Got any questions we didn’t cover? Or maybe you’re going to pay more attention to training load now? Tell us in the comments 👇

I needed this. I've definitely had days where I wanted to throw my watch when it would tell me a ten mile run was "unproductive" 🤣

To everyone frustrated with their Garmin training load: make sure your heart rate zones are set correctly! You should be able to run completely in zone 4 for 20-30 minutes. If this isn’t possible for you, lower your max heartrate until it is. You’ll get much more accurate training feedback.

Watch: "training load unproductive" Me: "how dare you, watch" 😂

I just upgraded last week to a Garmin watch that includes the training status feature so this video was great timing to help me understand it better!

Good stuff! Had to rest for 5 days after my second covid vaccination. Now i’m in Detraining 😅..

I really like these videos that you've been doing lately with Garmin. I'm learning so much about my watch!

I strictly run in the aerobic zone and once in a while run full throttle. HR 165 plus, Usually 135. 76 miles last week. 2 months ago I was running 11 minute pace on trails with a HR of 135 and now running 15.5 miles at 8:47 pace with the same HR. I almost always run in the aerobic zone but it sure is fun to be able to crank it up and run anaerobic once in a while, makes it enjoyable.

Generally speaking my Garmin is right about “productive” and “unproductive” indication. Body battery and stress is also accurate. When I went through COVID-19, my Garmin really showed very plausible measurements. Also during recovery the parameters showed gradual improvement which was exactly spot on how I felt myself.

I really wish they would get rid of the term "unproductive". I finally started to feel good about my runs again and that stupid thing tells me I'm being unproductive. Might be silly but really didnt feel great.

I am a veteran who runs and cycles (indoors and on road), I have three sources of training load data that go to Garmin: running (Fenix), road cycling (edge) and indoor cycling (Zwift- thanks to dcrainmaker for pointing this out). My problem is, once everything is synced I’m never sure whether the load focus data refers to the overall data, or to the Fenix (running). I have been using the metrics you mention as my training load is usually too high and my load focus is usually high aerobic biased, or too little low aerobic. As one of your other videos pointed out, using the Today’s Suggestion feature seems to be rectifying this. I’m hoping this will enable my VO2max to rise a bit further (after many years of road cycling, it’s possible this is already close to my max - who knows). I do get lots of Productive days, so I’m hoping for an increase - my Lactate Threshold and its associated pace are definitely improving, even if my VO2max isn’t changing. I can see why people get confused…

Very interesting. I started running in May and actually set a decent time of 22:37 for my 5K. Up until then i used to just go out and run however i felt like, no schedule, no plan. Went from VO2 of 51 to 48. Now i am following my Garmin coach and i am on week 2 and i am just trusting the process. Got VO2 up again to 50 but it dropped to 49 today. I am literally doing all that the training program says and i stay on the faster side of the pace requested. I am hoping to see actual improvements at the end of the 11 weeks.

I just got a +7 performance on my garmin yesterday. Thats the highest i ever had on it. Im learning alot from the watch. It likes tempo runs more than interval runs in general i think. THanks for the educational video because im always trying to learn more,. my heartrate went down for same effort i think in 2 weeks is why

Thanks for this video. I've always found metrics like training load and training status nebulous. This video really helped clarify it. Great job!

Love the Garmin-related videos! Thank you for the useful info 😊

I’ve stopped putting any faith in what my Garmin says in relation to gaining or losing fitness. It is so contradictory at times and in direct conflict with other indicators of where my fitness is. I still love the Garmin and love the stats and use them for myself. But I stopped paying attention to that part of it.

Reading comments below, yes it does suck when garmin tells you 'unproductive', but I've learnt to laugh at it. I know I'm heading in the right direction again. 99% recovered from my plantar fasciitis, VO2 max is climbing and have recently started to look at training load data for the first time, this vid has certainly made it clearer, cheers Enzo

My first few rides were unproductive until I started adding in intervals. I'm actually resting now because my score is about 1k. Not sure how accurate it is, but it does help.

Great video! But one important thing to add: If training load, lactate threshold and VO2 Max metrics are to be of any value, a good heart rate monitor chest strap is critical! The heart rate monitor in watches can capture extremely inaccurate data which can completely through off your numbers. I’ve had easy runs registering very high heart rates in my watch and hard workouts where I averaged 120. Garmin 935 is a good watch but it can’t do it all.

This helped to fill in the cracks of my knowledge about training load on Garmin. Thank you!

