Derek

Steph Curry reveals his heart rate’s ability to recover after an intense workout is astronomical compared to most athletes, and his trainer explains why that ability matters in basketball, especially during timeouts and free throws “So we’re likely going to get a similar spike, 150, 160, maybe 165 near the end. But his heart rate before he starts his next rep is probably going to be a little bit higher because he’s still trying to recover from the workload. What we can do is look at the work that he’s doing. So the amount of distance, the speed, the workload, which is the output, the physical output.” “But then we can use any form of technology, like Fitbit, and look at his heart rate. So one, where his heart rate goes during the work, and then two, how he recovers from that work. And so we’re able to look at internal data or internal response, which is heart rate, or even his perceived amount of work. So is it out of one to ten, where does that fit?” “You take that and then you take the work that he’s actually doing, and you can marry them. Heart-rate recovery over a minute, 90 seconds, is very, very important. And if you look at even in the sport of basketball, timeout, free throws, how quickly you can get back to baseline, or at least get back to a relative zone that you can do work, the better. His ability to respond, get back to a zone two or below compared to most humans or athletes, he’s astronomical.” “It’s one of his best attributes. So it’s something we want to continue to build up.”