Fitness booster recovery weeks

When reading the description on the fitness booster plan it is stated that there is 2 weeks on and one week off, but I can’t see that much recovery? Week 3 is the only one I can see showing real recovery.

I am on the third round and i am totally baked in week 5, and wondering why the half monthy has sneaked its way into a “recovery” week.

Is the reason for this setup that the fitness plan is a “special” plan that is not supposed to be repeated end to end for several rounds? And therefore don’t implement the same principles of recovery?

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Hey, thanks for mentioning this. Please can I just confirm you are referring to the cycling ‘Fitness Kick Starter’ plan? as this one is a 2 weeks on, 1 week off plan so I just wanted to confirm?

For Half Monty, we have recently done some updates to the training plans and included this as a mid-way fitness measure.

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Yes it is the fitness kick-starter.

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@Lyrakken,
Thank you for the questions about the Fitness Kick Starter Plan.

For starters, this plan is not designed to be done multiple times, it is simply meant to “jumpstart” your fitness with a good dose of pretty high intensity work.

Most people wouldn’t be able to sustain this type of intensity for repeated cycles, even though the volume is low, but most people who have a few years of training experience can manage it for 6-10 weeks with a little bit of recovery sprinkled throughout. I would expect a plateau or burnout to occur if this plan were done repeatedly.

Periodization is important, which is the cycling of volume and intensity to ensure that you adapt to the stimulus, recover and then are introduced to a new stimulus, whether that be increased volume, increased intensity, etc. When you repeat a training plan, it’s not necessarily a new training stress anymore. You’d be better suited to moving onto a 12 week plan that is suited to your cycling weakness, as defined by Full Frontal, or one that is focused on a particular goal you might have. I encourage you to look through our training plan library and see if there’s something of interest to you. If not, I’d recommend an all-purpose road plan or the block plans to create your own!

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Well, no wonder I am burned then as I were on the third round where the last 10 min of “thin air” cracked me, and two days after I could only complete half of “defender”.

You recommend the “all purpose plan”, will that plan provide new stimulus when repeated, or do I need to change plans again?

On a second note, about the building blocks, is it advisable to just take 3-4 different 3 week blocks and a full frontal prep week and repeat the cycle exchanging the blocks according to the 4dp weakness? That way I get new stimulus, and can mix and choose on what I need to improve on.

Right now I think that I will take another recovery week to flush the fatigue.

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@Lyrakken,
Yes, for sure you’re due for some recovery time. It may even be advised to take 2 weeks with a mix of easy riding and days off rather than just one.
All of the plans in our library should really only be completed one time, then move onto something different. So if you do a 12 week all-purpose plan, then there will be a Full Frontal test at the end of it to gauge your progress and give you updated 4DP metrics to take into your next plan. You can choose your next plan based on weakness, or a goal such as a certain event or challenge you’re taking on like a century ride or time trial. It doesn’t even have to be a formal event; if you choose an event based plan, you can ride your own TT or get a couple friends to ride a century with you, etc.

The building blocks can be used to target weakness and cycled through, but again, try not to repeat them too often, even if you do a different block plan or two in between. Partly for variety sake to keep you from getting bored, and we have so many plan options there’s really no reason to repeat the same one over and over!

If you have questions or need recommendations for a particular goal or event, send em our way!

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