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There are several paths that lead to the goal. Nevertheless, there are some principles that you should definitely follow if you want to be successful in the long term.

Training and recovery go hand-in-hand

You should only start the next training session once you have recovered from the previous one. It's basically simple, but probably the most underestimated training principle. The trick is to catch the right moment, namely the highest point of supercompensation. If the recovery time after a training load is too short, you risk not improving despite your eagerness to train. If you wait too long, the stimulus is lost and the body adapts in the wrong direction again.

Differentiate the training intensity

We tend to always move around with the same intensity. This is neither really high nor really low. But that should be exactly the goal: You should try to cover the entire intensity spectrum with your different forms of training and avoid mixing the areas within a workout as much as possible. In other words: Decide on a training goal per training session and try to avoid that each unit is performed again with the same intensity at the end.

Stick to the 3:1 ratio

Endurance training primarily takes place in the aerobic range. And in order for you to benefit most from the advantages of basic training, it is advisable to deliberately keep the intensity low in three out of four units. In this way, the body learns to obtain energy as much as possible through fat metabolism and to conserve glycogen reserves. This will also help you in competition to release as much energy as possible through the fat deposits and to perform at your best for longer.
One in four units may, indeed should, be intensive. Do it in such a way that you really feel challenged and a stimulus is created for the cardiovascular system and lungs, the muscles and all other parts of the body involved.

If you coordinate the quiet and the intense units well, your performance will develop: With the same pulse, you suddenly run faster. Or vice versa: You are now moving at the usual speed with a lower pulse.

Increase the frequency, then the duration, then the intensity.

If you stick to this principle, you are always on the safe side. Try to max out the frequency first: For example, 4 instead of 3 units per week. Once the individual maximum number of training sessions per week has been reached, you increase the duration of individual units. Ideally, only by 10-15% per unit. And only at the very end do you tweak the intensity and run or ride the individual units a bit more intensively.

Always increase gently so that your body can get used to the extra load and only ever work on one adjustment before you make the next adaptation. If symptoms occur, use the reverse order: Reduce the intensity before the duration and before the frequency.

Keep chipping away at it

You will achieve your goal if you train regularly over a longer period of time. If there is no stress, the performance level of your body adjusts downwards again within a short time.

You will reach your peak form if you break down your training into different cycles throughout the year and systematically change them again and again. Don't forget to take a two- to four-week break from training once a year so that you can fully recover physically and menta