User Guide

Version 2.0.8

Whats in this guide?

The intention of this guide is to help you get
started optimizing your health and performance
with Heart Rate Variability (HRV).
It includes app walkthroughs, science overviews,
troubleshooting, interpreting results, and more.
Here are links to the various sections:
Getting Started
Morning Readiness Readings
My Readiness Trends
Open Readings
Science Overview
HRV For Teams, Gyms and Health Practices
Settings and Privacy
Troubleshooting and Additional Resources
For assistance and additional information, please
check out www.EliteHRV.com/faq or reach out to
us at support@elitehrv.com

Getting Started

Getting the app

Before we get started, if you have not yet
downloaded the free Elite HRV Heart Rate
Variability app, it can be found on both the
Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.

or at http://www.elitehrv.com/app
The app works on just about any iOS or
Android phone or tablet that has Bluetooth
4.0 (also called Smart or LE).
A list of known compatible devices can be
found at http://www.elitehrv.com/compatibledevices as well as in the Appendix.

Heart Rate Variability 101

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is literally the change in
time, or variation, between successive heart beats over
time.
Applying the right HRV calculations at the right times
gives you insight into your Autonomic Nervous System
(ANS). Think of it as tapping into your bodys control
center.
Heart Rate Variability is used by Olympic athletes, topCEOs, doctors and people interested in:
Tweaking your exercise plan to obtain the optimal
stimulus
Controlling your mental and physical levels of
fatigue
Stress management and health improvement
Correctly measuring the Autonomic Nervous System
with HRV gives you the data you need to do all of the
above and more. To learn more visit The Science
section of this guide. Now lets get started.

Creating your account

Your free Elite HRV account can be created
directly within the app. You may sign up via
Email, Facebook or Google.
Your account is used to protect and backup
your data.
The Elite HRV system is not for medical use. It
is for information purposes only - to help you
and your Coach to make better health and
performance decisions.
Your information is not shared with anyone
without your explicit permission (for example,
when joining a Team).
For more information see:
Terms of Service
Privacy Policy
Disclaimer

Getting Started
1. Tap Register to get
started
2. Options:

a) Quickly sign up via

Facebook or Google
b) Sign up via Email

2b

2a

Note: Password resets,

data exports and account
information will be sent to
the email address
associated with your
account.
If you log in via Google or
Facebook, please make
sure your email address is
valid on the Settings
screen after logging in.

Logging In

1b

2
1a

If you need to login again,

make sure to use the
same login email as when
you originally signed up.

1. Login options:

a) Login via Facebook or

Google
b) Login via Email

2. If you need assistance

logging in, tap Forgot

Login / Password

2a
2b

a) Enter the Email address

associated with your
account (or the best
Email address to contact
you at)
b) Select which item you
need assistance with

Home Screen
3

1. Home Feed items

contain useful tips,
bug fixes and
announcements tap
a Feed item to read
more about it
2. Tap to view your

Settings

4
1

3. Tap to Sync readings

(will display as Sync
when there are
unsynced readings)
4. Tap Record to start
new readings
5. Tap Analyze to see
your results
6. Tap Team to join or
view your Team

Recording a New Reading

1. To start a new reading
navigate to the Record
screen
2. If you have not taken a

Morning Readiness

2
3

reading yet today, it

will appear both on
the Home screen and
at the top of the
Record screen once
taken, it will disappear
until the following day
3. Capture a quick
snapshot with a 1
minute countdown
timer
4. Other open readings
are pre-tagged for
easier tracking later

10

Reading Types
Morning Readiness The most important
reading. Taken for 2.5 minutes each morning to
discover your personal stress & recovery patterns.
Note: Once taken, the button for Morning Readiness
disappears until the following day. To retake your
Morning Readiness you must delete the reading you
have taken first.

Open Reading Completely open, taggable,

sortable reading. Useful for seeing what your HRV
is doing during any activity or throughout the day
and night.
Practice guided breathing meditations. Record
your commute to work. See your HRV while
sleeping or eating. The options are limitless.
All reading types besides Morning Readiness are
variations of an Open Reading. The following
Open Readings are pre-tagged for your
convenience in trending later:

1 minute snapshot
Pre, Post and Exercise readings
Guided breathing / meditations
etc.
11

Choosing the best heart

rate monitor
True Heart Rate Variability calculations require
accurate measurement of the time in milliseconds
between each heart beat.

This is called an R-R interval.

Unfortunately, wrist bands, watches and finger
sensors that use LED/Pulse Oximetry do not
accurately measure R-R intervals yet.
Instead, they often take the average R-R interval
over the course of several beats and report that
to the device. This may give the appearance that it
is working fine, but can lead to false HRV results.
Those devices are fine for measuring basic heart
rate. However, they will not provide accurate HRV
data.

