Question about Kenneth's 36:36 MVO2 Protocol

[Lt.Sunny]

Reading up on Kenneth Jay's new book (which btw is excellent IMO) I stumbled over a detail I don't fully understand.

In the description of the 36:36 MVO2 Protocol, it reads:
"During this protocol, many people ask, why the interval setting is 36 seconds. [...] Thirty-six seconds is 60% of 1 minute. Research has shown that doing intervals at 60% of the time spent at VO2max is far superior to 50% [...]."

Ok, I got the reason, BUT in this case "the time" would not be a minute, but:

"the time" = "work time" + "rest time" = 36 seconds work + 36 seconds of rest = 72 seconds

which means, that we would end up doing intervals at 50% of the time spent (36 sec. of 72 sec.).
This also seems to be quite obvious to me, since the work:rest ratio ist explicitly stated to be 1:1 (50%:50%) in the paragraph above.

To get the intervals up to 60% of the "time", wouldn't we need to shorten the "rest" to 24 seconds, while keeping the "work" at 36 seconds?

Can someone give me a hint? Kenneth, anyone...!?

I'm sure I'm probably just too blind to see an obvious mistake in my thinking and will feel really stupid, once one of you points out why it has to be 36:36, but it seems I just cant figure it out by myself :-/

Cheers,
Daniel

[mrwhy]

I was a bit confused at the part as well. Here is how I understood it. You spent 1:00 at VO2 max during your test. You are now training at intervals which are 60 percent of the time you spent during the test (36 seconds.)

It is not 60 percent of your work time, but 60 percent of your testing time.

But I am not KJ and could be very wrong.

[Lt.Sunny]

But that wouldn't really make sense. VO2max as I understand it and as it is explained in Viking Warrior Conditioning is a general ability.
All the factors explained in "Cardiovascular Physiology 101" (summing up as the Stroke Volume) seem to be of general nature, with no special regard to the duration of the performance you are trying to optimize. So to optimize your performance you need to maximize your Stroke Volume, no matter what "testing time" you are taking a shot at. More Stroke Volume is always better. And the Stroke Volume also won't change or peak at a certain time during the duration of a single performance.
Therefor you don't have to decide on a specific "testing time" as a training goal (which would actually need for an adjustment-factor for the protocols, that sure would have been included & explained by KJ, if this was the case).

And besides that, Kenneth is stating pretty clear, that the 60% at VO2max are calculated in regard to the time of the intervals:
"Research has shown, that doing intervals at 60% of the time spent at VO2max is far superior to 50%[...]when doing high volume work (35 sets)."

I'm confused

Kenneth, can you help us out?

[Kenneth Jay]

it is 60% of the test time the final minute of the cMVO2. the cMVO2 test is designed so you hit MV02 the fifth minute and the 36:36 is based on 60% of that with a 1:1 W:R ratio.

lets say for arguments sake that the person tests and is able to keep the cadence another minute (so the cMVO2 lasts 6 minutes) then according to reasearch the work duration following the T60% guideline would be 60% of 120 sec. = 72 sec. however in this case whenever a work set exceeds 1 min in duration at MV02 levels the rest needs to increase and making the W:R ratio more than 1:1.

basically, the cMVO2 test provides a number of reps that corresponds to what elicits a MVO2 response in the fifth minute. work interval duration is 60% of that and the W:R ratio is 1:1.

I hope this helps a bit, otherwise I will try to clarify in another way



/KJ

[Lt.Sunny]

Thanks for clearing things up, Kenneth!

Ok, so I'm starting to get where the 36 seconds and the work:rest ratio are derived from.

Just one more question to make sure I get things right:

The result of doing the protocol will be optimal for any activity, regardless of the duration?!

Reason why im asking is:
My aim would be to peak my performance for boxing-bouts, which last either 2 or 3 minutes.
Would I have to make any adjustments to one of the protocols for that?

[Kenneth Jay]

Thanks for clearing things up, Kenneth!

Ok, so I'm starting to get where the 36 seconds and the work:rest ratio are derived from.

Just one more question to make sure I get things right:

The result of doing the protocol will be optimal for any activity, regardless of the duration?!

Reason why im asking is:
My aim would be to peak my performance for boxing-bouts, which last either 2 or 3 minutes.
Would I have to make any adjustments to one of the protocols for that?

no reason to adjust anything... follow the protocol and reap the benefits in your boxing

/KJ

please remember to review VWC here: Viking Warrior Conditioning - Kenneth Jay, Master RKC