Derny › Workouts › Adaptive MAX Out
Adaptive MAX Out · VO2 max intervals
Three 4-minute reps that pull your heart rate near the top of its range, with real recovery before each one. Derny sets the effort from your heart rate and adjusts each rep from the last. On a smart trainer or an elliptical.
New to VO2 max intervals?
VO2 max is the most oxygen your body can use during all-out exercise. It sets the ceiling on your aerobic fitness: how much work your heart, lungs and muscles can sustain at the very top.
VO2 max intervals are short, very hard efforts, a few minutes each, that spend time with your heart rate near its maximum. The best-known version is the Norwegian 4×4: four 4-minute efforts at 85–95% of max heart rate with 3 minutes of easy recovery between them. In a well-known study it improved VO2 max more than steady training did.
Time near your max heart rate is what pushes your aerobic ceiling up.
Very hard, but over quickly. The hard part is 12 minutes in total.
Endurance builds the base and threshold uses it. MAX Out is about seeing what you’re capable of.
It’s very hard, so it sits on top of plenty of easy zone 2 work, not in place of it.
The hard part
Heart rate lags behind effort, so in a short rep it’s easy to start too hard and fade, or too easy and never reach your max before the rep ends. Fixed power targets from an old test make it worse.
Adaptive MAX Out sets the effort high enough to pull your heart rate near the top of its range, then holds it for the whole rep. It reads where your heart rate finished each rep, and can make the next one harder or easier.
Like a 4×4, one rep shorter
| Norwegian 4×4 | Adaptive MAX Out | |
|---|---|---|
| Reps | 4 × 4 min | 3 × 4 min |
| Recovery | 3 min easy | 3 min easy |
| Intensity | 85–95% of max heart rate | Aims to finish each rep near 90% of max, and eases off at 95% |
| Who sets it | You, by feel or a fixed target | Derny, from your heart rate, rep by rep |
What the session looks like
An easy spin brings your heart rate up off the floor.
Derny sets the power high enough to pull your heart rate near the top of its range, then holds it for the whole rep.
You spin easy before the next rep. Derny has already read where your heart rate finished the work.
Derny can make each rep harder or easier based on where your heart rate finished relative to the target. One last easy recovery follows before Derny releases the trainer.
On your machine
On any FTMS smart trainer in ERG mode that reports cadence. Trainer compatibility →
On an elliptical that takes a power target, Derny sets the watts. On others, it shows the target and you set the resistance. Ellipticals →
MAX Out doesn’t run on a treadmill. On a treadmill, try Adaptive Threshold.
What you need
Questions people ask
Short, very hard efforts, usually 3 to 5 minutes each, that bring your heart rate near its maximum, with easy recovery between them. They train the top end of your aerobic fitness.
Four 4-minute efforts at 85–95% of max heart rate, each followed by 3 minutes of easy recovery. Adaptive MAX Out follows the same pattern with three reps instead of four.
Near the top of your range. Adaptive MAX Out aims to finish each rep near 90% of your max heart rate, and eases off if you reach 95%.
No. Adaptive MAX Out sets the effort from your heart rate and your max heart rate, and adjusts each rep from the last.
No. MAX Out runs on smart trainers and ellipticals. On a treadmill, Adaptive Threshold and Adaptive Endurance are available.
Sparingly. They’re very hard, so do them when you’re rested, on top of plenty of easy training.
Reference