12

Choosing the best heart

rate monitor
Pro sports teams, Olympians, and top CEOs
used to be the only ones that could afford the
expensive equipment required to accurately
measure R-R intervals.
Now - common and
affordable heart rate
chest straps can be just
as accurate!
Your Heart Rate chest strap will work if it has
Bluetooth Smart 4.0 and captures accurate RR intervals.
Our recommended heart rate monitor can be
found at
http://www.elitehrv.com/heartmonitor
To learn more about heart rate monitors see

Appendix: Compatible Heart Rate Straps

13

Connecting your HR
Monitor
4

1.

Make sure your chest strap is

not connected to any other
Bluetooth device (including
watches, other phones or
tablets)
Moisten the chest strap contacts
with water or strap gel (this is
important for accuracy)
Secure it tightly but comfortably
just below your pectorals
Turn Bluetooth on by tapping
the word Bluetooth from the
Settings, Record or Reading
screens
Tap Scan if it does not start
scanning automatically
Select your heart rate monitor
from the list of detected devices
The heart rate monitor is saved
for automatic connection in the
future
To connect to a different
monitor first remove the saved
monitor
Tap Done to exit the Bluetooth
popup

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.
7.

8
9

8.
9.

14

Morning Readiness
Readings

The All-Important Morning

Readiness Reading
Morning Readiness readings are the heart of Elite HRV
pun intended.
In less than 3 minutes each morning, you receive
accurate and objective insight into how ready you are
to tackle lifes challenges.
Why Morning Readiness?
Many things affect Heart Rate Variability at any given
time.
Internal processes like circadian rhythm and hormonal
fluctuations cause HRV to slowly rise and fall over the
course of 24 hours.
Mental, physical and emotional experiences also all
affect HRV especially right before a reading.
By calculating your baseline first thing each morning,
you can eliminate a lot of variables and find the
patterns that matter most.
16

Taking A Morning
Readiness Reading
1. Tap Morning Readiness
from either the Home
Screen or the Record
screen

If you do not see this option, it

means that you have already
taken a Morning Readiness
reading today. To retake the
reading, first delete the
previous one from My Entries
in the Analysis home screen.

3
4

2. If your heart rate monitor is

not connected, tap
Bluetooth and follow the
instructions in this guide to
connect your monitor
3. When you are connected,
you will see your live Heart
Rate displayed. Wait for at
least 5-10 seconds for your
heart rate to stabilize
4. Tap Start Recording to
begin the reading
17

Taking a Morning
Readiness Reading
2

1. The timer counts down

until the reading ends
2. The status message shows
what is currently happening
in the recording
3. Heart Rate and a rolling 30
second HRV are displayed
live
4. Tap the icon in the timer
bar to toggle the end of
recording sound between
loud, silent, or vibrate
Note: Your devices media volume
must be turned on for the end of
reading alarm to sound.

5. When the reading finishes

tap Continue
6. You are finished with the
heart rate monitor and can
remove it from your chest
now

5
4

18

Tagging Morning
Readiness Readings
2

Tags provide the ability for you

to draw correlations between
your life events and your HRV
trends. Tagging is optional but
recommended to get the most
out of this powerful tool. To
learn more, see the Trending
section of this guide.
1. Tap Save when you have
finished tagging or to skip it
altogether
2. Expand each section to add
tags
3. For Morning Readiness
readings, Exercise Tags
refers to Yesterdays
exercise session and Sleep
Tags refers to last nights
sleep session
4. You may attach multiple
exercises and sleep
sessions to a single reading
if desired
19

Tagging Morning
Readiness Readings
1.

The date/time selectors are

being redesigned to be more
user-friendly. In the
meantime, you can hold
down on the arrow to quickly
scroll through times and
dates or select the box to
type in times and dates
General tags can be selected
for trending later

2.

Example: I travel a lot. I typically

tag readings with my location,
whether I flew yesterday or
whether I drank alcohol last
night. I know from trending these
tags that my HRV (and my
readiness to perform) is affected
by these activities and I like to
compare them later on.

3.

Notes are free form keep

notes on any details about
the reading or life events
related to the reading but
keep in mind that Notes are
not trendable

Your personal notes are always

private.

20

Your Morning Readiness

Results
2
1
3

1. Your Morning Readiness

score indicates how ready
you are to tackle todays
challenges as compared to
your recent personal
baseline trend
1 indicates the least ready
10 indicates the most ready

2. The balance of your

Autonomic Nervous System
between Parasympathetic
dominant and Sympathetic
dominant (as compared to
your personal baseline
trend)
3. Your actual HRV score (in a
0 to 100 range)
4. Your general
recommendation for today
for the best results, show
your scores to an
experienced coach or
health practitioner for
additional guidance

21

A Deeper Look at Morning

Readiness
1. HRV Daily Diff shows the
2.

3.

3
4.

5.
6.
7.

change in HRV from

yesterday to today
HRV Weekly Diff shows the
change in HRV from 7 days
ago to today
HR and HRV Details shows
additional commonly used
calculations in HR and HRV
research
By scrolling down, you can
review reading tags and
make edits if needed
Navigate to Analysis Home
Navigate to My Entries list
Navigate to the intrareading Charts

Charts are used to analyze HR and

HRV information during the actual
reading

8. Tap Save to exit to the My

Entries list
9. You also have the option to
delete this reading
(irreversible!)

