In one of my previous roles working as a strength and conditioning coach for a number of GB rowing internationals, I spent a lot of time reading up on the heart rate training protocols they use, as rowing is a very physiology-based sport requiring huge contributions from the aerobic systems. As a result of the time I spent with these athletes, I now utilize heart rate training extensively with my athletes. In fact, I think a heart rate monitor should be part of any athlete’s training kit!
I tend to work with five zones. These are taken from the individual’s maximum heart rate (MHR) and are as follows:
1. 95% MHR or above
2. 85–95% MHR
3. 80–85% MHR
4. 70–80% MHR
5. 50–70% MHR
Zone 5 is essentially recovery type work. This should be used for mobility work and active recovery on non-training days.
Zone 4 is aerobic development. Isolated sparring, drilling, and some skill work may fit into this zone. It’s also the zone I recommend for weight loss work in athletes who have high volume training programs, as it won’t induce large amounts of physical or mental fatigue.
Zone 3 is usually around where your anaerobic threshold (AT) point is. This is where your body switches from producing energy aerobically to producing it anaerobically. It’s an important training zone because training around your AT point allows you to develop your heart so that you can maintain aerobic work for longer. This is beneficial because you can sustain this level of work for long periods of time.
Zone 2 moves into anaerobic training and is commonly associated with high intensity drilling and sparring, conditioning games, and circuits. It’s important that this zone is trained extensively for strength and power sports such as mixed martial arts (MMA), tennis, rugby, and soccer. You’re training to improve your work capacity within these heart rate limits. How much work can you do with your heart rate above 85 percent? That should be the goal of the sessions moving forward and it should be measured accordingly.
Zone 1 is fully anaerobic and can only be sustained for around one minute in most cases. It’s reserved for extremely high intensity periods of play within your sport. In training, it’s important to experience zone 1 and attempt to improve your body’s tolerance and the duration you can maintain this work rate because there will be times when you’re under the most pressure.
One of the key points about heart rate training is that you need to train your heart to develop and adapt to the demands of your sport. However, the methods in which you do so are very important. For example, it wouldn’t be optimal for an MMA athlete to be continuously performing shuttle runs for anaerobic development. An MMA athlete needs to do specific training utilizing stand up, clinch, and ground-based activities in accordance with their game plan and their opponent’s style. Shuttle runs are more suited for rugby players and field and court sport athletes, although for general preparation type training, sprints would be suitable.
Heart rate training can be utilized very effectively in technique under fatigue (TUF) type sessions and are very effective in these scenarios. Within these sessions, if your athletes have heart rate monitors on you can effectively see what type of stress they’re experiencing. It is interesting to note the difference between a technical session with and without conditioning. Look at the technical execution of the skills at 70 percent MHR and compare these to 80–90 percent MHR. You will initially notice a huge difference, but over time, it will diminish. When you think about the application to sport of this concept, it does make sense.
The other area of importance is the recovery rate and time to recover to a certain heart rate. For example, with the combat athletes I train, I like them to get their heart rate back to 75–80 percent of their max heart rate within the one minute rest between rounds. So a 200 beats per minutes (bpm) max heart rate would return to 130 bpm by the start of the next round. This is extremely demanding and requires some training. Practice different methods of breathing, such as three seconds inhaling with one second exhaling or breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth. You will find that recovering to 75 percent MHR allows you to perform substantially more work in the following five minutes. Therefore, it’s a key facet in the conditioning process.
Here is a guide to what zones certain sports should focus on:
MMA: Zones 3, 2, and 1 are important for MMA. Four weeks pre-fight work should focus on zones 2 and 1. Eight to twelve weeks out, the focus should be more so on zone 3. Use zones 4 and 5 for recovery and technical work. Zone 2 is the zone that I believe most athletes will experience the greatest benefits from and it should be done with specific circuits/strength training. Zone 1 is best trained with either sparring or with exercises such as squats, presses, and pulls, as these are fixed objects and have to be dealt with by the athlete. It is easy to slow down when you have to move yourself like in a body weight circuit. It’s much harder when you have to move someone or something else! Make sure the athletes have technical competency in the exercises you use before putting them into this type of training and keep the reps low on power exercises. You’re better off doing several exercises. I don’t recommend doing extensive reps on exercises like power cleans or snatches.
Rugby: I believe zones 1, 3, and 4 are very important for developing rugby players. I also think zone 2 is important as well. The ability to switch repeatedly from aerobic work to highly anaerobic work such as tackling and sprinting is very important. Conditioning games as well as more traditional methods such as shuttles and sprints work well for rugby players. Conditioning games are easy to cheat on, so it’s important to monitor the players. Contact-based games such as sumo wrestling and two versus one wrestling games are also very good. They really stress zones 1 and 2 when carried out for longer periods of time and when they’re interspersed with skill-based games to keep the heart rates high.
Tennis: I tend to focus a lot of my training for tennis players around zone 4. This is usually medicine ball circuits, shuttle runs, sprints, and specific court work integrated with endurance work or tennis drilling to keep the heart rates high. Tennis players have high volume programs anyway, so spending time working with lower intensities isn’t beneficial in my experience. Body weight or light load power activities are more appropriate because they aren’t shifting opponents around like fighters or rugby players. However, I do think there is a place for that type of work with tennis players.
That’s all for now. Let me know your thoughts on this and keep training hard!
Brendan Chaplin is the CEO and founder of Strength and Conditioning Education, the UK's largest S&C coaching and training company. You can reach Brendan on all social platforms @brendanchaplin where he will be happy to answer your questions and take your feedback.