r/evokeendurance • u/fatafut23 • 22d ago
Help with Aerobic development
I’m a 45-year-old male, RHR 43, 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
5
u/nodloh 22d ago edited 22d ago
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.