In this video Floris Gierman walks viewers through heart‑rate‑monitor training based on Dr. Phil Maffetone’s 180 Formula. He begins by explaining how heart‑rate monitors work and why training at the max aerobic heart‑rate (MAHR) maximises fat oxidation and reduces the risk of bonking in endurance events. He details the step‑by‑step calculation of MAHR using the 180‑age formula, including health‑related adjustments (subtract 10 for illness/medication, subtract 5 for minor issues, add 5 for long‑term consistent training). Floris shares his personal zone (136‑146 bpm) and compares the 180 Formula to laboratory lactate‑threshold testing, noting cost and practicality differences. He describes the initial slowdown many athletes experience when first applying the formula, then illustrates how his pace improved over months, culminating in a Boston Marathon run at a 6:10 min/mile aerobic pace. He also cites Mark Allen’s experience under Dr. Maffetone’s coaching. The core training protocol is presented: 94 % aerobic base work (MAHR zone) with occasional speed intervals (400‑800 m repeats, 15‑30 min sessions, 1‑2×/week). Floris explains how to track progress with a monthly MEF test (5‑mile run at MAHR, measuring average pace) and warns of plateaus caused by high cortisol, poor sleep, nutrition, or illness, recommending interval work when needed. Throughout, he emphasizes patience, ego‑less training, injury prevention, and the long‑term payoff of slower, aerobic‑focused runs.
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We are going to be talking about heart rate monitor training and what different heart rate zones to be training in. All inspired by Dr. Phil Maffetone and the 180 Formula. Good morning, my name is Floris Gierman and we are here in Seattle, Washington today. This heart rate monitor training was one of the fundamentals that helped significantly improve my running times. So, let's dive right into the specifics. Let's take a step back here for a minute. A heart rate monitor measures how many times per minute your heart beats. During a heartbeat, your blood gets pumped throughout your body. When you exercise, you are going to be needing much more oxygen throughout your body, and so your heart rate increases. During exercise, energy comes from different sources. It comes partly from glucose that your body is burning, and it comes from body fat that's being burned as well. A fit athlete who's very fat adapted is able to use a significantly higher part of body fat percentage for fuel than unfit athletes. And this comes in particularly handy during a later part of an endurance race. Many fit athletes are able to run for hours and hours and hours only on body fat without having to fuel up. A lot of athletes train at a heart rate that's much too high for them, and what this does, it basically teaches their body to only use primarily glucose for energy source and not necessarily body fat. If you want to run a marathon or beyond in distance and you want to finish strong, you want to get as much of your energy out of body fat. This will significantly reduce your risk of bonking later on in the race. One way to do this— Hello! How are you? Dogs. One way to do this is to train mostly at max aerobic heart rate. This heart rate is where your body uses 50% of the energy out of body fat and 50% out of glucose in your body. And the max aerobic heart rate, how to calculate this, is with the 180 formula. And this keeps into account not only your age but also several different health factors. So basically you take your age and you deduct it from 180. So for me, I'm 34 years old, it is 180 minus 34 is 146. And from there on, there are several factors that come into play. If you have any major illness or you're recovering from any major illness or you're on regular medication, subtract 10 beats. From this number. If you have regressed in training, or you're just getting back into training again, or you have 2 or more colds per year, you have asthma or any allergies, subtract 5 beats from this number. If you have been training consistently for the last up to 2 years without any issues that were described earlier, then keep this number the same at 180 minus your age. If you've been training consistently for more than 2 years and you have not had any injuries and you have consistently progressed in your training, you're going to be able to add 5 to this number. And so eventually you come to a number that is going to be the max of your training zone. So for me, it's actually 180 minus my age, 34, is 146. And that— I don't have any changes over there for the rest. And then you deduct another 10 points, and that is the bottom of your training zone. So eventually it's— hello— it is for me 136 to 146 is the zone that I'm going to be training at most of my runs. This calculation of your max aerobic heart rate might sound a bit confusing at first, but what I will do is I'll add a link to the transcript of this video on my website, and I will also link to Dr. Phil Maffetone's website. He has written a really good article about this. Gee, these hills are killing me to talk, but it's so nice out here though. There are several other ways to calculate your max aerobic heart rate. One of the better ways is to take a lactate threshold test at a lab. Basically what you do is you run on a treadmill and you increase the pace, and about every 5 minutes you take blood samples. They put this in the computer and they analyze at what point your lactate is increasing too far and too fast. So that way they can calculate what your aerobic zones are. These tests are very accurate. Um, they're also quite pricey. I've done 2 of them and they are about $150 to $200. I do have to say that I like the 180 formula, that it actually takes into account when you are injured, when you do have a sickness, when you do have a cold, it actually adjusts that number, um, to be training at. And that's not necessarily the case with the lactate threshold