Identification of heart rate dynamics during moderate-to-vigorous treadmill exercise.

Background: Heart rate can be used to prescribe exercise intensity for development and maintenance of cardiorespiratory fitness. The aim of this study was to identify the dynamics of heart rate response during moderate-to-vigorous treadmill exercise and to explore parameter dependencies with respect to time, intensity level and step-change direction. The focus was on simple approximate models for subsequent design of heart rate control systems.