[Dada]

Hi guys,

I just the tapering week for my A event. I build up my ME since the last weeks and I like my legs a lot since ME is always my biggest weakness. At the end I still had the feeling I could increase my ME more.

After the A event (12 days of high alpine mountaineering in Chamonix) I will certainly recover appropriately.

But I like my legs (did gym ME, Z4 30s/30s intervalls unweighted and two Z3 steady 60min ME workouts) and would love to keep my ME level throughout the rest of the season.

– Is there something like a ME maintenance workout (exercises, frequency) to maintain my ME gains?

How should this workout look like (Gym ME, Z4 intervals, Z3 intervalls)?

– Is it even advised to keep the ME up?

Best regards
Dada

Topic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on June 30, 2020 at 9:01 am #43167

In general, ME benefits tend to stick around for the same amount of time that you’ve been training it. But typically we don’t go too far past 12 weeks, so that rule of thumb may break down over longer timelines.

Another general rule of thumb is that a load of 50-75% of a routine should be sufficient for maintenance.

But peak gains never stick around. They come and go. Peaking happens when a bunch of trained systems combine to create a sum that is greater than the parts. But the peak is always fleeting, and overtraining will result if you try and keep it around.

After your event, start the process over again for the next event. Each subsequent macrocycle will benefit from the previous cycle’s training and the general average should rise.

[Dada]

Dada on June 30, 2020 at 10:26 am #43181

Hi Scott,

thx for your answer!

To be honest, I had the feeling, I did not max out my ME potential at all. I just reached week six of the Gym ME due to slow progression (GYM ME progression way too fast).

Maybe, I keep the ME workout once a week but with 4 sets of 4 excercises, 60s recovery between sets and no additional BW.

Best regards
Dada

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on June 30, 2020 at 1:32 pm #43188

That seems reasonable. Be sure to change it up if things start feeling stale though.

With respect to ME, it’s intense and could easily take more than one season to progress through a progression. When I started using ME, I used the original Verkhoshansky prescription—our UA progressions hadn’t been created yet—and it took me two summers to get strong enough to get through just the first of his two progressions for runners.

(Especially impressive is that the Olympians he originally experimented with went through two ME progressions in one year. And his progressions are especially heavy and intense.)

[Dada]

Dada on June 30, 2020 at 2:32 pm #43195

That seems reasonable. Be sure to change it up if things start feeling stale though.

Will certainly keep that in mind.

With respect to ME, it’s intense and could easily take more than one season to progress through a progression. When I started using ME, I used the original Verkhoshansky prescription—our UA progressions hadn’t been created yet—and it took me two summers to get strong enough to get through just the first of his two progressions for runners.

(Especially impressive is that the Olympians he originally experimented with went through two ME progressions in one year. And his progressions are especially heavy and intense.)

That’s so impressive. As I said I had to progress so slowly through the Gym ME (pretty much just half the speed).

Thx Scott!

Dada