Are you ready to train?
Heart Rate Readiness Warm Up
When people actually see some of the objective information that shows them how hard to train or when to rest, it can be surprising. I challenge you to try this for two weeks once you have started your training program. It’s what I call the “heart rate readiness warm-up.” I have every athlete and every client do this warm-up every single time they train. It takes two minutes and will give you deep insight into your fitness intensity, capacity, and timing of when you need recovery.
The Heart Rate Warm up uses the same concept of autonomic nervous system engagement to help determine readiness, which will determine the type of training, how intense the training, and how long the training should be. You have to be open to running the experiment on yourself for at least two weeks while you are training in order to start to see your personal patterns emerge.
Find a consistent warm-up element that you can do every time before you train. I like to do a 2-minute jog because it’s simple.
Set your baseline by measuring the distance you cover at your warm-up pace. For example, 2 minutes = 1 lap around the block, or 2 minutes = .25 miles on the treadmill.
Measure your heart rate upon completion of the 2-minute warm-up. For example, 120 bpm.
You have two constants: your 2 minutes for a jog and the distance: one block or .25 miles on the treadmill as examples. You will do that work every single day. Your variable is your heart rate, which will change based on your readiness each day.
For example :
Monday 2 mins = .25 mile HR = 120
Tuesday 2 mins = .25 mile HR = 120
Wednesday 2 mins = .25 mile HR = 160
This example tells us that you are not ready to train on Wednesday because your body (heart) is working much harder, 25% harder, than it was on Monday, at baseline, to do the same work. Your nervous system is already stressed, so it might be a good day for a walk or, for some, a long slow run, or maybe it’s a day for lighter strength training. I’ll put these parts together in various examples later in the book, so you know exactly what’s right for you when you see your readiness change.
A few things to watch for when running this experiment. If you are working within an intentional overreaching plan, a plan specifically designed to push your body while it is already fatigued in order to force even greater adaptation, it may be okay as part of that plan to train while heart rate readiness is elevated. Your performance might not be as high, but if it’s part of the plan, then this is okay temporarily. This is strategic, planned, and very short-term. But if you see your readiness drop drastically (in this case your HR would go up from baseline significantly), you might need to adjust and allow for more rest and recovery.
In some cases when you keep pushing past an elevated heart rate readiness and other signs of long-term fatigue like nagging injury, moodiness, and a low desire to train, your heart rate will simply drop and this means you are beyond short term overreaching, you could be in the early stages overtraining and adrenal fatigue. This can be dangerous to your health because it can overtax your organs, deplete your hormones, and deteriorate your tissue. Basically, if you don’t give your body a rest, your body will refuse to elevate your heart rate; it’s protecting you from additional stress in an effort to give itself a rest and keep it protected. Most of us can sustain being pushed while already fatigued for just a few days or up to a week before we need more long term recovery. This could be 48 hours off or up to five days of active recovery. Once your HR readiness returns to baseline and you feel ready, you’ll know it’s time to train hard again.
The other thing to watch for is if you are always ready to train. This means that you either aren’t working hard enough or you aren’t using the right type of training to tax the nervous system. Long low intensity cardio doesn’t tax the nervous and light strength training doesn’t tax the nervous system on a very significant level. Hard intervals that are short and aggressive can tax the nervous system and heavy strength training taxes the nervous system the most. Remember, the key is the hormonal response to what we do for exercise. It’s the hormones that elicit change.
See you in the gym,
Aaron Leventhal CSCS, PN1