Heart rate variability as a possible predictor of sport performance in junior rhythmic gymnastics

BACKGROUND:
Heart rate variability may reveal sensitive information about the athletes’ physiological adaptation when exercising for sport performance.

OBJECTIVE:
The aim of this study was to demonstrate whether heart rate variability (HRV) measurements were able to predict sport results and determine which type of measurements, at rest or during routines, were relevant in anticipating the performance.

METHOD:
Ten female gymnasts, aged 11–14 years old, and 16 age-matched non-active adolescents participated in this study. HRV was measured at rest for 10 minutes and throughout the training routines one week prior to competition. Correlations and multivariate analysis determined the parameters predicting performance. Significance was set at p⩽ 0.05.

Results:
At rest, the gymnasts displayed higher HRV values than controls. At rest, sympathetic parameters correlated with sport results whereas no correlation was observed during routines. The magnitude of the predictive factors highlighted the importance of Ln SD2 (coefficient =−117, 95CI −130 to −106), Ln RMSSD (coefficient =−24.5, 95CI −29.2 to −19.8), Ln pNN50 (coefficient =−10.7, 95CI −11.5 to −9.9), and Ln Total power (coefficient =−2.5, 95CI −13.4 to −11.5).

CONCLUSIONS:
HRV at rest may predict results in competition, being a complementary tool for coaches.