Resting Cardiovascular function and its Association with Athletic Performance Measures in Female Soccer Players

This project looked at heart rate variability (cardiovascular assessment of the nervous system) scores and compared them to countermovement jump (muscular system assessment of nervous system) scores. The goal of the project was to show that these two variables could help determine what type of work you could put an athlete through based on these scores. HRV is the amount of time between each heart beat, typically we look at heart rate in beats per minute. But our heart doesn't beat like a metronome, there is variability between each beat. This variability can be measured using a heart rate monitor and determine if we are in a rest and digest state, or the fight or flight state. So it is measuring our stress level. If we get a high HRV score it means we are rested, which would be an ideal state for an athlete to train hard. If we are stressed, we get a low score, which means the athlete needs to rest or adjust training to have a lighter load.