22

What Do Green, Yellow,

Red Indicators Mean?
First things first, a green indicator does not mean
throw caution to the wind and try something you arent
physically or mentally capable of.

It does, however, mean that compared to your own

personal trends, you should be able to handle more
stress today. This often includes being able to:

Exercise a little harder than normal

Tackle a few more items on your to-do list
Think a little more clearly at work or school
Have reduced systemic inflammation

Yellow (sympathetic) indicates the body is under a bit

more stress than usual. Consider lighter exercise and
reducing stressful activity unless you have restful days
coming up or if over doing it is not a concern.
Yellow (parasympathetic) indicates the bodys recovery
systems are working overtime to recover from a large
or accumulated stress. This state is correlated with
over
reaching
in
training
or
over-active
parasympathetic (recovery) systems.
23

What Do Green, Yellow,

Red Indicators Mean?
Red (sympathetic) indicates the body is experiencing
deeper levels of stress or fatigue. To avoid over training
or over stressing it is highly recommended to prioritize
rest.
Red (parasympathetic) indicates a deeper level of
recovery activity in response to accumulated stress. The
body is likely reaching an over trained state. It is
strongly recommended to prioritize light active
recovery.
A fourth indicator type, the grey indicator, is the one
you see when you complete your first Morning
Readiness reading (or if you havent taken a MR reading
in a while).
The grey indicator with a score of n/a shows that you
need to establish a baseline of a few days of readings in
order to start receiving Morning Readiness scores and
indicators.

24

Adjusting Exercise by
Morning Readiness
We always jump at the chance to say, An app does
not replace a great coach.
That being said, even a great coach will benefit from
the additional data that tracking Heart Rate
Variability provides.
Generally, exercise may be tweaked using Heart
Rate Variability as follows:
Green days Take the opportunity to test your limits
within the bounds of safety.
Yellow days It is often a good idea to reduce your
exercise load on yellow days. If you decide to reduce
your exercise load, the best tactic is usually to
decrease volume while maintaining intensity,
complexity, etc.
However, you might consider exercising like normal
unless you are concerned about getting enough rest
in the following days. If you do exercise like normal,
pay close attention to what happens in the following
days to your HRV.
25

Adjust Exercise by Morning

Readiness
Red days it is strongly encouraged to reduce
exercise volume on red days.
Good activities for red days include:

Light mobility work

Light skill work (only if quality remains high)
Brisk walking
Deep diaphragmatic breathing
Napping

If you are consistently green, you likely have

the ability to push yourself harder than you
have been. If you find yourself in the
yellow/red frequently then you either need to
increase the quality of your recovery or
reduce the exercise stimulus.
The ideal pattern is to have acute stressors
that cause a change in HRV every few days,
followed by adequate recovery to allow
improvement.
26

General Recovery
Protocols
In general, you will spend most of your time
recovering. If you spend 3 hours a week
exercising, you spend the other 165 hours
recovering.
Recovery is where you achieve your gains.
When your mind and body heals and adapts
is when you increase your mental and
physical performance.
The following are very important
achieving maximum recovery:

for

Sleep more than 7 hours per day

Nutrition eliminate inflammatory foods that
compete for your bodys resources
Breathing reduce the use of clothing that
restricts breathing, practice deep diaphragmatic
breathing

27

Readiness Trends

Building a Baseline
In order for the app to identify your personal Autonomic
Nervous System, stress, and recovery patterns it needs at
least several days in a row worth of data to compare to.
Why?
Your Nervous system and physiology is even more unique
than your finger print. A single Heart Rate Variability
measurement could mean anything. Your age, gender,
lifestyle, sleep, nutrition, social situation, work situation,
etc. can all play a role in what your HRV score ends up
being.
Knowing this, an HRV score of 40 might mean a terrible
day for you or a wonderful day for you. It really depends
on your normal HRV range.
By taking readings each morning for at least a week, the
app can learn what looks normal for you. Only then can
it start showing you whether today is going to be
awesome or not-so-awesome and how to address that to
optimize your performance.
For the best accuracy in your HRV readings, keep
measuring each and every morning. Try not to miss!
29

Baselining When OverStressed or Over-Trained

Sometimes you might already be in an over-trained or overstressed state. If this is the case, then building a baseline
during that week may give confusing results.
If you are truly over-trained or over-stressed, the app will
think that your normal state is the over trained or stressed
out state.
Then if you happen to recover quickly it may flag your
recovery as an abnormal state for you and produce a yellow
or red indicator.
If you think this may be an issue for you, the absolute best
thing to do is to consult a coach that understands the
importance of recovery.
This is how you can adjust your interpretation of the Elite
HRV results if you believe you have baselined in an overtrained or over-stressed state:
Once your over-trained baseline is established, try not to
let your 0 to 100 HRV score decrease at all on Morning
Readings
Try to bring your 0-100 HRV score up higher as often as
possible
If you get a yellow or red flag, prioritize rest
If you get a green but it is leaning towards Sympathetic,
prioritize rest on those days as well
30

Your HRV Trends

Once you have built a
baseline, the app will start
generating
Morning
Readiness
trends
and
recommendations for you.

The My Trends screen

displays a green, yellow or
red bar each day based on
the
Morning
Readiness
indicator you received that
day. The height of the bar is
on a 1 to 10 scale based on
the
Morning
Readiness
score you received that day.
To view your trends:
1. Navigate to Analysis
Home
2. Tap MORE next to
Readiness Trends

31

Your First HRV Results

Your first reading (or if you
have not taken a reading in a
while) will display a grey
readiness indicator and a score
of n/a

This is because with only one

score in recent history, the app
cannot establish you personal
baseline to compare your daily
scores to.
On your Trends dashboard, this
days reading will show up as a
grey bar as well.

Take a few days of Morning

Readiness readings in a row to
start gaining insight into your
true HRV patterns!

32

The My Trends Screen

2
4
5
1

What you find on the My

Trends dashboard:
1. Your 1-10 Morning
Readiness scores are
displayed as color coded
data bars based on your
readiness score.
2. Use the Filters menu to
add more information to
the graph or filter by
date
3. Select additional trends
to display as lines or
bars
4. Tap a bar to view
additional reading
details
5. Tap the popup to
navigate to the selected
readings Details screen

33

Analyze a Reading Details

Chart
3

4
2

At the bottom right corner of

the reading Details screen you
will find a button labeled
Charts.

1
The intra-reading Charts show
you exactly what was
happening during a selected
reading.

1. View the rise and fall of

heart rate and HRV
2. Zoom and pan with the
zoom and pan tool
3. Tap H to return to the
default zoom/pan
4. Add and remove various
Trends in the Filters menu
5. Define a rolling average
interval for Rolling HRV and
Rolling Avg HR

34

What is a Good HRV Score?

Heart rate variability is highly based on individual
circumstances. Everything from your mindset to air
quality to age and exercise patterns can affect HRV.
This is why we emphasize the personal trends and
improvement over comparing yourself to others.
That being said, where do you stack up?
A higher HRV is correlated with younger biological age
and better aerobic fitness.
At the time of this writing:
The top 10% of Elite HRV users are scoring above
74.29
The average HRV score is 60.32
We have a lot of young athletes as users, and they are
setting the bar high! Remember the key to
improvement is acute stress followed by adequate
recovery.
Scoring really low on any given day is usually nothing
to worry about. It is your average over time that
matters the most.
35

Open Readings

Open Readings
Open readings are different than Morning Readiness
readings. Their purpose is to let you measure HRV and
heart rate during any activity.
Open readings do not affect your HRV trends on the
My Trends dashboard.
They can be taken anytime, anywhere, for as long as
you like.
You can use Open readings to measure HRV during
anything, but they are often used to measure:
Sleep patterns
Exercise stimulus
Heart rate recovery and HRV recovery
Improvements in stress and recovery through
guided breathing
Improvements in HRV from yoga
and the list goes on.

Open Reading Variations

The following are some pre-tagged and preconfigured Open Readings for your convenience.
Pre-exercise / Warm-up
See how effective your warm up is at elevating
heart rate and priming the nervous system. This
Open Reading is pre-tagged as pre-exercise and
warm-up.
HRV Exercise
For any type of exercise, whether it is strength
training, HIIT, endurance or any other type of
activity. See how your HR and, more importantly,
HRV rises and falls throughout your session. Pretagged as exercise, workout, and training
Post-exercise / Cooldown
Heart Rate Recovery (HRR) and HRV recovery.
Start this reading as soon as you finish your last
rep and see how long it takes your body to return
to normal. (More details on page 38 of this guide).
Pre-tagged as post-exercise, cooldown

38

HRR and HRV Recovery

1
4

5
5

Heart Rate Recovery (HRR) has been

a long time indicator of both the
effect of an exercise stimulus and the
ability for the person to recover from
it.
Now you can take HRR and HRV
Recovery measurements at the same
time for additional insight into your
Autonomic
Nervous
Systems
reaction and recovery to exercise.
To measure Heart Rate Recovery and
HRV Recovery follow these steps:
1. Begin by taking a 1 minute
snapshot reading in a
comfortable standing position
before warming up note the
heart rate
2. Warm up
3. Do your exercise or training
session
4. Immediately upon exercise
completion start recording the
Post-exercise / Cooldown
reading
5. End the recording when heart
rate returns within 5 beats of
the original 1 minute snapshot
in the standing position

39

HRR and HRV Recovery

To see additional detail about
your HRR and HRV recovery
patterns:

1
2
3

1. Add any additional tags on

the tagging screen such as
HRR
2. Tap Charts at the bottom of
Reading Details screen
3. Use the Filters menu to
display HR (red)
4. Review the pattern of HR as
it returns to normal levels

40

Guided Breathing Reading

Slow diaphragmatic breathing
helps balance the nervous
system and promotes more
efficient recovery.
See the section in this guide
called A Deeper Look At HRV
to learn how the respiratory
system is a powerful tool for
controlling HRV.