Set a PR. Get a CR. Garmin: “unproductive” Me: “I hate you”

Listening to your body comes first; watches are more like a toy, fun for the quantitatively obsessed, but poor devices for determining how you feel.

I have had my Garmin 245 for a little over a year and still feel like I have barely tapped its potential. Thanks for these videos!

Great video! I use the Garmin Instinct, and I only get back the Body Battery metric. I do see the battery going flat for a few days if I've been overreaching, and the recharging shoots up on nights where I've had some good days - but it also goes flat for personal stress and poor sleep so it is not a good indicator alone for fitness recovery. So I subscribed to Strava, where I can now get back the Fitness and Fatigue metric because I bounce back and forth between approaching overtraining and recovery. However it will be great to have better insight as to how the Strava Fitness Fatigue and Form actually work, along with their workout intensity measure, and how to use the information to increase fitness at the correct rate, improve conditioning over time, and therefore be able to do more and harder in the long term without recovery issues.

For all those runners who feel at odds with their Training Load / Status, i.e. feel that sometimes it does not match up to reality. From the Firstbeat published data that one presumes the algorithms are based upon, using a sample of just over 30 runners, the mean absolute error was 13.7 ml/kg. Thus on average, the estimated EPOC was out by this value, which considering almost half the test measurements had measured EPOC's less than 25 might be considered high. I don't have access to the raw data to make any real conclusions, but my gut feeling is that the calculated EPOC is probably biased, underestimating at the lower values, and overestimating at the upper values. (Of course we knew the estimate could not be entirely accurate as the algorithm uses HRmax and VO2max estimates, both of which are known to be highly problematic - in fact a 2019 published paper concluded that VO2max calculation by wrist worn devices was most likely not accurate enough for use in either sports, health care, or rehabilitative applications.) But hey ho. It's all a bit of fun. Anyway, who said that making training decisions according to EPOC or allowing your oxygen consumption to return to near normality before training again is a good thing to do?

Need another one about performance condition. I dont get how its calculated

I keep getting a messenge that I need to do "low aerobic workouts" witch is impossible when you have a high pulse even at low intensity. An easy run will have me in zone 4 the entire run. So I keep getting an "unproduktive" status no matter what I do. Witch is pretty annoying.

Finally now I know what EPOC means and why it's important... Never bothered to research, thanks for this!

Very informational, thank you!

Useful, thank you. And nice to see Rick running again. (I presume it's a pre-injury recording?) I've had my Forerunner 245 for about six months and am slowly coming to terms with it -- I have age related issues with IT. I'm attempting to sustain a heavy workload (up to 40 miles a week) as a springboard to marathon training and my sessions are often marked "unproductive" and I am always being advised that I should take extended rests that I can't fit into my schedule. It's somewhat confusing. The watch is, by the way, an excellent tool, it's just not telling me what I want to hear. Maybe I should try more time in bed?

I'm do pleased you posted this video. It's something that I have always been confused about. I've watched it three times and I'm still confused. I guess that it's a subject I'll keep revisiting, learning a little more each time.

This is a very helpful video. I use Garmin Connect along with an Edge 830 and Tactix Delta Solar and your comments and explanations are right in line with what I am seeing in the Garmin app. In fact, after several tough workout days I woke up dragging this morning, checked my watch, and found a recommendation for a rest day. I’ll take that!

Its great to see Rick run. I hope is feeling better. Great content as always 😊

I've been using Garmin Fenix 6X pro for little over a year now and it's been a huge help to get my overall fitness level up. Its recommended daily exercises have encouraged me to add some high intensity interval training into my weekly training program (which I have not done at all before switching to Garmin). It's not all good though. I'm running marathons, so I need to do longer runs too. Everytime I do my long run (21k plus, training load around 200) training status dips to 'unproductive' and the watch tells me to concentrate on rest. It seems that fenix never even recommends long runs, and it's programmed to focus on increasing runner's VO2max. It really needs an option to select what kind of training you prefer...

My garmin was very unhappy about my long run this weekend… 😂

If your breathing is hard, laborious you are I. the anaerobic zone and need to slow down unless it is a full throttle day. If you can breath well you are aerobic.

I actually find that lack of sleep brings me into "unproductive" status despite being in"optimal" training load.

