Ready or not? – how to find out if you're ready to train
It’s not always easy to figure how your body is responding to training and whether you’re ready for more. Your subjective feeling is an important indicator, of course, but it’s often useful to combine it with objective measurements to see the big picture. We can help you decide whether to rev up your engines or to take it easy.
We have a bunch of valid solutions for predicting your readiness for training that you can choose from – depending on your goals and training routines. Keep reading to learn more.
Injury & illness risk (Cardio load status)
It's useful for any regular trainer to keep an eye on their injury & illness risk. For one reason or another, many athletes are inclined to skip rest and recovery. Finding the balance between exertion and rest can be challenging for pro athletes, but for regular trainers as well.
Our prediction of your injury & illness risk is based on Cardio load status. Your Cardio load status can be detraining, maintaining, productive or overreaching depending on how much cardio training you’ve been doing lately compared to your usual level. If you keep overreaching, you’ll be more prone to sports-related injuries. You may also fall ill more easily. This doesn't mean you’re bound to get injured or fall ill, but the odds are that you’re not ready for more!
Injury & illness risk is based on training volume and intensity only. It doesn’t measure the actual indicators of recovery or take any other factors, such as sleep, into account.
Nightly Recharge
You might want to go with Nightly Recharge, if you’re a regular trainer looking for balance between training and other commitments – such as work, family and friends. You want to reach your goals without compromising your overall well-being. Nightly Recharge is an automatic overnight recovery measurement that helps you make optimal choices every day.
Nightly Recharge status consists of ANS charge and sleep charge. ANS charge looks at how well your autonomic nervous system calmed down during the early hours of your sleep. It combines measurements of heart rate, heart rate variability (RMSSD, Root Mean Square of Successive Differences in beat-to-beat intervals) and breathing rate. Sleep charge reflects how well you slept compared to your usual level, using your individual 28-day sleep score baseline as a point of comparison. The compared values combine a bunch of amount and quality metrics generally accepted in sleep science.
The feedback is more than numbers though. Based on your Nightly Recharge status, you get personalized tips every day to help you plan your training, optimize your sleep and regulate your energy levels. All you have to do is wear your watch. Nightly Recharge helps you make the most of your day even when your resources are low.
Orthostatic test
Orthostatic test is a part of the Recovery Pro solution, but you can also use it independently to evaluate your daily readiness for cardio training. It’s suitable for anyone who wants to track how their body is responding to training and other factors, such as stress. The test was originally developed for medical use, but it’s been used in sports science for over 20 years already.
The test measures your heart rate variability at rest (RMSSD rest) and when standing up (RMSSD stand). These values are then compared to your individual 28-day baseline. If either of the two heart rate variability values deviates from its normal range, your cardio system recovery is considered incomplete. We can assume this, because we know that increased training load and mental stress cause changes in the autonomic control of the heart.
It’s been shown that runners who modified their training plans based on Orthostatic test feedback did achieve similar (or even better) progress with less training than those who stuck with their original training plans. To track your readiness for training, you should take the test every day, or at least when you’re planning to do high-intensity cardio training. In addition to your watch, you need a heart rate sensor with a chest strap.
Recovery Pro
If you’re highly performance-oriented, Recovery Pro could be your choice. Achieving your goals not only requires hard work, but also the regular evaluation of your readiness to train and the ability to adjust your training plan accordingly. Adjusting your training based on recovery can make a huge difference in your progress.
Recovery Pro is not automatic. It requires that you take at least three Orthostatic tests a week and answer the recovery questions at least three times a week. If you’re serious with your goals, these few minutes are certainly worth your while.
Recovery Pro provides you with a thorough understanding of your recovery status and readiness for training – both short term and long term. It combines Cardio load data from training sessions, Orthostatic test results and your answers to subjective recovery questions. Everything is compared to your individual baseline.
This is what you’ll get every day:
- feedback on whether your cardio system is recovered today or not
- feedback on your long-term training habits and recovery
- personalized training advice
Recovery Pro uses Orthostatic test as a tool to assess the autonomic control of the heart, but the test can be also be used independently as described above.
Leg recovery test
If you’re serious with your goals and your training regime includes speed, strength and high-intensity cardio training, using Leg recovery test could be a remarkable advantage for you. Speed and strength training are essential in improving one’s performance in most sports. To get the most out of your training sessions, you should be able to time them wisely – recognizing and respecting your body’s individual response to training and other factors in your life. Leg recovery test helps you with that.
Leg recovery test is a safe and convenient way to find out whether your lower body muscles have recovered from training, and help you decide what type of training to do next. In practice, taking Leg recovery test means doing three guided countermovement jumps. You can take the test anywhere, with no other equipment needed apart from your watch. By comparing the results to your usual level, we estimate the recovery status of your lower body muscles.
Furthermore, we combine your leg recovery status with other relevant data available – such as injury & illness risk, Recovery Pro, Orthostatic test and Nightly Recharge – to evaluate your readiness for speed, strength or high-intensity cardio training. To track your readiness for training, you should take the test every day, or at least when you’re planning to do speed training or strength training for your lower body muscles.
Here’s a couple of examples of what your feedback could look like:
