Sam Dutney explains the differences and how they apply to masters rowing.
Different modes of training methodology are polarised and pyramidal. Most of the time people use pyramidal so the training intensity distribution is like a pyramid. It has a large base of low intensity, a moderate amount of mid intensity and a small amount of high intensity. Polarised training skips the mid intensity and has 20% at high intensity.
Timestamps
02:00 Percentages are 60: 30: 10% for pyramidal. Rowing training has been pyramidal for a long time – since 1930s. Polarised became popular in mid 2000s and is based on a study done on elite cyclists in endurance sports.
04:45 Is HIIT influencing this change?
The benefits of polarised training link well to the benefits of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). What drives the benefits are the high intensity training – the top levels are very similar – the top level training is at or near top efforts. A huge amount of rowing performance comes from efficiency and time in the boat. Develop the skill in a polarised model in the low intensity sessions.
07:00 How to choose which mode is right for you
Available time – if you can only train 3 times a week. Do a program with one low intensity and the other two as high intensity. If you are doing 4-5 sessions a polarised model may be more suitable. Pyramidal training is effective in the early season and head racing. because you aren’t trying to operate at maximum intensity. So pyramidal can be effective at this time of year.
A 2016 paper on runners compared pyramidal and polarised training for 16 weeks; The results from pyramidal for 8 weeks and then shifting into polarised for 8 weeks was very much more effective than all the others. The polarised hard sessions have to be really hard and the easy sessions need to be really easy. As we get older you don’t recover as well that’s where polarised training can help recovery for masters.
Top Crew Academy is a coaching service run by Sam Dutney.
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