You would be forgiven for thinking that you need to do a VO2 max test in order to know your VO2 max so that you can then train it. This is logical but flawed thinking. The truth is that you do NOT need to know your VO2 max in order to improve it! As a man who has done hundreds of VO2 tests in my time and (with occasional exception) no longer does them, I’m happy to tell you why:

VO2 max and “Zone 2” are all the rage right now, with people like Peter Attia and Andrew Huberman podcasting about it and your training buddies dropping it in to every conversation! Since you want to be the fittest you can be, naturally you want to know the full scoop.

So this article is all about VO2 max, what it is, why it matters and how to develop it.  

How often do you get in your car & just drive without knowing where it is that you want to get to? What do you think the chances are of making an efficient journey and ending up where you actually want to be, if you take this approach?

Considering this makes it easy to see that before you embark on any sort of adventure, you first need to know your destination. There’s no point climbing the ladder if it’s up against the wrong wall! This is where goal-setting comes in …..

Even when you are eating like a monk to be “race-lean”, you can still make your meals exciting, not only to look at but also in taste, simply by getting colorful. A splash of color will not only make your food more enjoyable, but it will also add much need nutrients, turning your food in to fuel.

The long winter days are behind us and by now you should hopefully have built up a strong aerobic system and fat-burning base. You’ve spent some time in the hills to develop better strength and now you want to maximize the top end of your engine to propel to peak speeds at the races. It’s time to go fast!!

Anyone training with science will be using a heartrate monitor and power/ pace to most accurately guide their training. However, “instinct” and a “sense of effort” are also key skills to bring to your training and race pacing. The more information you have to hand, the better the process. There are also those times when your damn HRM won’t work for some unknown reason and it’s usually when you want it the most!!! In these cases, “RPE” (which is the Rate of Perceived Exertion) is a really useful fall back option….

Although Heart-rate monitors (HRM’s) are a common item in most athletes’ kit bags these days, very few people know how to get the best out of them. HRM’s are there to help guide the intensity of your workout. To train specifically and correctly, you’ll need to train in carefully defined “zones”. This article assumes that you already have your zones but need practical pointers on how to use your HRM out on the road. What follows is a brief discussion on some of the factors affecting heart-rate and the remedies you can apply.

If you want to get stronger and faster there is nothing quite like HILL TRAINING to give you the biggest return on your training investment. Hill training offers great gains for relatively low injury risk. Furthermore, most races have hills in them and athletes who have not prepared for a hilly course will be at a significant disadvantage over those who’ve used the benefits of hill training to the full. Working in the hills allows you to include a variety of training stimuli in the same session and this allows you to develop not only your metabolic fitness but also your strength, technique and speed all at the same time. We like to think of hill work as “aerobic strength training” and it is a key part of every athlete’s development….

Let’s talk about a tricky subject …. Body Fat. When it comes to out and out endurance performance, there is no doubt that lighter is faster, most of the time. It’s why all elite marathon runners, fast climbing pro’ cyclists or winning Triathletes are lean and light. It’s called “power to weight” ratio. For example, if two cyclists can both produce 300 watts then the lightest one will get to the top of the hill fastest. It’s why the size of an athlete’s engine, the VO2 max, is measured against bodyweight …. “Volume of oxygen, per minute, per kilogram of body weight”. Big engines carrying the lightest load usually win.

So you would be forgiven for thinking that you need to hone your body weight and composition to be as light and lean as possible and that would be mostly true, BUT how far you take it depends on many factors…..

The “Norwegian Method” is all the rage right now due to the success of the nordic athletes especially at the IRONMAN distance. In truth, the top coaches in all endurance sports from Triathlon to Cycling, Running to Rowing and Cross Country Skiing to Swimming have all embraced and used LACTATE TESTING for decades. So what’s all the fuss about?

The topic of this post might seem obvious to you but this winter, more than any other winter, I’ve had to talk some sense into athletes who are fighting a cold/ flu bug and yet continuing to train. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that you don’t want to lose any fitness and fear gaining an extra pound or two but seriously folks, it’s just plain stupid to train when you are ill.

If you’re here on my blog, then I probably don’t need to tell you about the physical benefits of exercise – everything from strength and stamina, to combating heart disease and diabetes, to bolstering your immune system – physical fitness is key. But as society is beginning to tear down the stigmas surrounding discussing mental health, it’s increasingly important that the fitness world begins to have those same conversations. Realizing that exercise habits and mental health go hand-in-hand is a great place to start!

One of my main goals is to slash your learning curve and get you training with maximum efficiency right from the start. Training correctly for an endurance sport requires attention in many different areas. In addition to the cardio training that you do there’s recovery techniques, strength work, injury prevention, gear prep plus nutrition and fueling to consider. Use these tips to optimize all that you do and watch your performance soar.

Managing hydration is one of the most crucial elements of performance and training, and it’s something that seems to be commonly misunderstood. Staying properly hydrated is often grossly oversimplified; reduced to “just drink more water” by the minimalists among us. On the other hand, folks from the sport drink, energy fuel, and fitness industries are always trying to convince us that water can’t do the job …….

Having a coach helps make you do the things you don’t really want to do !!! Accountability and an objective opinion is key. No one really wants to foam roll every day or stay in zone BUT these are the details that make YOU a better athlete. So, what can you do to help your coach help YOU better?

Once every 4-8 weeks as part of your program, you will be asked to perform a test session for your main sport(s). The purpose of this test is to check progress and to see how your performance has changed and also to set up your heart-rate training zones.

All Coach Gareth workouts (aside from swimming) are based on Heart-rate (HR). Heart-rate is an excellent guide to the stress created by a workout and also the intensity of the workout…

Meal prepping is all the rage right now, and let’s be honest, it makes a ton of sense for a lot of reasons. It saves unspeakable amounts of time and money, allows for greater portion size and macronutrient control, and allows you to devote less energy to the what/when/where/how of nourishing yourself – that means more energy focused on your goals.

We’ve all felt it – whether in the form of a sudden pinch, a gradual stiffening, or simply waking up to it – yep, it’s back pain. Coming in many shapes and forms, and with even more potential causes, discomfort in the spine is a leading cause of missed workouts and failed programs. Here are three key tips for preventing back pain.

Interval training is one of the best ways to increase performance across all endurance sports. It is therefore a regular staple in all of Coach Gareth’s training programs. Here’s why and how to do them better…