Is Polarised Training A Lie? | A Counter Argument To 80:20

We always want to share the most accurate and up to date training advice, so in this video we are dissecting polarised training a little further and asking is it really all it’s cracked up to be? With the help of Dr Mark Burnley of Loughborough University we investigate!

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[gtn]

What training method do you follow? Do you follow one? Share your thoughts with us 👇

[andycleary]

Sometimes as an amateur runner, I wonder if we over analyse our training and should remember to enjoy our training more than analysing all the data we have available to us.

[patrick]

As an amateur, I enjoy 80/20 from a psychological perspective. It's been much easier to consistently train over the years knowing if I'm running or biking, lets say 5 days a week, I'm only going to do one hard session. It makes working out more enjoyable and I never really feel burned out.

[klewis]

As a middle-aged guy, literally the best thing I've learned is to give myself permission to not have to go and smash every single session, and to just enjoy the training.

[backofthepack]

As a dedicated amateur I have found 80:20 training utterly beneficial. I’m late 50’s with more injuries and fatigue now, still have a job and life! I’m as fit as I was in my 30s and 40s and this method gives me lots of flexibility and motivation. I adapt around my program to add in some stuff that I enjoy rather than just being a robot and follow what the books say.

[BeyondLumination]

Consistency beats all. Whatever you prefer, just stay consistent with your training

[gerrysecure]

I never was in a cycling club or had coaching. When I was young the only training advice was from bodybuilding magazines touting no pain no gain. Translated to cycling this meant every training ride was an attempt to beat the personal best. The occasional slower very long ride always pushed the level up but was too rarely applied. The result was stagnation at roughly 3.8 W/kg threshold.
At age of 45 I got me a powertap and developed a tendency to polarize. Now I am 60, fully polarizing, can enjoy life more since I am not always trashed and age adjusted I have about the same level as before. So polarized is a life saver for me.
Its not only about performance, its also about health and quality of life.
For a high level athlete this probably translates into sustainability over 10-15 years.

[AnvilAirsoftTV]

If you listen to Stephen Selier talk about the 80:20 training theory he pretty much covers all of this anyway. Much of it is down to what you measure and how you measure it. It’s also individual to the athlete.

[TheLiberatedMonkey]

From personal experience, I find that the more you train, the more you intuitively understand when to recovery and when to push. I love Sprint Tris and the training required to win them is hard. It wears you out. But put simply, you need recognize how your body heals after you subject it to a hard session or two, then back off with some easier sessions or even a day off and hit it again. The older I get, the more easy sessions I need between the super tough stuff. It’s not that complex once you reorient your perception of recovery and why it is needed to prepare you for another hard session. Recovery and CONSISTENCY are the most important, IMO to see change over time. That is of course, after you understand the purpose of different intensities in your training sessions.

[slingy]

I literally dont understand enough to have a full picture - however, Z2/low intensity training has been a game changer for me. I committed to it for several months and have seen such a benefit over my previously uneducated 'grey zone' efforts... it is so repeatable and enjoyable once you get past how slow you are 😅 the message I'm getting here is maybe sprinkle in a bit more tempo/sweetspot work once you've built your base... seems both sensible and doable

[garthly]

Made a lot of sense to me. Vary the intensity of your training, don’t be scared of the middle zone as you have to go through it to get to the higher zones anyway, watch your recovery and avoid burnout (over training). The keep-in-zone 2 (ie easy run) model for me is very frustrating because I have to walk when I don’t want to (I am 72 yrs old but have a wide heart rate range, 50 to 185). I am glad to hear that I should not worry about that too much, but rather just avoid pushing myself to exhaustion too often.

[donishcushing]

Idk... speaking just as a beginner I found it super helpful to learn that I can still call it training even if I'm working out at really low intensity. I had thought it was imperative to go hard every time, but since I started increasing volume by adding lower intensity work I've gotten to be in much better shape. Beyond that, marginal differences from fine-tuning isn't really relevant to me since I'm simply not working out enough yet anyways

[WadeHumeniuk]

I currently stick to 80/20 (more like 90/10). I need the structure to discipline myself and not let my ego think that I am fitter than I am. I have got into trouble multiple times by allowing my efforts to creep into Z3/Z4sweet-spot like training. Injuries and having to take a few weeks off because of fatigue. I’m 60+ now and need to be more careful (currently rebuilding my aerobic engine, repairing my injuries and developing a healthier neuromuscular system, which I think will take a good year). Triclub coaches are very careful with the youth groups (under 17). Pushing them too hard and long is not good for them, they need a good decade of build. I think the same applies to an older athlete like myself.

[topcat]

80:20 is not a training 'method' but instead was just observational study of how Elite Athletes (World Champions) train looking at a one year period of data.

[stuartmisfeldt]

I wish he would be consistent with his terminology. He talks in three zone, when most athletes refer to 6 or 7 zones. Polarized Zone 2 is his Zone 1, below Lactate #1, or Aerobic. Polarized Zone 3 & 4 are his Zone 2, Tempo and Sweet-spot, up tho the Lactate Threshold or #2. Polarized Zone 5 & 6 is his Zone 3, or VO2 Max and Anaerobic. He makes it more confusing. Steven Seiler makes it more understandable.

[Alecmcq]

Disappointing interview… lots of words and no meaning or message. I haven’t a clue what this bloke was trying to say. I was hoping to hear some science that suggests exercise specificity is much more important than it is given credit for… but no, just a meaningless jumble of words.

[KlemenSuligojTri]

In short: There is no magic intensity and no magic distribution. It all comes down to qualities of the athlete and demands of the event.
For everyone confused, I highly recommend listening to "Sweetspot vs Polarized Is Kayfabe" podcast by Empirical Cycling. Well and thoroughly explained

[theunknown]

I used to train 60% hard maybe 20% easy, rest moderate. Used to get injured so often. Switched to 80/20 and my injuries have disappeared and PB have improved so fast.

[quengmingmeow]

Wish there was a summary about the actual physical benefits of Low intensity and actual physical benefits of high intensity….and if you want to say 80:20 is not optimal, then actually give specific reasons—-physiological or psychological—-that it isn’t.
Simply put, in a 5 zone model, zone 3 is sub optimal for mitochondrial gains, Heart gains, capillary gains, Lactate threshold gains, and VO2 max gains. Show me where zone 3 is better than any other zone in SOMETHING, and I’ll consider signing on to the pyramid method. Til then, I’m going to get the most bang for my time doing zone 2, 4, and 5, with the majority in zone 2.

[kirkprl]

80/20 isn't necessarily polarized. Read 80/20 Triathlon by Matt Fitzgerald and David Warden. They discuss different methods of 80/20 as being either pyramidal or polarized.