Originally Posted by
Wattsup
I've been reading a lot about 90-10 or 80-20, and it seems that PT definitely has benefits for high volume riders. But what about for normal people.
I'm looking to improve my FTP as much as I can. If I'm only a 6-8 hour a week rider, (5 days), will PT have the same advantages over sweet spot that it has for high volume riders?
If, in the past, you've consistently trained at 6-8 hours a week, then no. There's really no point to it as the stimulus is not likely to be enough to cause significant adaptations, and you'd get much more bang for the buck incorporating more intensity.
If you've never ridden before, then absolutely anything will help you improve.
If you're somewhere in the middle, it may help initially, but then you may find you need to have a higher percentage of time at a higher intensity to continue improvements.
In real life, hardly anyone actually does polarized (a true 4 easy sessions, one hard session plan) because in real life, so much time is spent in zone 2 of the 3 zones, which polarized training largely avoids. Which is kind of crazy, but people like to pretend otherwise.
Polarized only "works" for high volume people because the stimulus is still so great that it causes adaptations. Without a notable stimulus, there are no notable adaptations, which is the entire point of training to improve.