In my mid 60’s not sure if I should be doing programs like blender as my HR max is around 150. Has my age and fitness been taken into consideration or should I swap it for something more endurance. It’s not the watts or the spinning it’s more the lack of rest on the heart before your going again and again.
Views please
@Gadet I agree. I’m in my late 50s and it’s the shortness of the recoveries that mostly get me. When I last did The Shovel, the pause button got a lot of use. I do wonder if there’s any point in doing such workouts or a way of doing them that does take age into account
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I suspect it’s only your 4DP results that are used irrespective of age, bearing in mind I’m not part of the company in any way. Just from my own experience.
If we assume that is true, then the workouts will then be based entirely on that 4DP test.
The difficulty with a ‘should we do Nine Hammers, Revolver, Blender? etc’ question is everyone’s different and while age is a thing (in my view) it will affect different people differently at different stages of their lives.
And at that point I am making my own choice then whether doing an exercise regime that includes VO2/AC/NM efforts, based on what a doctor might say about the state of my cardio system I guess.
Tough one. Don’t think SUF can entirely work this out for us without being coached 121 by a professional who has blood testing and scanning facilities available.
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53 here and I do often struggle with recovery time between hard MAP intervals. I just hit pause and take a few moments longer to get my breath back. Sometimes I reduce the MAP targets down to around 90% in longer sessions, but my MAP is a relative strength so my targets are relatively high compared to my other metrics.
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My 2 cents: if you have ANY medical concerns at all, I’d see a Doc and ask their thoughts on workouts like these for you. I ride with guys in their mid 70s who still seriously kick ass. So, yeh age is a factor but it’s not age alone. Overall fitness, health, underlying conditions etc all have a role.
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Medical concerns definitely. Fitness training advice, not so much.
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100000%
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I’m 56 and beginning to hibernate in my pain cave until spring. I feel stronger now than I ever have, yet my FTP is about 15 watts lower than my peak from 2019. (2020 doesn’t count). But my weight is down so W/kg is higher now. Not sure if any of that difference is due to aging.
On the videos I keep riding until I finish or crack. Once cracked, I’ll either skip an interval, dial the intensity back, or switch to level mode to finish.
When I crack not sure how much of that is workout difficulty vs aging vs my brain engaged in premature self-preservation.
Also when riding outdoors my pacing guidelines are based on breathing and RPE:
- Too winded - harder gear - same pace/power
- Legs fatigued- easier gear - same pace/power
- Neither works - slower pace/power and revisit steps 1 & 2.
That also works on the trainer during longer intervals.
More on mid workout adjustments here:
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At least now the plans have a 2:1 option for us older folk who need a bit more R&R!
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I just started a 4 week Building Block of MAP Training I’m 48 and 55kgs and even though the 3 weeks have been tough starting with Vise Grips certainly wasn’t fun and finishing tomorrow with Revolver then an easy recovery final week but I feel much better now than before I started, now can hold threshold work much better than before and when I do rides on other apps I find my watts for those rides increasing from even the Summer.
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Sir @Glen.Coutts : I will second this in a major way. If you feel that you have ANY issues, get yourself to a doctor and get a FULL workup. I found out after a major incident that I have the beginnings of heart disease. Seen a cardiologist and that doctor has me on the ‘wait and see’ program as one of my medicines was interfering with my heart’s ability to go over a certain number without major issues. Also, be aware that us older folk may need more time to warm up/cool down and may need additional time to ‘recover’ so we can hit it hard again.
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I am 62, and my HR threshold and max are not substantially different from what I discovered them to be in my late 30s/early 40s. I recover well between intervals when I ride regularly, and Strava tells me that I am roughly competitive with people my age. But, one of my old track teammates who was a few seconds faster than me long ago is MUCH faster than I am now - going uphill he is top 10 for all ages on some impressive climbs (cat 3 and 4) in our home town. We are all different. I respond well to suffering, probably because all the tension from work gets pushed onto the pedals. I know that I need longer to recover from intense workouts, so I never attempt advanced 12 week plans, just intro and intermediate plans, depending on my work schedule.
I am guessing that all workouts are based on 4DP numbers and your HR numbers in the 5 minute and 20 minute segments. From that, we just have to suffer as best we can within our limits; that is all that matters.
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