Dear CrossFit, Add Heart Rate Training To Explode Your Performance
Building on my post about periodizing CrossFit, I want to explore an idea for adding heartrate training into the sport. Just to give a bit of background, I’ve been a professional rowing coach for many years at various levels (high school to elite), and specific aerobic training is critical to our performance. I’d like to see if heart rate training can be a benefit to CrossFit.
NOTE: Glassman on the definition of fitness and training, where he rips on heart rate training…full videos if you have a Journal account. John McBrien also addresses this on a conceptual level in this Journal video: CrossFit Endurance, Intro to Programming.
To kick this off, we need a quick primer on the energy systems and how they apply to training. There are three energy systems: aerobic, anaerobic, and ATP-CP. Common knowledge, right? But, what you may or may not know is that the energy systems break down into smaller bands–by bands I’m referring to % of heart rate max (HRM)–and each of these bands can and should be trained. Most importantly, all three of the energy systems are intertwined and need to be trained in specific ways in order to get the most benefit.