George.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bellenger, C.R., Thomson, R.L., Robertson, E.Y. et al. The effect of functional overreaching on parameters of autonomic heart rate regulation. Eur J Appl Physiol 117, 541–550 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-017-3549-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-017-3549-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation