The test was developed by Dr.Phil Maffetone to determine how well an athlete is progressing in developing the aerobic system. According to Dr.Maffetone, the body is made of two key muscles (there are others, but these is the primary muscles that make up our body) which are aerobic muscle also known as slow twitch muscle and anaerobic muscle also known as fast twitch muscle. Both muscles enables us t perform tasks the most efficient and effective way.
An endurance athlete will need to maximise the usage of aerobic muscles which have the ability to keep performing for long periods of time. Of course training using the 180 Method is an essential approach to achieving this. However, Dr.Maffetone also recommends testing the development of this aerobic system at least monthly to determine if your program is working and whether there are any other stress such as chemical (think food and environment here) or mental (yup! how you feel and the stress you face at work or home for example) stress that is hindering your progress.
The logic is simple. As you develop your aerobic function, you should in theory be able to run faster at the same heart rate compared to when you first started out. To do this we need to hold the heart rate as a constant (in my case 132bpm) and another such as time or distance. In my case I have selected distance, hence I measure the time (variable) taken to ride my bike in 5km.
Ideally, you will need to collect three measures. So I have chosen to cycle 15km, measuring the time taken every 5 km. Once you have decided the approach to measure your MAF, stick with it as that's the only way to demonstrate progress. Over time, according to Dr.Maffetone, the time will reduce. Mine to-date are:
|
Date
|
Round 1
|
Round 2
|
Round 3
|
|
16 January 2015
|
15’05”
|
15’15”
|
15’21”
|
|
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment