Heart Rate Variability and Direct Current Measurement Characteristics in Professional Mixed Martial Arts Athletes

Joseph O C Coyne; Aaron J Coutts; Roman Fomin; Duncan N French; Robert U Newton; G Gregory Haff

doi:10.3390/sports8080109

Heart Rate Variability and Direct Current Measurement Characteristics in Professional Mixed Martial Arts Athletes

Sports (Basel). 2020 Jul 30;8(8):109. doi: 10.3390/sports8080109.

Authors

Joseph O C Coyne^{1

2}, Aaron J Coutts^{3

4}, Roman Fomin², Duncan N French^{1

2

5}, Robert U Newton¹, G Gregory Haff^{1

6}

Affiliations

¹ School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, WA 6027, Australia.
² UFC Performance Institute, Las Vegas, NV 89118, USA.
³ Human Performance Research Centre, University of Technology Sydney, Moore Park Rd, Moore Park, NSW 2021, Australia.
⁴ School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Moore Park Rd, Moore Park, NSW 2021, Australia.
⁵ School of Behavioral and Health Sciences, Australia Catholic University, Fitzroy, VIC 3065, Australia.
⁶ Directorate of Physiotherapy and Sport, University of Salford, Salford, Greater Manchester M6 6PU, UK.

Abstract

This study's purpose was to examine heart rate variability (HRV) and direct current potential (DC) measures' sensitivity and correlations between changes in the acute recovery and stress scale (ARSS) and the previous day's training load. Training load, HRV, DC and ARSS data were collected from fourteen professional mixed martial arts athletes (32.6 ± 5.3 years, 174.8 ± 8.8 cm, 79.2 ± 17.5 kg) the following morning after hard, easy and rest days. Sensitivity was expressed as a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR, inter-day typical error (TE) or coefficient of variation (%CV) divided by intra-day TE or %CV). Correlations between HRV, DC and ARSS with training load were also examined. The SNRs for the various HRV and DC measures were acceptable to good (1.02-2.85). There was a 23.1% CV average increase between measures taken between different locations versus the same location. Training load changes were not correlated with HRV/DC but were correlated with ARSS stress variables. Practitioners should be aware of HRV/DC variability; however the daily training signal was greater than the test-retest error in this investigation. Upon awakening, HRV/DC measures appear superior for standardization and planning. HRV and DC measures were less sensitive to the previous day's training load than ARSS measures.

Keywords: Omegawave; acute recovery and stress scale; measurement characteristics.