Ok, Ive got a few minutes
Ok, Ive got a few minutes now. So as promised heres my take on Maffetone.
First off, its not so much just a training method as it is a way of life. Yes, a big part of his book "The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing" (aptly named!) is over running at a heart rate that places you at or around your maximum aerobic function level, but its only 1/3rd of the book.
Maffetones main focus is on health, then performance. He doesnt believe in sacrificing a runners health in order to achieve performance. Optimal health combined with optimal training will yield better results than anything. He starts by saying that you must manage stresses in your life. Stresses come in many different forms, mainy psychological, physical and health.
Psychological stress could result from a number of things such as stress at work, at home, at school, or anything like that. If your mentally stressing out over an issue it causes changes in your bodies chemistry that causes damage. These damages do alot to harm your aerobic system. Most of the scientific reasoning he provides as proof of this has made its way out of my small peanut sized brain and has been since replaced with the thoughts of boobies, aliens, and sea creatures that feast on bread crumbs, but the important part stuck in my head. Eliminate stress from your life!
Physical stress is just that, physical stress. Running, lifting weights, physically demanding jobs, yard work, and basically any type of physical activity puts stress on the body. Of course you cant eliminate all of these, but you can find ways to significantly lower the levels of stress incurred by many of these. This is his "controversial" area to most people. Most people says that using his method of running by heart rate makes them run too slow and theres no way to get anywhere doing that, but in truth its an imbalance within the individual. There are 2 ways to run (no, not shod and BF...) which are aerobic and anaerobic. I personally would venture that 95% of runners run anaerobically. This is where your body is using eaten sugars (glycogen) to burn for energy production. This also puts the most stress on the body as it releases the same type of bad chemicals as the phyicological stresses mentioned above do. Running aerobically will burn stored fat for energy, and who doesnt want to burn that stored fat? Not only is it less stress full, and therefore less damaging to your body physically, it also doesnt release the bad chemicals (dont ask for the name, Ill just start talking about fish people that live in ancient hidden citys burried miles beneath major US cities where they enslave worms to do their evil biding...) that aid in the bodily damage. So if your able to run a 6:15 mile running all out, but when running at your aerobic HR your at a 14:30 pace (ME!!!) its not because his method is bunk, its because your imbalanced. Your aerobic / anaerobic fitness levels are out of whack and you need to correct it ASAP! This is why most runners crash and burn after just a few years of running. And as far as running at an aerobic HR being "slow", consider that Mark Allen (6 time Hawaii Ironman champion) could run a 5:00 mile AEROBICALLY!
The health part is I think the biggest part to the whole thing. If you eat poorly, then your sacraficing performance. His eating habbt reccomendations are basically no processed carbs, and lots of healthy fats and protiens. Lots of nuts, eggs, fruits, veggies, and other natural foods. Its pretty much an Atkins / Paleo hybrid. The goal of it is to convert your body into a fat burning machine instead of a sugar burning machine.
All 3 parts are very vital and important, but I think that the diet part is the most important.
I havent finished the book yet. Theres still alot to read, most of it being about understanding what your body is telling you and even a decent sized section about running BF.
Now Im running out of time, so Ill post my personal results up later. But to summarize everything, I think it works if you let it.
Ok, Ive got a few minutes now. So as promised heres my take on Maffetone.
First off, its not so much just a training method as it is a way of life. Yes, a big part of his book "The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing" (aptly named!) is over running at a heart rate that places you at or around your maximum aerobic function level, but its only 1/3rd of the book.
Maffetones main focus is on health, then performance. He doesnt believe in sacrificing a runners health in order to achieve performance. Optimal health combined with optimal training will yield better results than anything. He starts by saying that you must manage stresses in your life. Stresses come in many different forms, mainy psychological, physical and health.
Psychological stress could result from a number of things such as stress at work, at home, at school, or anything like that. If your mentally stressing out over an issue it causes changes in your bodies chemistry that causes damage. These damages do alot to harm your aerobic system. Most of the scientific reasoning he provides as proof of this has made its way out of my small peanut sized brain and has been since replaced with the thoughts of boobies, aliens, and sea creatures that feast on bread crumbs, but the important part stuck in my head. Eliminate stress from your life!
Physical stress is just that, physical stress. Running, lifting weights, physically demanding jobs, yard work, and basically any type of physical activity puts stress on the body. Of course you cant eliminate all of these, but you can find ways to significantly lower the levels of stress incurred by many of these. This is his "controversial" area to most people. Most people says that using his method of running by heart rate makes them run too slow and theres no way to get anywhere doing that, but in truth its an imbalance within the individual. There are 2 ways to run (no, not shod and BF...) which are aerobic and anaerobic. I personally would venture that 95% of runners run anaerobically. This is where your body is using eaten sugars (glycogen) to burn for energy production. This also puts the most stress on the body as it releases the same type of bad chemicals as the phyicological stresses mentioned above do. Running aerobically will burn stored fat for energy, and who doesnt want to burn that stored fat? Not only is it less stress full, and therefore less damaging to your body physically, it also doesnt release the bad chemicals (dont ask for the name, Ill just start talking about fish people that live in ancient hidden citys burried miles beneath major US cities where they enslave worms to do their evil biding...) that aid in the bodily damage. So if your able to run a 6:15 mile running all out, but when running at your aerobic HR your at a 14:30 pace (ME!!!) its not because his method is bunk, its because your imbalanced. Your aerobic / anaerobic fitness levels are out of whack and you need to correct it ASAP! This is why most runners crash and burn after just a few years of running. And as far as running at an aerobic HR being "slow", consider that Mark Allen (6 time Hawaii Ironman champion) could run a 5:00 mile AEROBICALLY!
The health part is I think the biggest part to the whole thing. If you eat poorly, then your sacraficing performance. His eating habbt reccomendations are basically no processed carbs, and lots of healthy fats and protiens. Lots of nuts, eggs, fruits, veggies, and other natural foods. Its pretty much an Atkins / Paleo hybrid. The goal of it is to convert your body into a fat burning machine instead of a sugar burning machine.
All 3 parts are very vital and important, but I think that the diet part is the most important.
I havent finished the book yet. Theres still alot to read, most of it being about understanding what your body is telling you and even a decent sized section about running BF.
Now Im running out of time, so Ill post my personal results up later. But to summarize everything, I think it works if you let it.