Very good. Nice and clear. I find that I need to keep my training load near to the bottom of the optimum. If I get anywhere near the top end of my suggested training load I know I am in imminent danger of overtraining. This may be because I am relatively old and have a history of overtraining. I now find that I can only really do one interval session a week, plus one session of circuit training and one longer run which might be fartlek. All the other days have to be recovery runs with maybe a few strides and this doesn’t really push the training load metric. I would love to know if other older runners have found the same thing.

Thanks for that, you have made it clearer for me to understand.👍🏻

I've been having a very frustrating time with my Garmin and Training Status. After months of it telling me I was overreaching or unproductive I opted to follow the Garmin training suggestions. Frustratingly these two features of the watch do not seem to tally with one another i.e. you carry out the training suggestion to the letter and then Training Status tells you you're unproductive, and then for good measure, just to make sure your moral really takes a knock, decreased your VO2 max as well!

Incredibly useful video, thank you very much. So well explained, now I'm gonna be able to workout better with my Garmin FR 255!!

I’ve been following one of the garmin coaches half marathon plans for about a month to the T. I also double up with CrossFit and strength training. My garmin still says unproductive and my V02 max has been dropping. It’s really aggravating

I'm always having the greatest difficulty keeping my heart rate in the aerobic zone (3) during runs, anything beyond walking surpasses zone 2. Anything that involves the recommended 165+ spm shoots me up to the threshold zone (4) within a minute, even if I'm jogging in place.

Is there a watch that gives you nothing but positive feedback?

Love this video. Thank you! I'm new to Garmin and just started tracking my runs and understood some of the things in this video, but it clarified some things I didn't quite understand. I just started running again after many years and my watch tells me to do more Base efforts like light runs. The problem is my VO2 max is rated as Excellent and the watch thinks I have the fitness ages of a 20 year old (which I'm thrilled with!) I'm almost double that age 😂 so I literally have to be walking briskly to get my Base aerobic up. I've been on 6 runs since I started running and I think I've just gone in all-out by trying to do too much too soon. For example, in only my 3rd run, I managed to do a 5k. So I think my watch thinks I'm fit (hence the Excellent VO2 max) but I can't get Base aerobic readings because my HR is increased to 160 even at slow paces.

My Garmin stays " Productive" with Tempo . Love Zone 2 however Garmin pretty much laughs .

I was at my best fitness that I had ever been at the start of the year, yet my garmin945 told me my load was unproductive and my Vo2 went down lol, dont pay too much attention too this and like the channel said don't get bogged down in statistics , its how you feel at the end of the day. I did find though if you bang out quick 5k for 2 weeks you Vo2 max will go up, if you do nice long plods it will go down or stay the same, so think in a way its a gimmick. Great vid though guys.

This is really interesting. I might have to watch it again just so that my brain can absorb everything. I just purchased the Garmin Forerunner 245 and have been really confused by the numbers. With each workout I've recorded (1 easy run, 1 interval run, and 1 weight workout), it's giving me a training load of unproductive. I was taking this as "you're lazy and you suck." But I guess there's more to it than that. :)

Brilliant video. You two are always amazing to listen to. I don't know if you've ever focused on the aging runner very much but as a serious runner of 41 years I am saddened and dismayed at my decline. Running gears are down to maybe slow and slower plus running duration is down to just 5 miles/ 4 times per week. Depressing to think about as I was quite good at running in earlier days. Can you offer any cheering ideas from my running buddies in the UK?

My current routine is run a day (low/high intensity alternating), day 2 cycle 10-15 miles outdooors, 3rd day walk 6-8 miles. Daily step average 12500. Garmin tell me I'm unproductive? All I know is my heart rate is down, pounds are shredding, and I'm the most fit I've been in a long time. Listen to the body right?

the training load frustrates me because I don't wear my watch 24/7 and so it thinks I've taken breaks when in fact it just doesn't know about specific workouts or rest periods.

My Coros watch (that I otherwise actually quite like) for a while was telling me my threshold pace was like 7’50” after months of running, which made no sense because that is just a little slower than my mile time, not my mile pace, but rather my one-mile mile time. My threshold pace is closer to 10’ mile pace, a pace that I can sustain for 45-60 mins. Finally Coros released a new software update a couple weeks back and now it shows a more believable threshold pace just over 10’ pace. It seems to be decent at telling me how much recovery time I need, but really, the only ground truth I have to verify whether it is correct or not is my body and what I feel my body is telling me.

