r/fitiv_app

I’ve started doing Norwegian 4x4 intervals on an indoor treadmill (walking during the recovery intervals).

I’m mostly trying to understand the heart rate chart and whether this looks like the right intensity for the running intervals, or if I’m pushing too hard / not recovering enough between them.

I tracked this in FITIV, and from what I’ve read the target is usually around 85-95% of max HR during the hard intervals. Curious how others would interpret this chart.

Also is doing this once a week, with some other zone 2 work enough to grow my Vo2Max or should I be doing more? I'm also focused on strength training so it's been a bit of a balancing act of trying to do them all at once.

👋 Welcome to our first Feature Friday!

Every week we'll spotlight a FITIV feature. Sometimes something brand new, sometimes an old one that deserves more love. First up: Heart Rate Recovery.

Most apps stop paying attention the second you hit End. But one of the more telling fitness numbers actually shows up after the hard part is over.

Heart rate recovery is how fast your heart rate drops once you ease off. The bigger and quicker the drop, the better your cardiovascular fitness tends to be.

Here's where FITIV does things a bit different: we don't just check your recovery at the end of the workout. We scan the whole session and surface your best 1-minute and 2-minute recovery, wherever it happened. So if you're doing intervals, we'll catch your strongest drop during a rest period instead of only at the end, when you might not want to sit around and wait for the data to be calculated.

You'll get a recovery curve and a rating from Poor to Elite, adjusted for your age and sex. It's a satisfying one to watch over time, because you'll often see it climb even when your pace, power, or weight have barely budged.

Two things worth knowing:

Heart Rate Recovery shows up after workouts that are long and hard enough to actually measure it.

On Apple Watch it's automatic. On a Bluetooth heart rate monitor, hang on for a minute or two of cooldown before ending the workout so we can capture the drop.

Look for it in your post-workout summary, and tap the card to expand it.

Full guide: https://support.fitiv.com/hc/en-us/articles/45676545648532-Guide-Understanding-Heart-Rate-Recovery

Checked your numbers lately? Drop them in the comments. We're curious whether they line up with how fit you actually feel. Or have a different feature you'd like us to highlight? Share that in the comments as well!