Elite Physique The New Science of Building a Better Body

234 Elite Physique
Endurance training, likes to say, there’s no such thing as low-intensity interval
training. With LISS, however, there are a few different ways to determine the
correct intensity, and any of them can work. They are as follows:
• Start at a level of intensity you think you can maintain for 30 minutes.
• Be able to carry on a conversation, meaning you can complete a sentence
without gasping for air (commonly referred to as the “talk test”).
• Monitor your heart rate to determine your maximum aerobic heart rate
(MAHR).
The third option here stems from Dr. Philip Maffetone, author of The Big Book
of Endurance Training and Racing. His formula for LISS is simple: Subtract your
age from 180 to determine your maximum aerobic heart rate (MAHR) in beats
per minute (bpm) using this formula:
180 − age = maximum aerobic heart rate (MAHR)
The formula helps you determine the heart rate you don’t want to exceed while
performing LISS. For example, a typical 42-year-old man has an MAHR of 138
bpm And since it’s impossible to maintain a specific heart rate during exercise,
the MAHR range drops 10 bpm below that, which in this example is 128 to 138
bpm. Maintaining the MAHR range helps you train at an intensity high enough
to improve aerobic power but low enough to avoid the anaerobic threshold,
when your body starts burning more glucose for fuel and becomes more acidic
(Maffetone 2010). Over the course of weeks and months you’ll develop more
mitochondria, capillaries, and myoglobin within the hypertrophied type I muscle
fibers (Qaisar, Bhaskaran, and Van Remmen 2016). Low-intensity activity also
increase your heart’s stroke volume, allowing more blood to be ejected with each
heartbeat (Hellsten and Nyberg 2015). This means your cardiovascular system can
maintain your performance with fewer beats per minute. The MAHR calculation
works well for most, with a few exceptions. It will probably not be accurate for
someone who is severely deconditioned, is recovering from an injury, or has a
very low resting heart rate. In those cases, stick to a level of intensity you can
maintain for 30 minutes or follow the talk test.
Programming Variability
The goal of your endurance training is to make you a healthier, leaner athlete.
Variability is a key principle for developing strength and endurance. The more
distinct each training stimulus is from the next, the greater the adaptation that has
to occur. Endurance training often gets programmed with no variability. A guy
jogs for 30 minutes three times per week ad nauseum. This greatly diminishes the
training stimulus, which impairs the physiological adaptations you’re training for
in the first place. As a general rule, there should be at least a 20 percent change in
volume, either higher or lower, between endurance sessions (Tsatsouline 2018).
That’s why you’ll see discrete changes in programming for endurance instead
of a slow, linear progression.
For example, instead of programming LISS for 30 minutes in week 1, 35 minutes
in week 2, and 40 minutes in week 3, you’ll vary the times throughout the week.
One LISS session is 30 minutes; another is 45 minutes; and another is 60 minutes.
This not only promotes variability but is easier to schedule as well. You might
choose to have your 60-minute session on a Saturday or Sunday when you’re off
work and have extra time to hike or take a long, brisk walk outside. During the