Alan Couzens Profile picture
Nov 4, 2021 8 tweets 5 min read Read on X
How to use & get the most from #HRV guided training (w/@myithlete)... a short thread.

1. Why should I use a #HRV guided approach to training over a traditional approach? 👇

1/x
A number of studies have shown significantly greater improvement in both fitness and performance when using a #HRV guided approach, e.g. this from Kiviniemi et al. showing ~4x improvement in VO2max for the HRV guided group over the traditional!

2/x

link.springer.com/article/10.100…
How do we implement a #HRV guided approach?

Rather than predetermining key workout days & recovery days, we let our body decide! When #HRV is ⬆️, we load. When #HRV is ⬇️,we recover

In @myithlete we also factor subjective metrics and training load to pick the best workout

3/x
What does this look like in "real life"?

Rather than setting specific workouts you set the upper time limit & the rest is left as "maybe". Maybe you'll see a hard one, maybe an easy one. The system knows when you're fresh or tired, so usually, you'll be happy with what you see😊
Sounds great in theory but I'm not a professional athlete, I can't do a long ride in the middle of the week just because the system says it's optimal. I have time constraints!

No worries. You can set the upper limit for each day of the week in your @myithlete preferences.

4/x
Any guidelines on what my week should look like?

The system works best if you have enough room for at 2-4 "key workouts" each week coupled with one long day. The duration of these key workouts is determined by your training load.
Any other tips?

Trust the system!

There will be times when #HRV is⬇️for a long period & you'll doubt whether you should be doing *that much* easy training. Stick with it. It balances out in the long run & load will come when the bod is ready to get the most performance⬆️from it
If you have additional qu's, please reply to this thread or check out..

Thanks all 🙏

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Alan Couzens

Alan Couzens Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @Alan_Couzens

Jan 22, 2023
A few brief thoughts on the implementation of #AltitudeTraining 👇
* Up to a limit, providing the right altitude is used and the athlete is healthy, IME, *everyone* is a responder.

* That said, there's large variability in response to a given altitude & elevation must, therefore, be individualized according to resting SpO2 (<95%)
* The required elevation to elicit this drop in SpO2 can change with repeated exposures & even with adaptation during long exposures, therefore it's useful to have various elevation options.
Read 9 tweets
Oct 29, 2022
The #Nutrition Thread:

While most athletes have a training plan, few have a well thought out nutritional plan.

This is a big mistake as nutrition is absolutely integral to improved performance and health!

Keeping track of your nutrition is not that hard.

Ideas to get started
1/ Categorize your current training volume. For me:

- Recovery Day ~1hrs
- Normal Loading Day: ~2hrs
- Long Day: ~4hrs
2/ Come up with appropriate energy and macro targets for each day. You may want to get your BMR tested & work with a nutritionist on this, but my *personal* targets:

- 50-100g CHO + ~100g/hr of training
- 1g/lb BW protein per day
- 0.5-1g/lb fat per day (lower end for wt loss)
Read 13 tweets
Oct 27, 2022
Why is this a problem?

Let's talk muscle fibers...

A brief thread 👇 Image
We all have 3 basic muscle fiber types.
- Slow oxidative (aerobic, fat burning)
- Fast oxidative glycolytic (aerobic, sugar burning)
- Fast glycolytic (anaerobic, sugar burning)
There are 3 primary measures that separate the 3:
- Size
- Oxidative potential (capillaries, mitochondria, enzymes)
- Fuel type (glycogen content)
Read 12 tweets
Oct 5, 2022
The geometry that all endurance athletes need to understand (with apologies to Osler)..

A brief thread 👇
The all too common pattern...

- Athlete begins aerobic base work & is frustrated by slow rate of improvement.

- Athlete ratchets up HIT & is impressed by how quickly they improve.

- The proverbial bubble bursts and the athlete is back where they started.
We could add an additional step here...

- Athlete doesn't learn their lesson & only remembers how quickly they initially improved with HIT and so returns to it with the hope of the same improvement!

Of course, they're further down their base triangle right now, so the peak is⬇️
Read 4 tweets
Oct 4, 2022
Random thoughts, old man grumbles and personal revelations...

My top 10 tweets from Q3 2022!! 👇
10. Don't waste your time setting training zones based on a percentage (of max HR, FTP etc).

Every athlete is an individual & needs to be tested.

9. If you're not coming in with a focused nutritional plan, you're either overeating or undereating. Guaranteed!

Read 11 tweets
Sep 27, 2022
A question arising from my zone tweet yesterday:

"Aren't AeT & VT1 basically the same thing?"

No.

Here's why...

A brief thread 👇 Image
While it depends on definitions to each of the above, generally VT1 is defined via the ventilatory equivalents method:

"A rise in VE/VO2 *without* a rise in VE/VCO2"

In practice, this means the grade of VE goes up, the grade of VCO2 goes up but the grade of VO2 remains the same
You can see this it the VT1 point in the chart above.
- VO2 (top line) doesn't change
- VCO2 (next line) changes course & approaches VO2 line
- VE also changes gradient (slightly)

In the test above, this (VT1) occurs at 250W
Read 7 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(