3
4

1. Tap Guided Breathing to

launch an Open Reading
that is pre-tagged for a
guided breathing session
2. Tap to activate the
breathing guide
3. Tap the speaker symbol to
toggle through various
audio guides for inhaling
and exhaling
Note: Device media volume
must be turned on

4. Tap Start Recording to start

the breathing reading
41

Guided Breathing Reading

2
1

1. Inhale as the guide circle

expands, exhale as the
guide circle contracts
2. Adjust the speed (in
breaths per minute) of the
breathing guide to a
comfortable level
3. As you get better at guided
breathing, your live heart
rate display will begin to
track smoothly with your
breathing
It should rise when you inhale
and fall when you exhale

Notes on breathing:
Breathing should be deep but
effortless. For best results, do
not strain to breath deeper
than an easy and comfortable
breath.

Inhale through your nose and

exhale through pursed lips, as
if blowing into a straw.

Place your hand on your

abdomen and try to feel your
stomach and lower back
expand before your chest
expands for each inhale.
42

Guided Breathing Reading

1. You may practice
breathing as long as
you like. Here are our
guidelines:

a) The minimum recording

time is 1 minute
b) Start with 3-5 minutes of
breathing and slowly
build up to 15 or more
minutes

Warning
If you feel light headed or
uncomfortable, then start
breathing normally and
look away from the app. If
this occurs, speed up the
breathing guide on future
sessions.
Consult your physician or
coach
for
additional
guidance.
43

Science Overview
A Deeper Look at HRV

Basic Heart Rate Variability

As mentioned earlier, Heart Rate Variability is the
variation in time between successive heart beats over
a given period of time. This time between beats is
sometimes called Inter-beat Intervals (IBIs) or R-R
intervals and usually measured in milliseconds (ms).
We will refer to them as R-R intervals.

It is very different than Heart Rate (HR) or Beats Per

Minute (BPM). HRV looks much closer at the small
fluctuations of the Heart that occur in response to
everything that happens both inside and outside of our
body.
By applying the right calculations to these barely
perceptible R-R interval changes, we can figure out
exactly how ready we are to handle things like intense
exercise, a big presentation at work, or any other
stressful situation.

This is all possible thanks to a certain branch of our

nervous system.
45

The Autonomic Nervous

System
Your body is full of a huge network of nerves, vessels,
muscles, glands and more. This complex network of
systems keeps you alive, fuels your performance, and
controls your recovery.
It all happens automatically and is controlled by the
Autonomic Nervous System (ANS).
The ANS touches every process within your body. It
affects blood sugar, adrenaline, digestion, pupil
dilation, heart rate, and much more.

It has two main branches: the Sympathetic Nervous

System (SNS) and the Parasympathetic Nervous
System (PNS).
46

HRV and the ANS

The Parasympathetic (rest and digest) branch of the
ANS plays a major role in digestion, sexual arousal,
muscle repair, lowers blood pressure, lowers heart rate
etc.
The Sympathetic (fight or flight) branch of the ANS
increases blood pressure, increases heart rate, dilates
pupils, and makes you sweat more among other
things.
Needless to say, you want to spend most of your time
leaning towards the Parasympathetic side. But you
want your Sympathetic side to be strong as well when
you need to perform.
Every millisecond, both branches of the Autonomic
Nervous System are competing to keep you alive: now
(fight or flight) vs. keep you alive later (rest and digest).
You may have noticed that Parasympathetic decreases
heart rate, while Sympathetic increases heart rate. This
tiny changes in heart rate are the main cause of Heart
Rate Variability and are the changes we are looking to
measure.
47

Autonomic Balance
First, it is important to realize that the balance of your
Autonomic Nervous System is shifting between
Parasympathetic and Sympathetic all the time. This is
natural and healthy.
It is also healthy to have the balance of your ANS fluctuate
on a daily basis as well. If you get a yellow or red
indication of imbalance on any given day, that is ok!

It just gives you data to work with to make adjustments

for long term improvement. In fact the best long term
improvement usually comes from having mostly green
indicators, with 1-2 yellow indicators each week.
If your readings indicate green all the time, it may mean
you are not experiencing enough of a stimulus to trigger
positive adaptation.
It is important to trigger the stress and recovery cycle
acutely at least a few times per week!

