Burn 1,000–2,000 Kcal Daily for Health and Edge
1,000 kcal of low-intensity exercise every day keeps the Doctor away. 2,000 kcal of low-intensity exercise every day keeps the competition at bay.
Build Zone 1 Reserve Before Hard Training
Zone 1 is an investment. It builds your fat-burning engine and expands your energy reserves. Zone 3/4 is a withdrawal. It spends from that reserve. Want your hard training to actually work? Build the reserve first. #Base
Limited Time Means Prioritize Health Over Performance
No time → no high performance. That’s endurance sport. If time is limited, the goal shifts to health & fitness. Your training should shift too.
Elite Athletes Blend Hard Sessions with Abundant Easy Miles
You can argue threshold vs high-intensity all day. Both have produced world-class athletes. What hasn’t? Skipping the easy miles. Almost everyone at the top: *Something* hard + a lot of easy aerobic work That’s the recipe.
Prioritize the Fitness Type You Need Most
Aerobic fitness & Metabolic fitness are two separate things. If you are a time-limited athlete, prioritize that precious time according to what you need the most.
Aerobic System Dominates Events over 78.6 Seconds
If your event lasts longer than 78.6 seconds, your Aerobic Energy system is the dominant contributor. #BuildThatBase
Build a Solid Base Before VO2max Training
Your regular reminder... You can only sharpen the base you've built. If you have no base, "VO2max work" is completely pointless.
Tech Shows You Really Need Easy Training
On tech… The real purpose of lactate meters, metabolic carts, HR monitors, etc? To tell you: “Yes… you really do need to train that easy.” Without it, most athletes never figure that out.
Success Lies in Low‑Intensity, High‑Volume Work
Just had a lovely chat with a double Olympic gold medalist… ...and it left me with a very familiar conclusion: We all need more plain old low-intensity volume. If there’s a secret, it’s hiding in the boring stuff.
Banister Model: Only Load and Timing Matter
Something I always find offers perspective... The Banister model is still a good model. It explains a large portion of athletic performance. It doesn't factor in all of the fancy stuff - whether you do 4 or 8 minute intervals, whether you...
Youth Rushes; Age Teaches the Strength of Patience
One of the cruel ironies of life: When we're young, & have all the time in the world, our impatience limits us. When we're older & our remaining time on this planet is limited, we discover the power of patience.
Know Your Metabolic Profile, Not Just VO2max
The reason you should know your VO2max, ironically, has nothing to do with VO2max. It’s because you should know your metabolic profile: How much fat vs carbohydrate you burn at different intensities 🔥 And that requires a metabolic cart.
Test Your Physiology, Train at the Right Intensity
Physiological testing isn’t about geeking out on numbers. It’s about *intensity discipline*... Knowing where you should be training & sticking to it! I spent years training at the wrong intensity. And it was my ultimate limiter.
Prioritize Aerobic Training, Periodic Races Reveal True Fitness
Yes, but... 1/ Going along with @hjluks most recent post... "Aerobic Deficiency Syndrome" is a freaking epidemic. That is, most of us have aerobic fitness orders of magnitude worse than our anaerobic fitness. This should be reflected in how much training time/emphasis...
Time Your Fitness Boosters for Peak Performance
Fitness isn’t one engine. It’s a sequence of boosters - each one timed to fire at exactly the right moment 🚀 Get the sequence right → you peak on race day. Get it wrong → you never leave the ground. My latest: Building your season...
High-Performing Athletes Suffer More Health Issues Than Elite
Fascinating review on the relationship between level of training/performance and immune function. I would agree that "high" performing athletes generally have worse health than "elite" performing athletes. Because... 1/ They have less control over life stress (often global "Type A" personalities) 2/ They train...
Release Unused Energy Through Simple Daily Movement
Energy you don’t use becomes a problem. Your body needs a release valve. You have one. Movement.
Your Easy Runs Are Already Threshold Workouts
"Coach, after reading Bakken's book, I think I need to add some threshold runs to my week" "Are you lactate testing your easy runs?" "No." "Good news: You're already doing them."
Wearables Distinguish Real Fatigue From Cat‑like Laziness
Wearables (can) help with that eternal question... "I feel kinda tired today. Am I really tired, or am I just being a 🐱?" That question is a very stressful question for athletes. It can rattle around in your head for days. And...
Walking and Running: One Continuum, Infinite Options
Walking & Running aren't separate activities. They lie on a continuum: 🚶♂️ 🏃♂️ You have all points on the range at your disposal... You can go... - All walking - A walk with 30s jog every 5 min. - A jog with walk breaks when...
Consistent Low‑Intensity Training Drives Massive HR & HRV Gains
We all have such potential for fitness change if we simply stick with a simple, progressive, low-intensity training program for a long time. Most won't. They'll get bored. They'll get confused. They'll lose consistency. That's your advantage.
Energy Deficit Undermines Training; Schedule Regular Anabolic Resets
When you train a lot, energy availability becomes the limiter. Not just chronically (RED-S)… but acutely. Day to day. Periods where you’re under-fueled = periods where your body is tearing down rather than building up. Over a season, these add up. That’s why you need...
Endurance Success Depends on Monthly Training Load
For serious endurance athletes, the key loading unit isn’t the training session... It’s the training *month*
Plans Fail, Planning Wins: Athletes Need Structured Roadmaps
Most athletes don’t fail because they lack motivation. They fail because they lack a plan. If there's one thing experience has taught me... A season plan never gets completed 100% as written. But having one always gets you a lot closer than winging it! As...
VO₂max Intervals Boost Running Economy, Not Max Capacity
“VO₂max intervals” don’t really change VO₂max in sharpening. They change something far more useful: Economy - at all paces. Stop chasing effort. Start chasing efficiency.