result that you're going to get back from a medical lab. One of the main things that people start running into when they first begin with the 180 Formula is that they have to slow down their pace significantly. And I had the exact same thing. I used to train a lot on the road at 7:30 minute mile pace, and this was above my fitness level at the time. Once I started using the 180 Formula, I ended up having to slow down to a pace of 8:20 21-minute mile on the road and about 11-minute mile on trails. So it felt like I was almost standing still at that point. But once you train at max aerobic heart rate for a while, you actually become much more efficient. You use less energy at the same heart rate. So after 1 month of training this way, I was able to drop my pace on the road to a 7:43-minute mile. So I shaved off a total of 37 seconds after 18 months of training this way, started making a little bit of progress every month, and then I ended up running the Boston Marathon going into it with an aerobic pace of 6 minutes and 10 seconds per mile. So if you calculate that over marathon time, that makes a massive difference right there. I was talking to Mark Allen, he's the 6-time world champion Ironman, and his coach Dr. Phil Maffetone, and Mark used to always be in the mentality of the no pain, no gain So he was hammering out a lot of 5:30 minute miles. And once he started training with Dr. Phil Maffetone and his heart rate monitor, he had to slow down his pace significantly, all the way to an 8:30 minute mile pace. And then when he trained like that, over time he became faster. First it became an 8 minute mile pace at the same heart rate, then a 7:30 minute mile pace. Eventually he was able to run 5:15 minute mile pace. So that comes in very handy. Once again, the end of an endurance sport, whether that is in running or in triathlon, he has a significant advantage from that. When I trained for the Boston Marathon, I ended up running several months only at maximum aerobic heart rate, zero speed work. And then eventually, over time, I started adding some speed work. So in total, 94% of my running time was aerobic and only 6% was at a higher heart rate. If you're going to be training for a sub-3-hour marathon or a marathon PR, I can highly recommend you add about 3 to 6 months of only aerobic base building training to your training schedule. And this is going to be significantly hard for most people, especially when you go out running with friends. They're going to wonder why are you running so slow? Why do you want to run so slow? Well, you have to trust the system. Over time, you're going to become a much faster runner. So give it a try and see how much progress you're able to make. But I can tell you this: patience is absolutely key. And that is why most people end up not being able to stick to this. Stick to it and just see the improvement you're going to be able to make over 1, 2, 3 months with only aerobic runs. So I love this place. It's so beautiful out here. This is just outside of Seattle in a place called Kenmore. To measure your aerobic progress, you can do a MEF test on a monthly basis. So what this means is you go to a running track and you warm up for about 15 minutes, and after that you run 5 miles or about 8 kilometers at max aerobic heart rate, and you measure your time per mile or per kilometer. And at the end, you calculate what your average time is per mile or per kilometer, and that is your max aerobic heart rate pace. Over time, your aerobic pace should improve, like on a monthly basis. Naturally, if you're a healthy athlete and you're training, um, at max aerobic heart rate, you should progress for several months on end. If any reason you're hitting a plateau or you're actually going backwards in your aerobic progress, you should take a deep dive into what's going on in your body over here. So one thing that might be happening is that your cortisol levels are too high. You might not get enough sleep, you might not eat correct, you might not drink correct, uh, you might have a cold coming up or a sickness coming up. If for any reason you feel all of these things are under control and you're still not making any progress, it might be time to start adding some intervals. The intervals that I'm doing is 15 to 30 minutes at a time, not more than that, and it's once to twice a week, and then 3 to 4 weeks on end before I go back to aerobic-only runs again. And I typically do this 400 meters or 800 meters. I do about 6 of the 800 meters or about 8 to 12 of the 400 meters. So that's what works well for me, but then again, do whatever works best for you and what you feel most comfortable with. These are some of the basic fundamentals of heart rate training. You don't have to kill yourself to become a faster runner. I've used this approach for a long time and it has kept me injury-free. And I hope it does the same for you. At the end of the day, it's more important to realize to have fun out there, but also as part of this training approach, to leave your ego at the door. You're gonna have to slow down in your training, and this is not easy for a lot of people. Just trust in the system, and over time you'll notice to become a healthier, faster runner. Some people are only able to progress aerobically for a few months before they hit a plateau. While other people are able to run months and months, more than a year, um, at aerobic pace only, and they still continue to improve. There are several runners who have won races with only aerobic training. This video became much longer than I initially expected, but there's just so much to talk about. I'm actually filming this while running just so I can kill two birds in one stone. I can get my workout in and I can share some of my experiences over here while running So hope you're enjoying it. If you have any questions, let me know in the comments and I'll do my best to reply as soon as I can. I feel like I'm snowboarding. Whee! Here's another one. Whoa!