48

Sympathetic Dominance
Being able to elevate blood sugar, blood pressure and
heart rate when you need it (to handle an emergency
or outperform in a competition) is a very good thing.
The problem is when you spend too much time in a
Sympathetic dominant state, you never get the
recovery you need to maximize your growth and
improvement.
Youve probably heard of chronic stress. It can make
you age faster, lose muscle and bone, cause brain fog
and a whole host of other issues.
If you are a fit athlete that doesnt care about chronic
stress, just know that you may be leaving a lot of
performance gains on the table.
For the average person, chronic stress may happen
due to a combination of pressures from work and
relationships with inflammatory foods and poor quality
sleep.
For athletes this often comes in the form of over
training. But dont discount work, school, food or sleep
either!
49

Parasympathetic
Dominance
For the best health and performance, it is important to
for both branches of the ANS to be strong. It is also
important for there to be balance between the two.
This means we can activate our Sympathetic strength
when we need it, and then turn it off quickly and spend
most of our time in a restorative Parasympathetic
state.
It is possible however to have an extreme case of
Parasympathetic activity that indicates something is
wrong. This is called an Over-Active Parasympathetic
state. An over-active Parasympathetic branch happens
for a few reasons:
Over training reaches a state where your body has
to shut down the Sympathetic (fight or flight)
system in order to repair before serious damage
occurs
Chronic stress can do the same thing though it is
harder to detect
Your body is recovering from or about to be sick
These are a few cases to look out for. This is not
medical advice. This is for informational purposes only.
50

Mitigating Autonomic
Imbalances
As mentioned earlier it is natural and healthy for the
ANS to shift back and forth between Sympathetic and
Parasympathetic.
If you experience an abnormal imbalance towards one
or the other, the solution is almost always to prioritize
rest and recovery including active recovery.
Here are some techniques that can help with recovery:
Active Recovery stimulates blood flow and
lymphatic system
- 20 minutes or more of light aerobic movement
Massage removes tissue blockage, stimulates
blood flow
Guided breathing / meditation balances the
nervous system, relieves tension, fuels the body
with more air flow
Float tank relieves tension, removes stimuli,
relaxes the senses
Cold shower / immersion stimulates blood flow,
stimulates hormonal balance

51

Measuring For Success

By measuring HRV regularly, we can see the shifts in
Parasympathetic and Sympathetic dominance.
In general we want to be in balance or slightly
Parasympathetic leaning.
In the latest version of Elite HRV we make this easy by
displaying a balance gauge on the results screen of all
Morning Readiness readings.

As HRV goes up, a shift towards Parasympathetic is

detected. As HRV goes down, a shift towards Sympathetic
is detected.
The idea is to be balanced (in reality the perfect 10 middle
in Elite HRV is slightly Parasympathetic underneath the
surface).
52

Breathing and HRV

Overview
The respiratory system is tightly integrated with the
cardiovascular system, nervous system and the brain.
When you breathe in, your heart rate increases slightly.
When you breathe out, your heart rate decreases
slightly.
This is an important cycle that keeps your body in
balance between performance and recovery when it is
operating correctly.
The neat thing is that we can use HRV as a biofeedback
tool in combination with our breathing. By doing this
we are actually able to boost the function of our
Autonomic Nervous System.
Deep diaphragmatic breathing has the potential to:
Increase mental performance
Stimulate blood flow and relieve tension
Enhance recovery from physical and mental tasks
and much more

There are so many other benefits to deep, effortless

breathing that it should be practiced whether you are
measuring HRV with it or not.
53

Does Breathing Really

Matter?
Skeptical of whether guided breathing makes a
difference in your health and performance?
If youve made it this far, you probably realize the
relationship between Heart Rate Variability and your
bodys recovery status.
When recovery is stronger, your HRV is higher. When
recovery is weaker (or you are experiencing stress) HRV
is typically lower.
There is also compelling research showing that when
your brain, heart, nervous and respiratory systems are
in balance that your heart rate becomes much less
erratic.
It is claimed that if your heart rate rises and falls in a
smooth pattern, your ability to think clearly and
perform under pressure significantly increases.
The next page outlines an easy test you can do to see if
guided breathing makes a difference for you.

54

Testing The Guided

Breathing Difference
Heres a quick test you can do to see whether guided
breathing makes any difference for you:
1. Stand in a comfortable position, in a quiet place,
looking at something neutral
2. Record a 1 minute snapshot reading without
controlling breathing (breathe naturally)
3. Now open another 1 minute snapshot reading and
turn on the breathing guide
If needed, follow the instructions for guided
breathing in the previous pages
4. Deeply but comfortably follow the guide - inhale
and exhale focusing on using your lower abdomen
and diaphragm
5. Record the 1 minute snapshot reading
6. Open the Charts found in the bottom right corner of
the Reading Details for each of the readings
7. Using the Filter menu in the Charts, display HR (red)
and HRV (purple)
See the next page for some compelling results we have
seen.

55

Breathing Test Results

The picture on the left is the first reading (without guided
breathing). The picture on the right is my second reading
(with guided breathing).
First reading HRV score: 63
Second reading HRV score: 76
Not only did the HRV score significantly increase by 13 points
in just 1 minute, but it is obvious that the heart rate went
from erratic to a smoother, uniform trend (left vs right).
For such a simple act, guided breathing has enormous
potential to balance your Autonomic Nervous System,
promote recovery and so much more. It is recommended for
general health improvement to perform a minimum of 5
minutes per day of guided breathing.
If youve performed this test, let us know how it went by
Tweeting us @EliteHRV

56

Applications of HRV
We originally got our start with improving exercise and
sports performance. But our users have been able to
apply Heart Rate Variability in so many new ways it is
fascinating.
We currently have folks using HRV for:
Professional sports performance optimizing
Tracking holistic health improvements
Improved chiropractic therapy
Improving psychological conditions
Traumatic injury rehab
Sports rehab
Tailoring CrossFit and group classes
Enhancing personal training
Recreational exercise
Triathlon and endurance training
Weightlifting and power sports
Mitigating chronic stress
Enhancing meditation and bio-energizing practices

57

HRV for Teams, Gyms

and Health Practices

The Power of a Team

Heart Rate Variability
optimization tool.

is

powerful

However, the best health and performance

improvements are usually made with the
guidance of a good coach.
Now coaches, health practitioners, and group
leaders can now manage all of their clients or
team members from a single, easy-to-use
web dashboard.

