Rethink

What must be understood about High-Intensity Training (aka "Sharpening") - The benefits don't last! 👇 So, the argument goes... "I only have 3 hours a week to train and I want to maximize my VO2max, what do I do?" There's a missing dimension in this question - time, i.e. *When* do you want to maximize your VO2max? Because the answer to that question will determine the right prescription. See, the thing is, these papers that show an impressive increase in VO2max with high-intensity training don't continue. They're short. The real question for most of us who care about long-term health and fitness is what happens after the paper is done? Sure you might see an increase in VO2max from your really bad 35 ml/kg/min VO2max to your still pretty horrible 40 ml/kg/min in 20 weeks, but what happens at 40 weeks? Do I get another 5ml/kg/min? And then another if I just keep up my 3 "bleed from the eyeballs" sessions every week? The papers don't tell you that, but I will, 'cause I've lived it!... First of all, you stop improving and that sucks! You're still showing up, hammering yourself 3x a week every week finishing every session completely wasted and you're not getting any better. The stimulus just stops working. You're literally going as hard as you can so you can't just increase the stimulus, you've just got all you can out of it. No matter. You're tough. You'll persist. It'll turn around eventually, right? Second of all, you start getting worse, and that really sucks! You're tired. Like really tired. And you've got no base, so the hard sessions are really starting to wear on you. You're just too tired to hit the same power numbers that you were hitting a few months ago. The whole curve takes a nosedive. No matter. You're tough. You'll persist. It'll turn around eventually, right? Third of all, you get sick or injured & you can't do these sessions anymore and that sucks the most! When you're trying to do really hard training when you're already really tired, it's a matter of time before stuff breaks. Injuries start to show up, you start to pick up colds and viruses that you'd normally be able to fight off if you weren't so run-down. Your body forces you to take a break. No matter. No pain, no gain, right? Once you're over this, you'll be back at it. But you're not consistent, so you don't get any better. You just keep banging your head against the wall until you knock yourself out only to wake up and start doing it all over again. ##### There's a slower, but better way that leads to lasting improvement. It's called building an aerobic base. Try it.