Polarized training

We have all heard the quote "Go hard or go home" - (Some douche-bag, 2016) but any serious athlete would know that there is far more to performance based training than that. The interaction between intensity and volume of work has a large part to play in the rate of adaptation, conditioning and rate of recover between training sessions.

The concept of polarized training isn't a ground breaking new formula that is going to make your brain melt, its simply a combination of 3 previously well established training methods. Hopefully if I explain this well, you will finish reading this and say "I think I already knew all that"

So it would stand to reason that before understanding polarized training you would have to understand the aforementioned training concepts. To make this simple I have put it into an easy to understand picture.
(I used a special designer software know as Microsoft paint... the results speak for themselves)

This top row is a typical 5 Zone continuum most athletes and coaches are familiar with. I put this here to give a reference as lactate values and thresholds can be confusing to most.





The below are 3 zones defined by researchers as general training concepts and these make up polarized training.

Z1 = High volume low intensity (HVLI) (Coffee ride intensity)This type of training was found to yields a great increase in key performance measures such as V02max and work economy due to metabolic and blood related adaptations. It also improves recovery during and between session. It is also important to note that this type of training has a very low rate of fatigue and can be performed over a long period with low risk of burnout or injurie.

Z2 = Threshold training (THR)
At or around lactate threshold, performed continuously or in intervals. This training concept is shown to increase economy, anaerobic threshold and oxidative capacity. However current studies report no significant difference in performance development in THR over other training concepts. It should also be noted that THR training is attributed to higher rates of overall fatigue and potential for injury.

Z3 = High intensity interval training (HIIT) (Vomit directly into the pool filter intensity)
Training above the lactate threshold. This refers to short high intensity intervals.  This training sees increases in movement economy, V02 peak and in peak lactate. Again, this training protocol generally sees marginal gains in comparison to polarized training.

Polarized training
Consists of both high and low intensity training. The predominance of training is done at low intensity complimented with portions of high intensity training. This type of training utilizes only a very small amount of threshold training.
This is generally expressed as a percentage of  HVLI = 75-80% HITT = 15-20% THR = 5%.
This distribution of training allows for long term performance gains off the back of low impact consistent volume and punctuated with small amounts of interval training resulting in the greatest results over time.

ery body loves a good pie chart

The reason for limited THR training is due to the considerable recovery time required between sessions and only proving to increase performance as much as other far less taxing types of training.

So what are the take away messages?

1. HVLI training gives incremental long term gains in fitness (you probably already worked that out)
2. Threshold training requires long recovery time and on par fitness improvement. And over long term can lead to over training or injury. (Threshold training hurts! - you knew that)
3. Polarized training utilizes a range of workloads to effectively and continuously improve fitness levels (consistency is key (some genius, 2016) )
4. Consider the impact of threshold training on performance and the relative  trade off with recovery compared to other types of training.  
5. You should recommend this blog to your friends.

Recommendations

This is usually where I would put some simple prescription of how to implement what I have just explained. But the point of polarized training isn't to get the calculator out and start breaking each weeks training down by the minuet. It should serve as a basic concept to guide programing along with the individual requirements, goal races, time within the season, injury, over training and time availability.

Jay R. Hydren And Bruce S. Cohen, 2015, Current Scientific Evidence For A Polarized Cardiovascular Endurance Training Model, Journal Of Strength And Conditioning Research, Vol, 29, No 12, Pp, 3523-3530

Thomas L.Stöggl 1* And Billysperlich, 2015, The Training Intensity Distribution Among Well-Trained And Elite Endurance Athletes, Frontiers In Physiology, Vol, 6

 

Thomas Stöggl1,2* And Billy Sperlich, 2014, Polarized Training Has Greater Impact On Key Endurance Variables Than Threshold, High Intensity, Or High Volume Training, Frontiers In Physiology, Vol. 5,

Iker Muñoz, Stephen Seiler, Javier Bautista, Javier España,Eneko Larumbe, And Jonathan Esteve-Lanao, 2014, Does Polarized Training Improve Performance In Recreational Runners?, International Journal Of Sports Physiology And Performance, Vol.  9, Pp. 265 -272