59

The Team Web Dashboard

To create your team visit the Elite HRV Team
web dashboard at:
http://app.elitehrv.com

The Team web dashboard is currently for

Team owners and administrators only.
This includes, but is not limited to:

Sports teams
Gyms
Health practices
Yoga studios
Strength and power athletes
Endurance sports
etc.

The Team web dashboard is currently open

for free registration! Follow the link above to
get started.
60

Team HRV for Members

HRV for Teams gives you and your coach or
health practitioner a huge advantage in
tracking your health and performance
improvements.
If your Coach or Health Practitioner is not
making use of HRV, politely ask them to
review the science section of this guide with
you.
To join a Team as a Member see the next few
pages.

61

Joining A Team

1. From the Home

screen, navigate to the
Team screen (see page
11 of this User Guide)
2. Search the name of
the existing team you
wish to join

Note: The team names will

auto-populate with existing
teams as you type the name so
make sure it is spelled
correctly or you might not find
your team

4
5

3. Select the desired

Team to join
4. Confirm your request
to join a team by
selecting OK, Join Team
5. You also have the
option to cancel a
request to join a team

62

Joining a Team

1. Once a request has

been submitted to the
Team Admin to join a
team, the team will
display as pending
2. You can cancel a
pending request to
join a team by
selecting the X
3. Once your request to
join a team is
approved by the Team
Admin, your team will
display under My
Teams

Note: You can be a member

of multiple teams

4. Select your team you

want to view to see
other team members
and details
63

Viewing Your Team

1

4
5

1. View your other team

members and their
most recent readiness
score
2. Tap Options to change
team display options
and edit your team
status
3. You can sort and filter
the team data
displayed in the Team
Options
4. Update your team
members most recent
data by selecting Sync
in the Team Options
5. You can leave a team
at any time by
selecting Leave in the
Team Options
64

Settings and Privacy

Settings
1
2
3

4
6

1. Tap to Logout
2. Check that your Email
address is valid please
contact us if you need
assistance changing your
email address
3. Update your name,
demographic info and
goals
4. Manage heart rate monitor
connections
5. Set privacy settings
(including Team Privacy
Settings)
6. Set Reading Reminder
this is not an alarm it
simply displays a Push
Notification reminder to
take your Morning
Readiness at the specified
time each day
7. If there is anything we can
do to help or improve the
system, let us know in the
Feedback box
8. If you are happy with the
app or our service, help us
continue to grow and
improve by leaving a review
many thanks!
66

Settings & Privacy

1.

Join the mailing list to receive

updated versions of this
guide and other useful HRV
information
Find the guide screens that
pop up throughout the app
in the Help section for
reference any time
Send an export of all of your
readings to the Email
associated with your account

1
2.

2
3.

a)

b)

3
4.

Column A date/time stamp

for the reading
Column B comma separated,
raw R-R intervals

Disable Teammate Sharing to

hide your name and HRV
information from other
Members of your Team (the
Team Owners and Team
Administrators will still see it)

Note on Privacy:
Your personal information is not
shared with anyone with one
exception: If you join a Team the
Team can view your name and
HRV data
Your general tags and notes are
note shared with anyone.

67

Setting a Reading
Reminder

2
3

1. From the Settings screen,

tap Set Reading Reminder
2. Use the time selector to set
daily reminders
3. You can set or turn off a
reminder at any time
4. A Reading Reminder will
display as a notification on
your device
It will not sound an alarm

68

Additional Information
Appendix

Reading Positions for

Morning Readiness
The position in which you take your reading can greatly
affect the results. This sounds like it could ruin the
usefulness of measuring HRV, but that would only be the
case if you were basing your decisions off of a single
reading.
Since you will build your own individual HRV trend over
time, and you are aware that reading position affects the
HRV reading, then all you need to do is make sure your
body position is the same each time you take your
Morning Readiness reading.
The recommended positions for taking the Morning
Readiness reading are:
1. Laying down (if resting heart rate is above 50)
2. Sitting on chair or floor (if resting heart rate is below
50 while laying)
3. Resting squat (if you are able to truly rest in a squat
position)
Whichever position you choose, the most important thing
to do is take the Morning Readiness reading the same
way each time.
The next page will cover other reading positions.
70

