 Polarized Training has become quite popular over the past 5 years or so, but after talking about training modality this with many athletes and upon reading and listening to discussions, I believe it is often widely misunderstood. So what exactly is it and why the confusion?
The concept of polarized training was “invented” over 20 years again by sports researcher Dr. Stephen Seiler. Dr. Seiler looked at training data of successful professional endurance athletes and saw a commonality. To over simplify it, they trained either really hard or really easy. Both of these terms are relative terms, of course. And they training really easy about four times as much as really hard. He found that it fell into a breakdown of about 80% low intensity and 20% high intensity. I believe a major source of the confusion comes from this notion that 80% of the training is “hard”, and 20% of the training is “easy”. Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Apparently it’s not. What I’ve learned is many athletes interpret this as, at the end of the week, 20% of the TIME they spent training should be hard, and 80% of the TIME should be easy. For example, in a ten hour training week, two hours would be high intensity and 8 hours would be low intensity. With this incorrect interpretation, if an athlete did five workouts in a week, each two hours long, that athlete could do 24 minutes of high intensity work during EACH workout. When it’s detailed like that, it’s clear to see that would be a recipe for burnout, injury, and/or overtraining. This is not what Dr. Seiler observed nor intended with this model. A true polarized system is based on 20% of the WORKOUTS are hard, and 80% of the WORKOUTS are easy. So over the course of ten training days, two would be hard, and eight would be easy. I’ve seen this is challenging for many athletes, as it takes tremendous discipline to only go hard two out of every ten training sessions. Or perhaps one could say that many find it very difficult to go easy on eight of those ten workouts without sneaking in a little “effort” here or a QOM/KOM attempt there. The differentiator is making those intense workouts REALLY quality sessions. Along with that, the lower intensity workouts need to be true low intensity. Dr. Seiler defines the low intensity workouts to be at intensity below your ventilatory threshold 1. For detailed information in an amazing slide deck by Dr. Seiler check out: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stephen-Seiler/publication/310725768_Seiler's_Hierarchy_of_Endurance_Training_Needs/links/583590c208ae004f74cc51f5/Seilers-Hierarchy-of-Endurance-Training-Needs.pdf Another bit of confusion comes from the concept of “hard” days. What’s hard? If one were to only take a snapshot of the polarized model, hard days would be those eye bleeding Zone 3 (in the three zone model, or Zones 5+ in a five or more zone model) efforts. You know…those efforts that are maximal and often called VO2 Max Efforts or Anaerobic Capacity Efforts. However, if you listen to Dr. Seiler, you’ll hear him talk about even sub-threshold (FTP) efforts as hard days. But he’ll also talk about efforts such as 100 seconds on, 50 seconds off at max. Hard is really relative to the training period that the athlete is in as well as their overall goal and the duration of the effort. Three of his workouts are 4x4, 4x8, and 4x16 (four reps of x minutes) each at maximum intensity for that duration. Obviously the 4x16 intervals would need to be performed at a lower intensity than the 4x4 intervals. Check out the deck link above for an interesting study Dr. Seiler did using those intervals. As a coach, I find it very effective to apply different modalities depending on the athlete, training period, goals, available training time, and more. Even when using a periodized approach, however, it often shakes out that there will be one or two “hard” workouts a week with the remaining workouts being lower intensity to really build that aerobic engine. This is particularly true for athletes who race frequently or have that weekly group ride throw down. If you’re interested in learning more, here’s a great article in Pez Cycling that also includes a link to a podcast with Dr. Stephen Seiler: https://pezcyclingnews.com/toolbox/cycling-polarized-training-stephen-seiler/ Looking to learn more about other training modalities? Here’s an informative and enjoyable listen that breaks down common training modalities, including the Polarized approach: https://trainright.com/tim-cusick-periodization-training-modalities-training-rhythm/ Have you tried a polarized approach? Any thoughts or questions on training modalities? I’d love to hear from you with a comment or question below. Until next time, make your easy days easy, make your hard days hard, and make your off days OFF. Ride on! Coach Brian
