The study you should read this week

A new paper from Christensen and colleagues asks one of the most practical training questions there is. When you add a block of high-intensity work, what should happen to your easy volume? Cut it back to recover better, or protect it? They tested both. The results change how to think about the volume vs intensity tradeoff for serious amateur cyclists.

Both groups got fitter. But what they got fitter at was different. The group that kept their volume up improved the foundations. The group that cut their volume improved the sharp end. Volume isn't the cost of intensity. It's the thing that decides what your intensity becomes.

Study: Christensen, P.M. et al. (2024). Importance of training volume during intensified training in elite cyclists: Maintained vs. reduced volume at moderate intensity. 
Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 34(5), e14362.

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