Polarized training to increase performance

Polarized training also for hobby athletes a promising training approach

08/27/2014

Polarized training is a combination of stamina and high intensity workouts. With its help, particularly promising training effects can be achieved. In competitive sports, the method has been used for years, but for amateur athletes, it is quite suitable, according to experts such as Patrick Wahl of the German Sport University in Cologne.

Well-trained athletes can increase their performance only very limited by endurance training, reports the news agency „dpa“ and calls the so-called polarized training as a way to continue to achieve performance gains. Although regular cycling and running keeps you fit and fulfills its health purpose. However, increases in performance beyond a certain point can not be achieved. For ambitious (hobby) athletes this can quickly lead to a certain amount of frustration. A way out here is polarized training.

Combination of endurance units and intensive training intervals
With long baselines and endurance units, as practiced by most amateur athletes, the performance at some point can no longer be increased, at least in well-trained people, quotes the „dpa“ the head of Endurance Diagnostics and Stress Research at the German Sport University in Cologne, Patrick Wahl. The high-volume, but low-intensity training (also High Volume Training, HVT) is therefore only partially suitable for performance enhancement. Wahl recommends to install high intensity training sessions (also High Intensity Training, HIT). Professor Andreas Nieß, medical director of sports medicine at the University of Tübingen, shares this assessment. The concept forms a good counter-model to the frequently pursued motto „Run without a puff“, in addition to the training still enough air for a comfortable conversation should remain. The combination of intensive training intervals and endurance units, named by the American sports scientist Carl Foster as Polarized Training, is already practiced today by most professional athletes, according to the experts.

The combination is the strength
In his assessment, Prof. Nieß is confirmed by a study by the research team led by Martin Gibala from McMaster University in Ontario, where the training effects of cyclists were examined. As part of the investigation, the athletes were divided into two groups, one completed six training sessions over 90 to 120 minutes in a period of two weeks under a load of about 65 percent of the maximum oxygen intake. The other group had four to six high-intensity 30-second units under maximum load on six days. The physiological adaptation processes and the increase in performance were almost identical, according to the announcement of the „dpa“. Patrick Wahl made it clear that this did not mean that one training method should be replaced by the other, but that the strength lies in the combination of the HVT and HIT phases.

70 percent endurance training, 20 percent high intensity intervals
According to the experts, in high-performance sports today it is usual for athletes to spend at least 70 percent of their training with HVT intervals and to complete about 20 percent in the high-intensity sector. About ten percent of the exercises are located in the middle load range. Even amateur athletes Patrick Wahl recommends a similar combination. For example, a hobby runner could combine three long baseline sessions for 60 to 90 minutes a week with two intensive sessions of four to four minutes of running at 90 to 95 percent of maximum heart rate. Between the intensive intervals in each case three minutes break are advised. As a guideline for the maximum heart rate the expert calls 220 minus age. If there is not enough time for the shown exercise, Wahl advises to combine two basic and one intensive interval units.

Medical preliminary examination advised
However, according to Professor Nieß, less well-trained people and people with pre-existing conditions should not start directly with polarized training. First, the duration method is recommended. „Things like the adaptation of the musculoskeletal system also play a role, ie tendons, ligaments, muscles, bones“, quotes the „dpa“ the experts. A medical preliminary examination is in the opinion of sports medicine anyway useful, in order to take no risk at high sporting pressures. „I would only recommend HIT units if someone has made a medical check-up“, so Niess. There are no objections to polarized training from a health point of view, but this offers considerable advantages over conventional endurance training. In less time, for example, the same or even better effects on sugar metabolism and blood lipid levels can be achieved. The high efficiency of the training method have also „led to the introduction of interval training in rehabilitation or prevention, for example in patients with metabolic syndrome or chronic heart failure“, explained Professor Nieß.

Polarized training for competitive athletes and amateur athletes
The triathlon trainer and author Holger Lüning reports on the practical application of the polarized training in competitive sports in the „dpa“. This is a special concept for athletes who want to compete and continuously improve their performance, says Lüning. „The quality of the training increases and gives the athlete the chance to work very specifically on the skills that are actually required in the competition“, the triathlon coach explains further. With its help, a stagnation can be prevented or broken. Professor Nieß sees a significant advantage of the polarized training also in the time savings. For example, there will be more time for technical training. However, according to the expert, there is no way around the endurance units to increase the overall load capacity, as is required, for example, for a long-distance run. Also, an increase in the proportion of intensive training intervals beyond 20 percent, according to the sports medicine makes no sense, since those affected would be quickly over-trained. Overall is „the polarized training suitable for amateur as well as for competitive athletes“, so the conclusion of Patrick Wahl. (Fp)