Use first and second ventilatory thresholds (VT1 and VT2) to assign heart rate training zones in your spinning classes

Recommended by ACE - The American Council on Exercise

In Part 1 and Part 2 of Is a 20 Minute Threshold Field Test realistic for your class? I was trying to make the point that although completely appropriate for Endurance Athletes, these 20 minute assessments aren't really appropriate for the typical students in our Indoor Cycling classes.

So if the old 220 - your age is a waste of time, Metabolic Testing is unavailable / too expensive, RPE scales are too subjective and a 20 Minute Field Test isn't practical, what should we use to establish a students Heart Rate Training Zones? And then how do we communicate training intensities in our classes?

I suggest that WE look very strongly at what The American Council on Exercise (ACE) is now recommending with their ACE Integrated Fitness TrainingTM (ACE IFTTM) Model. Follow that link to an exhaustive article on the Two Threshold / Three Zone ACE IFT Model for Cardiorespiratory Training.

Watch this video and then let me know what you think.

A few things that I feel are important to note:

- After watching the video, do you see how you could be conducting a VT1 (Low Threshold) assessment as part of every class you teach?

- This Two Threshold / Three Zone system and the Talk Test method of determining VT1 & VT2 is based on research by Dr. Carl Foster who is presenting at this years conference. Dr. Foster is lecturing on this exact subject 🙂

- The Zoning Blink Heart Rate monitor, with it's Blue - Yellow - Red lights, is based on this same Two Threshold / Three Zone system.

John

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