The most frustrating thing for me as an aspiring triathlete, is that my Garmin doesn’t seem to count rides as training and so I when I ran 24km yesterday my load dropped from “recovery” to “unproductive” even though I rode 95km on Friday and ran a 10k on Sunday. Very frustrating to come home to I must say LOL

More videos explaining the dark magic in my watch please 😁

Hey Rick and Anna from the running channel, first great video I really enjoyed it, second I have a Garmin forerunner 45 and I don't have the setting "Optimal Training Load"

- That's quite a dive into the data. I guess I will have to look more carefully into my Garmin App on my Android to find that detail as I only have the FR235. Training Load, is that equivalent to the Training Effect I get on my FR235? The TE being a more generic form of the Training Load? you are discussing here? - I know that if I'm running (I do the run/walk routine 4'30" R 2" W - I don't 'RUN!!' like you folks) my TE will drop, even after what feels like a hard 6km when I have been running regularly... If I lag, my TE will go into the high 4's after a hot 5k. I usually try to stay in the upper aerobic and low threshold zones. Hearty congrats on the recovery, Rick 👏 Always awesome, 🏅Anna!

If EPOC measures my post-exercise heartrate, do I need to keep my watch strapped on when I jump under the shower post-exercise?

Thanks gor explaining that.

Hey guys...I'm very interested in measuring my training load going forward, however, I run with a Forerunner 45 and, while it is the best watch on the market at its price point, this is one of the few features I wish it did have...I'll have to upgrade at some point, yikes!

Wow, I clearly know nothing about running watches! I'm starting to see why people get so into them.

In Uganda we don't have fancy measures. We often run 300k per week with almost no food.

thanks for this - I have a Garmin watch and it is giving me suggested workouts that definitely dont feel like I will get fitter so I have added more workouts and I am now productive - but it looks like those speed repeats need to happen so I can step up ;-)

I have a Garmin watch and I feel when training for ultras it struggles. Also, when running on trails, hills etc VO2 max reduces as it does not take into elevation. Can be a bit annoying.

Really helpful 👍

Great video!

My Garmin says maintaining about 90% of my days yet my heart rate is decreasing, my paces are increasing, and I’m always in the middle to high end of my optimal range. It says I have anaerobic shortage and pestered my for 2 weeks to do speed work until I complied and then received my first unproductive 😂

Ok guys, great overview of the the training load. But I'm kind of in a disagreement with my new 955, i feel like my strength training activity's aren't registering as acute load and have an impact for my training readiness and recovery. Do you have any tips?

Thanks for the video, better understand the indicators. Would you know any reason why my Forerunner will show fitness as ‘- -‘ (ie no arrow) but the load will have a horizontal arrow? Also, can you do a video on MAF method?

One thing that's not covered (perhaps because partnered with Garmin) is the error in this. Whether you get productive or not is based on measurements of heart rate and pace. This is ok if the data is accurate but wrist HR (on my Garmin at least) is highly variable / prone to errors and lag doing intervals. Pace is ok for longer runs as errors cancel but short intervals (e.g. 400 m) are often incorrectly calculated - if I do an out/back effort/recovery on a measured 400 m I often see 0.23-4 on the way out and 0.26-7 on the way back. If the values going in are variable, there's then variability on the conclusions hence the random "productive / unproductive" loop that's sometimes seen. Terrain is also not taking into account.

Two of my favorite Brits 🏃‍♀️

Thanks, got a 745 recently with all new numbers on it and great to learn more about what it's telling me. Fancy new type of wrist sensor on the x4xs makes this possible I think?

Is this similar to “relative effort” in strava?

I have the minimal garmin so I will have to consult connect

I still don't understand training load. 😅 I'm in the optimal range with ideal load distribution for a few weeks and my watch tells me I'm maintaining. What do I need to improve, overreach? 🤔

Great video. Does the training load take into account your efforts throughout the day or just the efforts you make when you select a workout type (run/walk/etc) on the watch?

Downloaded Heartwatch app for my Apple Watch yesterday. Makes very interesting reading my stats for the last year. Found it Good to see when I’m building fitness and burn fat. Great app.

Apparently I’m lacking Anaerobic activity. Despite doing Track training, hill training and tempo runs.

Great video. Still have a question. How does Garmin’s Training Load compare to deeper analysis tools like Runalyze, which uses 6 months of data instead of 7 days?

I am thinking about to upgrade to a Garmin forerunner 245 or 55. Which one do you recomend? Now I have a forerunner 35

is training effect the training load the same ?

