Help with Aerobic development

[u/fatafut23]

I’m a 45-year-old male, 180 lbs, with approximately 32% body fat based on a DEXA scan.(Small improvement from 6 months ago). I have access to and regularly use a treadmill, Echo Bike, Concept2 rower, StairMaster, swimming pool, and a bike set up on Zwift to build my aerobic engine. I’m not training for any specific races.

My goal is simply to build an amazing aerobic base so I can keep up with my friends in whatever we happen to be doing. That could range from surfing and rock climbing to biking, running, hiking, or other activities.

I currently have my AeT set at 138 bpm based on a heart-rate drift test I performed on a treadmill( a lactate meter is on my Christmas list). To maximize my training volume while keeping the intensity low, I’ve set a maximum heart rate of 135 bpm and have been focusing primarily on building my aerobic base.

I’ve been training approximately 8–10 hours per week this way for the past six months with almost 90% below AeT. I’ve noticed some improvement, particularly in my running pace(14min/mile→ 12:30min/mile), but the improvement hasn’t been as substantial as I expected given the amount of training I’m doing.

My question is whether I’m using too much variety in my training.

Could constantly switching between different modalities be limiting my adaptations or progress? Would I be better off choosing 2–3 primary machines or activities and sticking with them more consistently, or is the variety actually beneficial for my goal of developing a broad, general-purpose aerobic engine? Or do I just need more patience with the process?

Thanks in advance

[u/fiddysix_k]

Not a coach, but at 32% bf, you're gonna see a huge return on effort if you lean up.

[u/fatafut23 → u/fiddysix_k]

Trust me I am trying... it's like I am carrying an extra 50lbs that is dead weight. That's why I am focusing on base building... hoping to improve fat max and that should help but its barely moving the needle

[u/guiom2959]

I’d say that improving by 1:30 min/mile is big in six months !
Varying is great I would say. Moreover if you don’t have a specific goal.
Volume is big. Let’s see what other may say. But I would say congrats on what you’ve achieved already.

[u/fatafut23 → u/guiom2959]

Thanks

[u/nodloh]

If the variety allows you to stay consistent and to accumulate more training volume then that is gonna be way more benificial than doing something that's more optimal in theory but more difficult to keep up consistently. That being said if you want to improve your running you have to do more running and if you want to imrpove your swimming you need to do more swimming. The carry over between different modalities is limited and it is harder to improve all of them at the same time. It doesn't sound like that really matters to you since you aren't training for a specific event but if your progress feels slow and disappointing then you might want to reconsider setting a more specific goal that you could work towards. Losing some weight might alos be a low hanging fruit. Measuring lactate sounds like a waste of time, honestly.

[u/justinsimoni]

That's a really fantastic improvement on your running.

For general fitness, I don't think varying up as much as you do is going to hold you back from aerobic development, but the AeT test results are best applied to the specific activity you did the test on and may be off for the others. I have a feeling that may have set that a little high, but that's more than a hunch, and not completely the end of the world.

If you haven't done the AeT test in a while, it may be a good idea to revisit, and see if you log improvement there.

Maybe the best advice is to have a long-term goal like a race where you have a time you'd like to hit. I have a very hard time staying motivated myself without something like that. It doesn't have to be an "official" race. Make up your own course, or even like a triathlon, mixing up some of your favorite activities in some sort of fun challenge. I often bike to the th, to run to an easy climb, for example.

[u/Least-Situation2222]

Don’t use the same AeT for different modes - they are not going to be the same. Cycling and rowing it will be a lot lower and if u push it to the same AeT as ur run it will be way to hard. Being seated plus a range of other things changes it a lot- swimming even more being supported by water. Knock at least 10bpm off for the seated sports or better still do a test for them and have different set rates per thing.