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Give Yourself A Break! The Importance of Recovery in Your Training
Your success with Momentum lies in the strength of interval training — not only getting your heart rate up, but also letting it come down again before starting your next interval. Alternating between exertion and recovery strengthens your heart (a muscle) and lungs because you are training the two how to respond to, and absorb, exertion. The more you work your heart and lungs using Momentum intervals, the quicker you will recover over time. This is why your recovery heart rate is such an important indicator of your fitness level.
There are several ways to find your recovery rate. Momentum users can actually see it on their heart rate monitor during their interval workouts. For example, if you hit a target heart rate of 150 during a 3-minute interval, and your heart drops 30 beats per minute during your 1-minute recovery, your recovery rate is 30 bpm. Others can take their pulse (take it for 10 seconds and multiple by 6) at the peak of their regular workout and then take it again for 10 seconds a minute after they have finished their workout. A Momentum user recently indicated that his AT (anaerobic threshold) was 146 but he was only recovering a beat or two after his intervals. He was wondering exactly how much to slow down during his recovery.
Explains Jonathan Roche, who developed the Momentum System. "He should slow down as much as possible without actually stopping. If he is on a treadmill, he should have the incline at 0 and the speed at 2.5 or so during his recoveries. If he is on an elliptical or stationary bike, he should be at level 1 during his recoveries. If he is walking outside, he should slow down to the slowest pace possible while still walking. If he takes advantage of the recovery portion of the workout, his heart and lungs will definitely strengthen and his recovery rates will improve dramatically over the next couple of weeks and then months."
"Whatever you do," says Jonathan, "don't stop during your recovery. Although you want to drop as many heart beats as possible during your recovery time (this makes your heart work harder when you go for your next interval target) you should slow down rather than stopping. Optimally, don't let your heart rate drop more than 50 beats during your recovery."
Momentum's workout and recovery has another major benefit. Because the rest periods enable you to work out harder during the actual intervals, you burn more calories. This is why the total calories you burn with the Momentum System is more than you would burn with regular exercise, sometimes even double.
So, be sure to incorporate proper recovery into your workouts. It's fun to watch yourself get healthy!
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