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 Happy Pi Day! Yeah, I'm a math nerd at heart. Despite the bitterly cold temperatures, 30 mph wind gusts, and sideways snow here in the North East, spring is right around the corner. We've sprung the clocks forward and have that extra daylight in evening, just begging us to get off of our trainers and out on the road and trail. Let's go get that fresh air! Many of us are fully conditioned to the cold weather at this point of the winter, and even a 60 degree day feels pretty darn warm. Unfortunately, as liberating as shorts may feel, our legs can actually take on damage if we ask them to work exposed to the cold temps. In an effort to keep you riding strong and healthy, I bring you my PSA of: "If your arms are cold, cover your legs." Turns out, we have a lower density nerve receptors in our legs compared to our arms, and that's why our arms can feel cold but our legs feel fine. Source: https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/jn.00313.2020 And I know...it looks "pro" to have a long sleeved jersey with bare legs but it looks like you're a complete "noob" if you have leg warms with a short sleeved jersey. Bonus tip: Just wear a long sleeved jersey AND leg warmers and you'll be fine. I've seen it time and time again. As I go our for a ride in these transition seasons, the veteran, accomplished cyclists will almost ALL have their legs covered. On the flip side, the weekend warrior is out there with bare legs. I've seen it as far as ear covers and bare legs, or even winter shoe covers and bare legs! Another example that is forever etched in my memory was an early season training race. It's a Tuesday night, probably right around 60 degrees, and we're all rolling around with bare legs and a jacket warming-up. In rolls this legit pro with a jacket a leg warmers on. "Surely this guy must be soft." Nope. He was just smart. He proceeded to lay down the smack on us all and for many seasons to follow. I would imagine the philosophy of really taking care of his body and not making things harder than they need to be was a pillar of all of his training. Below is my post from last fall as well as a link to a great podcast. If you're not sold on protecting your body, check it out! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One of my goals as a coach and lover of all things bike, is to help make sure people can ride bikes for as long as they live. It's a great sport for longevity, but there are some precautionary measures that need to be considered to keep us all rolling. A joint in our bodies that potentially takes a toll from riding a bike is our knees. There are steps we can take to help keep our knees healthy and functioning well starting with a proper bike fit and avoiding large increases in volume and/or intensity. But protection from the environment is important as well. As the temps drop, we also need to consider protecting our knees. Not only our knees, but all of the hard working muscles in our legs. I've long been a proponent of keeping knees and legs covered, but this podcast from Fasttalk really gets into the "why" and how damaging that pushing our muscles and joints in the cold can be. Cold, Bare Legs Make You Dumb, Not Tough https://www.fasttalklabs.com/fast-talk/cold-bare-legs-make-you-dumb-not-tough/ The title is perhaps a bit harsh, but really drives the point home. Although it looks "cool" to wear a long sleeved jersey and shorts, it's just not a good idea. And I fully agree that just knee or leg warmers with a short sleeved jersey is not particularly stylish. In that case, just cover your arms and legs. If it will be warming up during the course of your ride, you can always stop and take the warmers off and stash them in your pocket. My own personal rule is 65 degrees or below, my knees and legs are covered. Do what makes you feel good, but keep in mind the words of Coach Connor that if you're overdressed you're maybe uncomfortable, but if you're underdressed, you're doing damage. Who wants to do damage? So get yourself a set of leg warmers and maybe some knee warmers and keep your legs happy. What's your take on covering your legs? Post a comment or question below. Ride on and enjoy these great early Fall days! Cheers, Coach Brian Thanks for the insight Brian. I remember the roadies from way back when suggesting to keep the knees covered in 60 degrees and less. Never thought too much of the reasoning behind it. Do you think the same applies to us mountain bikers? Slower speeds in the woods, lack of wind,etc Thanks for reading and for the question, Jack! |
AuthorCoach B.L. is the head coach at BJL Coaching and an avid racer and cycling enthusiast himself. Categories
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