Hi Nick, What do you think of HR clamped style type workout start hard and easier? Research paper The sustainability of VO2max: Effect of decreasing the workload by Veronique Billat. Thanks

To clarify, do you mean fast start sessions? (ie go well above VO2max to begin with, then drop down below and then gradually build back up) almost like a “U” shaped trace of power/pace?

@@NJSportScience Yes the research describe aboe vo2max and ease and go up again. however i modified the workout start the interval above vo2max 30 seconds 140%,1 minute 120%, 2 minutes 105%, 3 minutes 100% at ftp follow by recovery 4 minutes repeat 4x. My LTHR is 177. I found that i reach 182 -184 HR after the first 50 seconds of the interval and i can still maintain high HR even when it reach the last 3 minutes at ftp. do you think by maintaining high HR i will still get more bang for buck to improve vo2 max?

@@NJSportScience for some reason every time i put the link to the research paper my comment automatically got deleted. 😞

I had to turn off link sharing to stop spam accounts sorry! I know exactly what your talking about and in fact we’ve been playing around with protocols with our clients over the last little while. The key with training aerobic power is to maximize time at VO2max. So we need to think in ways to get oxygen consumption up for as much of the session possible of which HR can indicate that to an extent. Typically in a “normal” HIIT session of say 2min @ 95% VO2max, 2min off you’d expect to see a gradual increase in HR across the intervals if you have executed the session correctly suggesting time at Vo2max was up there. Compared to HR staying stable across all sessions which might show improvement or potentially the need to alter the session to provide a greater stimulus. I think where you’re heading is a pretty good direction, to help pinpoint a super effective protocol I’d need to know more about all your testing/training data but I like the thought processes, very good 👍🏻

Glad the videos are helping! Thanks for supporting the channel!

Thanks, will do!

2x sets just below VO2max in the week would be ideal pending ability to tolerate training load and as you said space them out by a few days to balance the week up nicely!

Thanks mate!

Thanks mate! Depends what you’re aiming to do, 1-2 sessions of HIIT to maintain qualities, 2-3 to improve however I default most people to 2 per week and manipulate the volume/ intensity/work to rest ratio etc to challenge them further rather than just adding more sessions usually. Only case I really go to 3 sessions per week is really high level athletes where the 3rd sessions might only be used strategically here and there but also the overall training load is much higher so the proportion of time at very high intensities isn’t very much of the total training week if they only did 2 sessions.

Glad it was helpful!

Long slow (base kms) type training by itself typically can improve an athlete’s VO2max until about 60ml/kg/min. To then increase VO2max above this you need something other than long slow distance training (ie High Intensity @ VO2max). Someone with a 45 VO2max still increases but probably progresses faster (ie 45 to 55 in say 12-15 weeks training vs 60 to 65 in the same time period). Law of diminishing returns. This is assuming no change in body weight, if you drop weight as well VO2max relative increases greatly. Lesser trained or untrained people can realistically get somewhat fit off doing anything. I could get someone with a VO2max of 40-45 much fitter than they are now just by saying “train 3-4 times a week however you like for 12 weeks” in most cases. But you’d only get from 40-45 up to say 45-50. These training tips aren’t exclusive to well trained athletes, it applies to anyone, the major point about 60 VO2 is research has shown long slow training on its own can get someone to 60 but no further. So why not train high intensity specific to VO2max and accelerate your development?

Nick Jankovskis Thanks - I appreciate you taking the time to reply. I’m slowly working my way through your videos, and I’m finding them really interesting/ useful. Good luck with the channel - it looks like you’re steadily adding subscribers 👍

Hopefully this video answers your question: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pKuZfqRl05eYk6s.html

Depends how hard you’re actually pushing relative to your VO2max. I would say if anything your not running hard enough to be able to do 24mins of work with short recovery. Run faster for say 5 x 3’ on/ 3min walking recovery then work back up. Better off increasing the pace than doing more volume once you get to beyond 20mins of work.

Doing a video on this later in the week, short answer is for high intensity (ie 30on/30off) I go with pace/speed/power, then for long continuous sessions I’ll go HR. Will explain further in the video. Great question though.