Is there any way to see what the high and low of your range is at any given time? I imagine it would be helpful to know.

I was distracted by the pug in the background. What were we talking about again 🤔 (I have pugs) Alternatively, this was an excellent video and I found a feature I hadn’t realised the watch had!!

I bought the Fenix 7x two months ago. At the beginning my training status was maintaining, after a good month it went to strained and my HRV is 47. I’m resting a lot but it doesn’t change…. Almost going back to Fitbit 😵‍💫

Awesome to learn what’s behind the stat. The question I want to ask is why my status is unproductive, but don’t think you have the answer to that. I understand recovery and the recommendation on the watch, but that doesn’t always fit with my training plan, should I follow the plan or the watch? (Ie cancel a run to recover)

I use a Vivoactive 3 and don't see this anywhere. Is there a list of Garmin devices that have this feature? How do you see this in the app?

Is there any information about "exercise load" metric in relation to how easy or hard a workout was? This metric is included in the strength training report.

I try not to take it too seriously but I have noticed my garmin tends to say unproductive when life stress is high and I'm not sleeping well, recently managed to get it to productive for the first time recently so that was nice :)

How can I determine the training load for a scheduled training, as I would like to know in advance if the training will be too strenuous or the correct intensity? If this is not possible it seems a bit of a gimmicky metric as it is only retrospective.

I do both running and cycling during a week. May i know if my cycling activity counts into VO2Max calculation? Please note i do not have a watt metre when biking. It seems to me that my biking day doesn’t gain any VO2 max.

Thank you for this video! Would you be able to explain why some of us reach a very high heart rate with relatively low effort? I’ve been running for a few years now and thought I was fairly fit. I got myself a Garmin to help me train better and it suggests that I run in zones 2 and 3 but then it tells me I am not pushing myself too hard. So when I decide to go a steady 9 minute mile run Garmin tells me To recover for hours! I have a VO2 max of 40 which is excellent for my age. Confused!

Is this a "Garmin only" feature? From reading the previous comments, I now wonder which of the new Garmin watches tracks this E.P.O.C. metric. Can TRC say which ones do?

My garmin will often give ridiculously high HR measurements for the first 10-15 minutes which messes up the algorithm. It happens more often if wearing synthetic rather than natural materials like merino wool. Garmin help says it can be caused by static charges but can happen if even if I wet the contacts - frustrating!

Unfortunately, my Garmin Fenix 5S doesn't seem to catch up with heart rate soon enough to truly measure anaerobic load. I have completed multiple, proven interval workouts (5 second sprint/24 second rest for 15 rounds and 20 second/60 second for 6 rounds), and it always shows no anaerobic benefit.

Struggling to get my low aerobic load up post-covid due to my HR being too high even during longer low intensity "conversational pace" runs... Any tips for increasing that area of training load even post-covid?

I wish the Garmin App had an explanation as to specially why/how your Training Status was calculated. When you come back from a run and you are in the Optimal Training Load but Unproductive I am not sure what to take from that. If I knew how it was calculated, I might be able adjust my training for next time to avoid being Unproductive.

hello! very helpful video! and do you know what to do if the training load shows 'no status' ?

I'm not sure the algorithm used to compute Running Load is very complete. It doesn't seem to take into account altitude or temperature-and-humidity. For example, I run around home at an altitude of about 800', but I also run 'at work' at an altitude of about 6000-6800'. There is only about 80% of the sea-level oxygen at 6800', and I run about a minute a mile slower at altitude for the same perceived effort. Yet, my reported running load at altitude is rather unflattering, and I think unrealistic. As another example, by non-summer running is around 12 'C and 50% humidity, and my summer running is around 25 'C and typically above 90% humidity. I run about 35 seconds a mile slower in summer and yet my Running Load seems to think I'm a bit of a slacker in summer. I'd have to say that the results of the current algorithm don't describe my running very well, unless all the external factors are constants. For long-time runners, the tried and true 'listen to your body' work pretty well.

I had to stop using my Garmin cause I got sunburn under the sensor lights. After that my VOmax and fitness metering got all weird. How much time after my workouts should I keep using the watch to have an accurate rating?

Best ideas 💡👌🙌❤

Training load for the last 7 days for me was 1740! That seems super high if you say pros get to 1000, but it falls at the top end of my recommended load and I only ran 40 miles this week. I feel completely normal, but am I doing something drastically wrong?