The North Star has been used for as long as history has been written. The Viking ancestors called it Polaris. Polaris to the Vikings was the tip of the spear where the world spins around. They would use the height of the star to determine their proximity to home.
While the Vikings never technically arrived at the North Star, unless perhaps it is Valhalla itself, they still used it as guide for their journey. We too, as humans who long for a better, more fit life, can use intensity similarly. Let’s call intensity your absolute potential. You may never fully arrive, but you will use it to navigate. We can use heart rate or weight to make a measurable proximity.
Doing steady conditioning and resistance training that never measure-ably progresses is akin to going nowhere while sailing the Ocean. It is better than sailing the wrong direction, but no true Viking would ever allow for that OR to maintain a stagnant ship. We are, whether you like it or not, ancestors to this belief. It is within us to pursue. It is against us to tread. You are either growing, or you’re dying, there is no third direction. That is to imply that going nowhere is equally as off-putting as going backwards.
There is also the object in motion stays in motion. So what can we glean from remaining stagnant? That an outside force is changing our momentum from forwards, to backwards.
It isn’t in us to accept that. Let’s find Polaris (intensity).
There are measurable biometrics that lead us to a longer, healthier, productive life. VO2 Max, Lactate, and Blood Pressure are what we will look into today (but the list goes on and weaves indefinitely). But let’s look at how we can efficiently impact these.
VO2 Max
This is your body’s maximal rate of oxygen consumption attainable. VO2 numbers correlate quite predictably with living longer and limiting all cause mortality. Low VO2 max numbers are akin to diseases like type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and even smoking. VO2 max is one of the metrics most highly coveted for any endurance athlete and longevity enthusiasts.
Testing for VO2 max accurately, is pretty invasive and usually done in a lab with a gas mask on to measure waste and infer oxygen uptake. It is a simple equation, but requires the test subject to exert maximal effort typically on a treadmill with an ever increases pace and incline usually to tap out the test subject by around the 12 minute mark. That said, you can just go run max effort on a track for 12 minutes and find your distance and plug it in the calculator here to get an approximate measure for free. If you use a heart rate tracker wearable like whoop, garmin, or Apple Watch. You should have a resting heart rate where this calculator estimates it as well, though it is a lot less reliable. The latter implies that resting heart correlates with VO2 Max, which it absolutely does, but there are many factors that contribute to resting heart rate that may manipulate the test too. After all, having a good theoretical VO2 max, versus practically inducing oxygen uptake are not one and the same. It’s like having a bunch of muscle but not being able to move.
They have conducted a 2 year study with 50 year old participants where they were able to improve VO2 Max and show that the structure of the heart actually improved to the level of a common 20 year old’s heart! That’s is like taking 30 years off your life! (I mean it doesn’t exactly look like that, but you get the point!)
How to improve VO2 max
Zone 2 training certainly helps a lot for the novice, or less than average. But it is limited. Eventually you would have to do so much zone 2 that you might need to quit your job to put in the hours to keep increasing VO2 Max. Efficient VO2 Max training is undoubtably HIIT (high intensity interval training). Any interval of 1 minute to 20 minutes will work wonders. But it needs to be high intensity… our North Star. High intensity measured via heart rate is 80% of max heart rate or more. This is exclusively higher than zone 2. The sweet spot seems to be the Norwegian 4×4. 4 Rounds, 4 minutes max sustainable intensity, rest 3 minutes.
The CrossFit twist. 4 Rounds of max effort assault bike would be SUPER effective for almost every single person… but it is also boring and somewhat unnatural as far as modality goes. That said in CrossFit, we train for unknown and unknowable just like the natural world tends to be (and supernatural for all we know). Meaning we might perform 4 x AMRAP4 with 3 minute rest, and combine movements containing elements of squatting, pushing, pulling, hinging, etc and mix disciplines of mono structural cyclical movements (like the assault bike) with weightlifting component (external load), and gymnastics components (body weight only). In order to truly maximize our intensity there are many factors to consider. Mechanics first! We have to move well in any movement we throw into the mix. We have to work within a repetition range where our power output doesn’t slowly decline throughout each 4 minute section due to things like strength or stamina causing rate of repetitions to decrease such that heart rate also decreases… imagine doing 4 minutes of handstand push-ups or even push-ups. Eventually muscle fatigue will choke us out and now we spend most of that 4 minutes resting.
Lactate
Previously lactate was thought to be a bi-product of training that made you feel the burn. They thought it was just the accumulation of waste and a fatigue sensor for the body. Now we know that lactate is actually a fuel source that is potentially more viable than glucose itself! Lactate doesn’t just alarm us of fatigue, although the use of it will trigger that sensation, it also is a potent signaler for the body. It signals your muscles to produce more mitochondria (power house of the cell). Lactate also signals the creation of neurotransmitters like epinephrine and oxytocin. The most fascinated and relatable signal however is this. Lactate in the brain stimulates the production of brain derived neurotrophic factor. This increases the production of neurons in the hippocampus which aids in memory especially. Why we relate… Alzheimer’s, dementia, and other mental conditions can be prevented or limited through lactate.
How we increase lactate? Find your North Star. Lactate is produced from rapid, consistent demand of energy. Basically this means working at an unsustainable pace for durations typically longer than 30 seconds. Heart rates 80% or higher sustained for virtually any duration longer than 30seconds. That being said, lactate does take time to come back down which makes recovery between bouts of high intensity important. Letting lactate come back down before training again is like letting the sails on your ship aid you in your speed or direction. Sure you can row through it, but it’s going to cost a lot, be slower, and might eventually lead to a bigger problem like not being able to row at all anymore. Recovery in exercise is always key to efficient results.
Blood Pressure
If you have chronically elevated blood pressure you are demonstrating significant risk factor of multiple potential diseases that especially lead to stroke or heart failure. 20-60 minutes of vigorous intensity can improve blood pressure similarly to blood pressure medications. When exercising with intensity, you have an acute spike in blood pressure which is actually a lot better than the chronic slight elevation in that the shear force of blood can actually kill circulating tumor cells preventing the spread of potential cancers and cancerous cells! Just envision the Viking ship hitting the current, mixed with the sail catching the wind just right, you are going to get to your destination a lot faster! Imagine being able to clean your arteries without bypass surgery… ahem… let’s get after it!
North Star, Lodestar, Polaris, Cynosure, Polestar, or Intensity
Whatever you want to call it. Intensity is to CrossFit Magni, as Polaris (North Star) was to Vikings. We might not ever meet it. But it will always guide us. And sometimes we will drift further away in order to make gains that will accelerate our ability to move towards it. If we cannot express intensity safely, we will pursue it. It is more than clear that the pursuit of our North Star is guiding us to a better life. And if something gets in the way, rest assured it will be cut down where it stands or be cast aside through our steadfast discipline and dedication. Nothing will stop us from reaching the tip of the spear. #seeyouinvalhalla
