Training Intensity Zones

Many athletes are only aware of two training intensities, easy and hard. They do not realise that there are five steps of training intensity which all achieve different physiological responses in the body and, therefore, training effects. At Active Health QEII we use five levels of training intensity which are applicable to all levels of endurance exercise from health and fitness to elite performance. The five levels of training intensity are as follows:

  1. Easy

    This easy pace is mainly used for a warm-up or as a main part of a longer session. The pace is very comfortable and hardly causes a sweat. Heart rate is more than 50 beats below maximum heart rate.

  2. Steady

    This is one gear up whereby the heart rate is 30 – 50 beats below the maximum heart rate. This is a pace where you can still have a conversation but you are slightly out of breath.

  3. Moderately Hard

    This requires concentration to maintain the intensity although, when you are fit you can keep this up for a longer period of time. The heart rate is approximately 20 – 40 beats below the maximum heart rate. The oxygen supply still keeps up with the oxygen demand and therefore your metabolism is still efficient as all the lactate formed is being processed.

  4. Hard

    At this pace your muscles will accumulate lactate which causes soreness and rapid depletion of your energy stores (10 – 30 beats below maximum heart rate). This is race pace for competitors and well-trained endurance athletes but not advised for health and fitness participants.

  5. Very Hard

This is close to maximum pace (less than 10 beats below maximum heart rate). This pace is only used by elite athletes who want to extend their performance.

Of the five levels the steady pace usually forms the bulk of the programme. This is the pace where you train your oxygen processing mechanisms, relevant for health and fitness as well as performance. Health and fitness enthusiasts can also dabble in the moderately hard pace which is still comfortable but you know you are working while the more serious athletes will do 10 – 20 % of their training using the hard and very hard intensities. Keep this in mind when you are training and play with the different intensity zones by doing pace work and repetitions at the different zones. It will make your training much more interesting and it is also more likely that you will achieve your goals.

 

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