Hey, probably a related Question: I often train at Work/Rest Ratios of 2 (30/15), because of the Heart Rate lag you talked about. This will keep the ventilation going also during breaks IMO. Is there benefit to this or is it Just about time at pace/Power (instead of HR)? Cheers!

There’s benefit to both but the key with 1:1 work to rest is I usually reserve it for efforts where you need to maintain a really high intensity consistently. For example when aiming for 95-100% vVO2max the important factor is time spent at that pace. In a session that’s more focused on building at and slightly above threshold I’ll for for 2:1 or 3:1 ratios because the effort intensity isn’t as high so it’s sustainable to have a shorter recovery. That’s one example but holds true for the vast majority of amateur athletes who are unable to achieve a high enough intensity in their efforts to elicit the right stimulus if they don’t have an equal recovery. Particularly when looking specifically at intensities very close to VO2max.

Thank you very much for the quick an detailed answer! Keep Up the great Content! 😊

Alan Shrimpton VO2max is your maximal oxygen consumption/maximal aerobic pace and is usually what you could hold for 5-7mins. Lactate Threshold is the theoretical intensity you could hold for 45-60mins. Usually threshold is about 80-90% of VO2max for most people. To improve VO2max you need to go at or above 95% of VO2max as in the video which is well above threshold pace. Hope this helps!

Great questions that I'm going to cover in a future video. It's a tricky one because the dramatic change from lower body dominant to upper body dominant, the skill/technique demand and a completely new resistance (that being you are in water). Typically swimming changes a bit.

@@NJSportScience thank you Nick. Looking forward to see this video!!

@@NJSportScience Has it been released yet?

I don’t think I ever did get time to get this idea done. Adding it to the list for the next batch of videos coming soon!

@@NJSportScience Cool, I subscribed to your channel.

VO2 on a watch is highly reliant on your weight. So typically older athletes who are 80+ kg struggle to get up to 60ml/kg/min but guys at say 60-65kg do it easily. Also depends on what type of training you do rather than how much. Time and time again I’ve gone in and cut out half an athletes weekly volume to get a 5-10% return on VO2max. Focus the time to train the top end qualities required to actually improve it. Why? Because practicing only your strength gets you no where, work on the obvious weakness, easy improvements.

There is a large genetic component to your upper potential also which does complicate things further. To be honest the number itself doesn’t even matter, its the number in context that does (ie your VO2max might be 40ml/kg/min but you punch out 450W and an ftp of 400 for example, you’ll still win a flat road race compared to someone with a VO2max of 60+ at 360W, ftp of say 300W. Assuming all other factors are equal)

Great question. I’ll do a video on field testing for VO2max this week where you can find this number.

Nick ignore my question I’ll look for the field testing video

Not the best format to go in detail but my usual recommendation is you ideally want to build up to complete 30mins continuous without stopping before diving into interval work. Reason being the really good adaptations start at 20mins continuous running when going “long and slow”. Once able to do that you typically have enough capacity to handle an effective interval session so I’d start to build in some intervals in your week whilst maintaining you long slow run (or adding some extra volume there if needed/want to).

@@NJSportScience is 7mph considered slow? Or should I be going slower than that for 30 mins?

Without any other data, I’d aim for a 4/10 RPE in your slow runs. Everyone is different when it comes to what is/isn’t slow, but RPE will be relative.

@@NJSportScience yah fair enough. I can prob run for 30 minutes at 5.5 to 6 mph. Does one work at getting the speed higher or intervals lol. Sorry for all the questions. I got about a month to train as much as I can.

It depends what you need to be able to do. If it’s a time trial and you’re not current fast enough I’d lean towards interval work. If it’s not a specific outcome then I’d have 1-2 interval sessions in the week surrounded by long slow continuous work.

MrMacroVision it can be difficult to identify but typically most will hit their highest VO2 possible by their mid 40’s. Some do go on to have further increases but this only happens in populations where the person has started in sport later in life and is still on the improve. A good marker can sometimes be improving pace but VO2max is similar but this can also be an economy improvement. In short, it’s hard to find it. When I refer to genetic potential we more discuss the difference between an athlete able to hit 75-80ml/kg/min vs 55-60ml/kg/min, both may be competing at a similar level of competition and pacing but one is limited by muscle fibre type and percentage etc. Thanks for watching hope this answers your question.