What Is My Current Fitness?
Stress is a horrible psychological state. It’s also chemical, and physical. Strain is the actual, physical manifestation of Stress. Think about it this way; Stress is your body, mind, and heart, looking at a hill, and saying… “I have to go climb THAT?!” And Strain is the actual GRIND as you stretch the chain with each revolution of your crank, the resistance of gravity and friction, as you heave yourself up that hill.
I’m not very fit right now. The Stresses and Strains of a summer spent in limbo as we feared for our community with fires, Covid-19, displaced relatives, and horrific air quality, as well as refugees, conspired to crowd our home, kill our ambition to ride (who wants to ride indoors in the summer?!) and focus myopically on income and survival.
But in late May, under the guidance of Coach Richard Collier, of London, and Dr. Bruce Rogers of Florida, I began to study, and then employ, the DFAA1 Collier Ramp Protocol, to study Heart Rate Variability, and assess Lower and Upper Thresholds via Cardiovascular activity.
I was so impressed with my own results that I implemented it on almost all of my clients. EACH AND EVERY ONE ENDED UP STRONGER, HEALTHIER, and LIGHTER. ALL OF THEM. IT WAS FASCINATING!
For years we have known about the benefits of POLARIZED Training. It wasn’t until recently, however, with the pioneering work of Coach and Physiologist Marco Altini, that we were able to interpret Heart Rate Variability data to the degree that we could find, for the cost of about $80-90usd, a PHYSIOLOGICALLY ACCURATE assessment of Aet, or Aerobic Threshold, sometimes known as LT1 (lactate deflection point 1), VT1 (Ventilatory Threshold #1), or HR Breakpoint #1. It has never been easier, or cheaper, to find.
This video is just a quick and short window into my most recent Collier Ramp Protocol, which I used with FatMaxxer App on an Android device.
In another post, I’ll provide a more holistic assessment post-workout, and I’ll include links to all files.
Thanks for reading, and ENJOY THE RIDE!
Hi
Some questions:
1) the Collier Ramp Protocol, without warmup? In the video i see a flat line before the ramp on perfpro.
2) the ramp protocol is in your library on xert 24’30”?
3) for dfa-a1 i use fatmaxxer , i watch in real time and saw a value AT, if i look at value in runalyze …. the bpm are different. Same thing on power… which value is correct?
4) for AT and LT I wait a minute to see no rebound. correct?
E.
Efisio – these are GREAT Questions!!! I’ll try to answer them here.
1) The flat, low-wattage area prior to the ramp was suggested by Coach Collier and Dr. Bruce Rogers of http://www.muscleoxygentraining.com at some point during our discussions. I probably did NOT need to include the DFAA1 data from those six minutes, and instead, I should have just started another file, so that the ramp and DFAA1 values were more accurate.
2) Yes – but I’m no longer using Xert for workouts; I have been a longtime user of PerfPro Studio and Analyzer, and will continue to use it for my workouts indoors, as it provides a much more holistic image of all my instruments and sensors. I do continue to use Xert for analysis and programming, but this exercise is about PHYSIOLOGY more than PHYSICS, hence the focus on the Vo2master, the Moxies, and the Polar H10 DFAA1 data.
3) The data from FatMaxxer and Runalyze.com reveal AeT, which is the equivalent to LT1 or VT1; all agreed within a few beats of each other, and even a few watts of each other. For the purposes of the exercise, go ahead and use Runalyze, since it shows the complete data set. I THINK FatMaxxer may actually be more accurate, but I haven’t spent the money or time getting the data out of FatMaxxer and into Excel. Being a coach means I am stealing pennies from the Tip Jar, so I have other jobs to make sure I keep up with the mortgage and taxes.
4) That is correct – the FatMaxxer is delayed, even though it’s using an update every 5-10 seconds. It’s still calculating information over a rolling 2-minute average. That’s arguably why you see my DFAA1 chart ‘bouncing’ up and down as I try to keep that DFAA1 value between 0.75 and 1.00.
I hope this helps, and let’s definitely continue the dialogue! I always learn so much in our conversations!
So it’s Better to do a low wattage prior ramp… To “normalize” fatmaxxer and dfaa1 values. Right?
Wattage suggested and time? After start new record. Right?
Efisio – sorry that I didn’t catch this one earlier; I’ll keep looking.
Yes – do a low wattage ramp, and start a ‘new’ file on the Garmin. I think Dr. Rogers recommends 8-10 watts/minute, starting at about 35% and going up and over 105%.