The set played influences the heart rate variability in elite padel players

Abstract

Heart rate variability (HRV) includes a set of parameters that show the interactions between the heart, the brain, and the autonomous nervous system. Thanks to its analysis we can extract several biomarkers that serve as reliable indicators of health and stress levels. However, in professional padel there is still a lot of research development in this area. The aim of this study was to analyze the differences in heart rate and heart rate variability as a function of the set played in top-20 male padel players. We analyzed 4 padel matches of 6 top-20 world players (age = 28.6±4.8 years, height = 181.0±3.5 cm). Heart Rate and Heart Rate Variability were assessed in the first, second and third sets using a Polar H10 device. The heart rate variability was higher in the first set than in subsequent sets. These results indicate a predominance of the sympathetic nervous system and, therefore, greater stress in the second and third sets as they are the decisive ones of the match. As a practical application, padel players should incorporate in their training real situations of a high frequency of decisive points. At the end of the training session, players should accumulate a high amount of time under stress, for which they can use the measurements of heart rate variability through a pulsometer for the quantification of the training loads. The time under high predominance of the autonomous sympathetic system is of vital importance to assess the correct transference of the player training to the competitive matches stimuli.