Reading Positions for Open

Readings
Open readings can be taken in any position
you like including while working out.
Now that you know that reading position
affects your heart rate and heart rate
variability, you have a better understanding
of why your HRV throughout the day may
look different than your Morning Readiness
reading.
If you are testing your resting heart rate and
HRV before and after a workout, make sure to
use the same position for both tests.
If you are testing before and after a meal,
make sure to use the same position for both
tests. This principle can be applied to any
reading tests you are performing.
You can also test your HR and HRV between
reading positions to see the difference.
71

Reading Position Examples

72

Compatible Phones &

Tablets
The following iOS and Android devices are currently compatible with
Elite HRV.
iOS
iPhone 4s, 5, 5c, 5s, 6, 6 plus
iPad 3, 4, Air, Air 2, Mini 1, Mini 2, Mini 3
Android
Most Android devices that run Android 4.3 or newer are compatible
Learn: How to update your Android OS to the latest version
Must have Bluetooth 4.0 (also called Smart or LE)
List of Bluetooth 4.0 devices
Examples include:
Nexus 4, 5, 7 (2nd edition), 10
Samsung Galaxy Series
For the most up-to-date information on devices, see
www.elitehrv.com/compatible-devices

73

Compatible Heart Rate

Straps
In order for a heart rate monitor to be compatible with
Elite HRV it must fit 2 criteria:
1. It must capture accurate R-R intervals
2. It must have Bluetooth 4.0 (also called Smart or LE)
The following heart rate chest straps have been tested
and are compatible with Elite HRV:
Polar H7
Suunto Movesense
Zephyr - the Bluetooth 4.0 version
Wahoo TICKR
The following heart rate monitors have been tested
and are not recommended for calculating HRV:
Fitbit Charge HR
Mio wrist monitors
Scosche wrist monitors
Zephyr the Bluetooth 2.1 version
At this time, we are still working on Garmin
connectivity. Their proprietary connections are not as
simple as the other open hardware platforms.
74

Troubleshooting HR
monitors
If you are having difficulty connecting your heart rate
monitor to the app try the following steps:
1. Check that Bluetooth is on
2. Check that the heart rate monitor is thoroughly
moistened where it touches the skin
3. Check that the heart rate monitor is not
connected to any other device nearby
4. Check that the heart rate monitor has a full
battery
5. Does the HR monitor support Bluetooth 4.0?
6. Does your phone or tablet support Bluetooth
4.0?
7. Does the HR monitor measure R-R intervals?
Note for hairy people: If you have a lot of hair between
your skin and the heart rate monitor, it may cause
signal issues. If you have less hair on your back, some
people have had success turning the monitor around
to their back. If it works, I would only recommend
doing this for resting readings like Morning Readiness.
For more information on heart rate monitors, see the
previous page of this guide or visit
http://www.elitehrv.com/compatible-devices
75

Using Guide Screens

Guide screens will popup
throughout the app. A list of
guide screens can also be
found on the Settings
screen.

1. Tap anywhere to
advanced the slides
2. Skip may appear in the
top right corner of some
guides tap it to skip to
the end
3. On the last slide of a
guide, tap Restart Guide
to review the guide again
4. Some guide screens
have additional
information if you scroll
down
5. On the last slide of a
guide, tap the action
button Got it! to close
the guide

76

Getting The Best Results Reading Streak

The best results are obtained
with HRV when you consistently
take readings each day without
skipping.
This allows the system to build
the
most
accurate
and
individually tailored stress and
recovery profile for you.
To encourage this habit, we
display your reading streak that
counts the number of days in a
row that you have taken
readings.
At the time of this writing 141
people have a streak of over 25
days in a row.
Pretty good - Lets see if you can
catch them!

77

Deleting a Reading
Deleting a reading takes place
in the reading Details screen.
Reading Details can be reached
from the following screens:
My Entries
My Trends
Analysis Home
Saving a reading you just
finished taking

To delete a reading:
1. Open Reading Details
2. Tap Delete in the top left
corner
3. Confirm the deletion
Note: Deleting is irreversible!

78

End of Reading Alarm and

Timer
The following readings have a countdown
timer:
Morning Readiness
1 minute snapshot open reading

On those two readings it is possible to have

an audible beep or vibrate at the end of the
reading to signal the recording completion.
The end of recording alarm can be toggled by
tapping the audio icon in the bottom right
corner of the reading screen until the desired
alarm is set.
Note: Your phone or tablets media audio
must be turned up to hear the audible alarm
at the end of the reading.

79

Audio Guided Breathing

Open readings have the option to display a breathing
guide.
When displayed you may choose between several
audio guides to accompany the visual breathing cue by
tapping the audio icon next to the word Breathing.
Options include:
Male voice
Female voice
Breathing sound effect
Silent

80

Where To Learn More

To learn more visit the resource pages and
blog posts at www.EliteHRV.com
Here is a link to our Frequently Asked
Questions: www.EliteHRV.com/faq
If the FAQ, website, and this guide dont have
the information you need, (or if you just want
to say hi!) please feel free to reach out to us
at support@elitehrv.com

Cheers!
Team Elite HRV

81