Questions for Stephen Seiler interview (Polarized Training)

[Bioteknik]

I’m not an expert on the subject, but there are discussions about repeatable 16 minute intervals. I would consider those right around threshold pace.

[anthonylane]

Has Seiler ever shared what type of workouts make up the 20% that are high intensity? In addition, is the aerobic work that makes up 80% always the same? (I.e. always do 2-4 hrs a Z2 heart rates) or does that vary from week to week as well?

I would be curious to see a 6 week block that hits on his 80/20 approach and what workouts make up that block.

[bbarrera]

@anthonylane

Has Seiler ever shared what type of workouts make up the 20% that are high intensity?

zone 3 was defined as above your 60-min power (ftp) and 6-min power (vo2max). Here is my transcription of that particular podcast: Polarized Training Discussion (Fast Talk podcast & Flo Cycling podcast) - #84 by bbarrera

and the guy at wattkg dot com worked up a plan that I downloaded months ago. It derives from the

and more recently updated with low/mid/high volume versions, for example the low-volume starts like this:

with two HIIT sessions that week. And then second week is 30/15 sec basically its Brasted except 8 of the 30/15s in each set (instead of 13).

[anthonylane]

Thanks. Totally forgot about Seiler’s 3 zone system.

[oggie41]

@Bioteknik

but there are discussions about repeatable 16 minute intervals. I would consider those right around threshold pace.

When I initally wrote “threshold” I was more thinking about the ~30 min run efforts around threshold that I do when training towards 10k distance.

I take your point though I could definitely have worded my post better.

[anthonylane]

The 4x6 @ 102-106% is super relatable to Stevens which is a demanding workout in and of itself. I just rode it yesterday—by my calculations I was at vO2max for a total of 25 minutes if, in general, 90% of HRmax correlates to VO2max (It doesn’t for everyone).

[Billintenn]

I have been fascinated with Dr. Seiler’s work and always enjoy when he is a guest on a podcast. My question - are there any thoughts, studies, or theories on a minimum effective dose for a recreational (and in this case aging - 55 y/o) athlete who would like to gain and maintain a respectable amount of fitness?
And 2, how much, if any might that change if one decided to occasionally race for fun.
In my case I am specifically talking XC mountain biking from 1-3 hours. If you are gracious enough to choose this question then by all means answer in the context of triathlon if need be.

[carytb]

@SpareCycles

Any thoughts on reconciling the polarized training model with Sebastian Weber’s VLamax model, on real-world performance outcomes? One of Weber’s approaches (if I understand correctly) is to use SST (zone 2) work to maximize fiber volume recruitment, but encourage those fibers to work as oxidatively as possible. Do you think that is a valid approach? How might a polarized training model affect VLamax?

I’d be very interested in this question as well

[Mikael_Eriksson]

Thanks for all the questions guys! We did the interview on Wednesday, and it will go live tomorrow Monday. A lot of the general questions (applicability for time-crunched athletes, the evidence against polarised training etc.) are covered, but as I should have expected, covering the most important, fundamental aspects of it basically lasted the entire interview. dr. Seiler tentatively agreed to do a follow-up podcast later, though, and also, I will do a solo episode just one week later where I’ll go into a lot of these questions myself, from the perspective of what I know of dr. Seiler’s opinions and research and my own perspectives of course.

As a teaser of my personal perspective, I think @sryke hit the nail on the head in saying that maybe it should be called High Low-Intensity Training rather than polarised training. The early research in POL was often done in rowers and cross-country skiers, where a more polarised approach seems to be working really well. As work was done in e.g. cycling and running, we started to see a more pyramidal approach, but not in the sense that a large amount was done in the mid-zone, but just a larger amount than above lactate threshold (e.g. 80% Z1, 15% Z2, 5% Z3).

This to me makes a lot of sense. There’s nothing magical about 80% low-intensity, but evidence indicates that the amount of LIT should be high. Maybe 70% might be ok for really time-crunched athletes (pure speculation…) but I don’t think 60%, for example, is going to give any better results than 70-80%, at least not long term.

However, how to use the rest of the training time depends a lot on various factors - athletic profile (VO2max/VLaMax balance), goal events, age, personal preference, etc.

[Mikael_Eriksson]

And here it is: ​Polarised training with Stephen Seiler, PhD | EP#177

[sinbad]

Great interview Mikael. Thanks for that.

[mcneese.chad]

I made a dedicated thread for follow-up discussion about the interview:

• Polarized Training with Stephen Seiler, PhD | EP#177 That Triathlon Show