Mind Craves Complexity; Body Prefers Simple Routine
Your brain wants complex. Your body craves simple. Your brain wants variety. Your body thrives on routine.
Just 10 Minutes of Brisk Walking Boosts Health
I'm still seeing a lot of people who don't understand what this paper is saying, so a quick summary... What this paper is not saying: The harder you train, the lower your risk of major disease/death. What this paper is saying: Adding a small...
Run Slow, Build Mileage: Speed Limits Endurance
I wish I could claim originality here, but one of the greatest coaches of all time had similar thoughts many years ago.. "It is important to realize this point; that it is not the distance that will stop you in training as...
Excessive Intensity Harms Performance; Choose a Balanced Approach
"Why are you 'the intensity police'?" 👮♂️ Because I've seen (and experienced first-hand) the negative performance and health impact of too much intensity in your routine. I saw numerous swimmers get burned out & overtrained (some got very sick) purely from pushing...
Fitness Demands Time: Accept It, Improve Faster
There’s a cost to everything. For fitness, the cost is time. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you actually improve.
Boost VO2max by Increasing Weekly Mileage
"So, coach, how do I get a really high VO2max?" Actually no one asks me that, but they do say things like... "Coach, how do I run a really fast 5K?" And, for all intents and purposes, they're the same question. My first &...
Non‑GOFAI Best Serves as Rapid GOFAI Prototyping
It's becoming readily apparent that the best use of non-GOFAI is to build and quickly iterate on GOFAI.
Coaches Must Tailor Strategies to Individual Athletes
Athletes come in all shapes and forms. One athlete’s elixir is another athlete’s poison. The coach’s job? Know which is which. https://t.co/Qt4hMfDvJz
We Need Real Endurance Coaches, Not Influencer Myths
This is why we need more endurance coaches (who know how VO2max is actually improved) and less "fitness influencers" around these parts 🤦♂️
Strides: Keep Heart Rate Low, Prioritize Cadence
Strides, when done correctly, shouldn't be long enough (or fast enough) to significantly elevate your heart rate. Shoot for... - Set cadence first - Progressively lengthen stride over ~10-15s - Gradually build to ~5k pace or a little quicker - Once you hit that pace,...
Six Months at 75% MHR Boosts Fitness and Speed
Related to another post from yesterday... Most athletes could afford to spend at least 6 months of every year capped at 75% MHR. You won't do that, because you'll get bored and distracted (probably by something you read here) But you'd be a...
High‑intensity Training Belongs Later; Adaptations Differ in Timing
"Why don't we do high-intensity early in the build?" Because high-intensity and low-intensity adaptations operate over different timeframes... https://t.co/UUH1ANwGG7
Cap Your Heart Rate at 70‑75% for Breakthrough Gains
One of the simplest things you can do to set up a breakthrough season: Set a heart rate cap at AeT (~70-75%) & keep *every session* below it for the first few months of your build. Most watches will have a heart...
Zone 2 Isn't Base Work—Treat It As High‑Intensity
In my opinion, Zone 2 is actually high-intensity training. Shouldn't be the majority of your base work. Use cautiously.
Match Athlete Speed to Zones, Ditch Mileage Metrics
If you know your athletes, and you know how fast they should be going in each zone, they are one and the same.
Every Mile Counts: No Such Thing as Junk Miles
When it comes to your base work, there's no such thing as "junk miles" There's just miles that you did and miles that you made excuses about.
Elevated CAC: A Crucial Risk for Endurance Athletes
Fantastic thread on the ⬆️ CAC commonly found in endurance athletes. 🫀 IMHO, this is key 👇
Coaches Can Finally Personalize Training Beyond Elite Athletes
Like most coaches... Poorly. I had a squad template season plan that was based on what I had seen and what seemed to work for me. Then I would adjust it up or down depending on how tired the athletes looked...
Health Isn’t Survival; Low‑carb Stress Is Unnecessary
"Survival" & health are not the same either. Survival processes are unnecessarily stressful. I really don't get the extreme low carb thing. If you know your body is going to make glucose anyway (because it needs glucose to function), why not just...
Data Reveals Individualized Sharpening Benefits for Athletes
For example... Step into my brain, but please remove your shoes... How do I go about deciding when/if to begin sharpening an athlete prior to their A Race? I run a mixed effects model (comparing to population norms) to determine the relative performance...
Master Timing, Not Just Load, for Peak Adaptation
Two things drive adaptation: The load… and the timing of the load. Most athletes obsess over the first. The best athletes master the second.
Avoid Sex and Leg‑draining Feats Before Competition
General conclusions: - Sex is not great as a pre-game warm-up (ideally finish 10hrs+ before) - Avoid any feats of prowess that make your legs go weak within 24 hours of competition. Other than that... https://t.co/e5olqnJMvd
Stay Moderate: Avoid Excess, Keep Some Reserve
Big v Small for longevity. Small - Most serious problems are metabolic in nature. You'll avoid them by not spending too much time in an energy surplus, i.e. not being too big. But... If shit does go bad - you do have that...
Endurance Athletes Reveal Divergent Physiological Engines
My latest post on the #MADcrew forum: Two athletes. Both training for endurance events. But with completely different engines. Here’s what the #PerformanceModeling data says about how @JohnGoldman and @inaki_delaparra actually work… https://t.co/oCTDk9EAjt
Constant Load Boosts Predictability, Fuels Champion Performance
Exactly. Everyone talks about tapering the load for performance. Few talk about tapering the load for stability. At a constant load, Fatigue plateaus much quicker than fitness (half-life of ~7 days) This means, if you hold the load constant, you don't just get faster...