Why Elite Athletes Often Have Suboptimal HRV

And how breathing can fix what training can’t

Elite athletes are masters of control.

They track every heartbeat, macro, and marginal gain. They push harder, recover smarter, and live by the numbers.

But beneath the precision of performance lies a hidden imbalance.

Many of the fittest, most disciplined athletes in the world show surprisingly low HRV (heart rate variability) the nervous system’s real-time score for adaptability.

The Paradox of Fitness

A low HRV doesn’t mean you’re out of shape. It means your body is stuck in performance mode, switched on, even when you’re trying to rest.

You can have a huge VO₂ max and a slow resting heart rate, but if your nervous system can’t shift gears, you’re running on tension, not balance. Your engine’s strong, but your brakes don’t work.

Training builds output.

Breathing builds control.

What HRV Actually Measures

HRV is the tiny variation in time between each heartbeat.

It’s a mirror of your autonomic nervous system, the dance between stress (sympathetic) and recovery (parasympathetic).

• High HRV = a body that can adapt.

• Low HRV = a body locked in overdrive.

In other words, HRV doesn’t measure effort, it measures fluidity.

And the key to that fluidity lies in one overlooked pathway: the vagus nerve.

The Vagus Nerve: Your Built-In Recovery Switch

The vagus nerve connects your brain to your heart, lungs, and gut. It’s the master control for “rest and digest.”

When vagal tone is high, your heart rate lowers, digestion improves, inflammation drops, and the body recovers faster.

When it’s low, you stay wired, reactive, inflamed, and slow to bounce back.

So how do you strengthen vagal tone?

Not through another supplement, or another ice bath.

Through breathing.

How Breathing Buddy Helps Rewire Recovery

Slow, nasal, rhythmic breathing directly stimulates the vagus nerve, every exhale tells the heart to slow down and the body to release tension.

That’s where Breathing Buddy comes in.

Its adaptive, emotionally intelligent breathing sessions guide you into the exact rhythms that raise HRV, balance your nervous system, and teach your body to recover on demand.

By training your breath, you’re training your body’s ability to transition between intensity and ease, the true marker of elite performance.

The New Definition of Fitness

Fitness isn’t just about output.

It’s about adaptability.

You can be strong, fast, and focused, but without nervous system balance, you’ll always be running uphill inside your own body.

Breathing Buddy helps you change that.

It’s where performance meets physiology, and where recovery becomes a skill you can train.

Explore the movement at www.breathingbuddy.app — and start training the skill that changes everything.

Want to see how Breathing Buddy can help you harness the power of breath in your sport? Explore our app's features

Download Breathing Buddy here