You can read everywhere that “if you want to get faster you need to train intensively”. However, people very often forget that your green zone, or so-called basic endurance, provides the foundation for high levels of intensity and performance in general.

Training theory agrees on one point here: your basic endurance forms the basis of your athletic performance and should comprise 75-85% of your training time. It not only prepares your musculoskeletal system and psyche for the higher and more intensive loads, but also has a huge positive impact on your cardiovascular system, muscular metabolism, blood, breathing, and nervous system. 

Those who train intensively will only reap short-term benefits

The challenge here is to maintain the relatively low level of intensity during your basic training units. This is mainly for two reasons: firstly, many are under the impression that they will not make any progress with this less intensive training and secondly, the great feeling of having achieved something is much stronger after training at a higher level of intensity. This may be true, but you will not achieve your actual goal this way. Instead, significantly more energy is burned at higher levels of intensity and progress is made in the short term. In the long term, however, too much training in this zone will hamper your further development because your body never learns to optimise its lipid metabolism. As a result, you will always get your energy primarily from carbohydrates, which has a negative effect on your level of endurance.   

Differentiation is the keyword

Those who train regularly and want to get as much out of it as possible are therefore well advised to strictly adhere to the different intensity levels. Only in this way will the desired effects of the individual forms of training appear sooner rather than later.

You can’t outwit your metabolism, by the way. So, there is no point in bashing your head against a wall and training especially hard. You should rather try to really “slow down” when training the green zone and then train really fast when an intensive unit is on your agenda.

Foto:iStock.com