A "bro science" take is one that isn't backed up by any research or testing and might not even make logical sense, but you just get a gut feeling that it's the right way to approach training. Mine is that there is never a need to do workout reps that are longer than your race, regardless of the pace. Curious to hear what other people incorporate that would be considered "bro science"?
High mileage is a waste of time, bro! All you need is a good bench press, you daily crossfit WOD, some HIIT / Tabata intervals, protein, and a metabolism stack to dominate at any distance!
- HR zone training is worthless for like 99% of the population and is a boon on beginner runners who don't know better than to spend money on gadgets and plans
- Consistent small to medium doses of "quality" running far outweigh 2 big, tough sessions per week for distances 5k and down.
- Speed reserve is very real and too many people think they can ignore it. The faster your max speed, the easier it is to maintain sub-maximum speeds. Obviously doesn't scale infinitely, e.g. Usain Bolt would be a poor marathoner, duh. But if you take two guys, one runs a 50 flat 400 and the other runs a 60 flat 400, the 50 flat 400 guy has LOADS more potential than the 60 flat guy over most distances.
- Not even bro science but lifting weights is significantly safer than distance running. The amount of distance runners that think touching a barbell will result in them injured are already incredibly fragile and unathletic and probably need the stimulus of lifting more than anyone.
- Overall athleticism is extremely important, especially early on in your running career. Someone who can jump and throw and hop and bounce and lift and of course run has way more potential than someone who only knows how to do running training.
Going to great lengths to reduce muscle soreness is more likely to result in you being injured. You are better off just being in a little pain.
Most of the responses so far have at least some level of scientific evidence but this is a perfect example that I actually agree with, and I have no idea why.
training too focused is a waste of time if you're a middle distance runner. 2-3x speed sessions a week does not have any benefit over 1 speed session + 1 strength/threshold session. The difficulty of sessions should be rising, not the frequency.
source: bro science + me going from 4:49 - 4:19 mile in one season
Easy (Aerobic) Runs should be fast. Like 33% off 5k - e.g. 6:40 for a 5;00 pace 5k runner, 6:00 for a 4:30
I have the opposite bro science stance. Doing all my easy runs faster gives me a boost in fitness, BUT, it's always proved unsustainable for me. I wear out or get hurt.
I'm sure it works for some, but my personal stance is "No such thing as too slow on easy runs."
I remember asking a sub 13:30 guy a while ago, "Wow you were fast, how fast were your easy runs? You probably cruised 6:00 miles like it was nothing!" and he laughed and said most easy days were 7:30.
All training basically boils down to enabling a runner to ride the pain train for as long as possible to be able to run solid splits in a race instead of crashing and having a big positive split. It doesn't matter whether you do a tempo, threshold, fartlek or whatever. You just need to induce the pain train during a workout and use each subsequent workout to extend the amount of time/distance you can handle being on the pain train. And "pain train" generally means when your breathing doubles up and you feel like you cannot go much faster without going into an all out sprint.
Easy (Aerobic) Runs should be fast. Like 33% off 5k - e.g. 6:40 for a 5;00 pace 5k runner, 6:00 for a 4:30
I have the opposite bro science stance. Doing all my easy runs faster gives me a boost in fitness, BUT, it's always proved unsustainable for me. I wear out or get hurt.
I'm sure it works for some, but my personal stance is "No such thing as too slow on easy runs."
I remember asking a sub 13:30 guy a while ago, "Wow you were fast, how fast were your easy runs? You probably cruised 6:00 miles like it was nothing!" and he laughed and said most easy days were 7:30.
6:30 is pretty much right in line with most calculators easy pace. But it is the upper end for most people. There are a few that claim to do more like 5k+45-60s every day. They tend to be lower mileage and low workouts. I also have a feeling that a lot of them do it for 3 days and then take an easy day…
they other issue tends to be terminology. Take your 13:30 runner. Imagine a day is 40 mins at 7:30 in the morning and 45 mins steady at 6:00 at night. Is his easy pace 7:30 or 6:00? You see that with a lot of Kenya’s who do an easy 10k in the morning and then some 15 progression run in the evening. People like to focus on the easy 10k and ignore the 15k effort😂.
6:30 is pretty much right in line with most calculators easy pace. But it is the upper end for most people. There are a few that claim to do more like 5k+45-60s every day. They tend to be lower mileage and low workouts. I also have a feeling that a lot of them do it for 3 days and then take an easy day…
they other issue tends to be terminology. Take your 13:30 runner. Imagine a day is 40 mins at 7:30 in the morning and 45 mins steady at 6:00 at night. Is his easy pace 7:30 or 6:00? You see that with a lot of Kenya’s who do an easy 10k in the morning and then some 15 progression run in the evening. People like to focus on the easy 10k and ignore the 15k effort😂.
A progression run never falls under the "easy run" category, ever. Their easy pace is 7:30. A progression is a workout, albeit possibly a short/easy one.
That’s interesting. I had small niggles pop up when I’d go faster but I got incredibly fit incredibly quickly, and it definitely made my workouts better as well. I noticed that I had to sleep 9+ hours or I wouldn’t recover though.
I was the opposite for obvious reasons. I’d jog with my then girlfriend on part of my morning shakeout when I was in college but she was slower than me so I wouldn’t go as fast
I think in general, running "bro science" is a more reliable guide to general training than the hard data. As others have alluded to, I see a lot of new runners or people returning to running getting into obscure data with things like HR zones, lactate training, and all the related gear. However, these just complicate what is a very simple activity and the actual implications of these data points are way over the heads of most runners using them.
I believe that the only real factors that matter in a training plan are whether it is consistent and whether the runner believes it will make them better. As long as a training program can be followed consistently, meaning elements are present every week and intensity/volume is not too high to produce injury, it should produce results. The other factor is that the runner needs to believe that this training will make them better. Again, if you're able to string together weeks and months of training, you should have empirical evidence in the form of improving race results to foster this belief but I think a great coach or coach with an impressive resume can build this belief with no results needed.
A lot of that belief in the program can be nothing but "bro science" or personal experience that has nothing to do with the scientific data or finer points of exercise physiology. But that's the beauty of running.
6:30 is pretty much right in line with most calculators easy pace. But it is the upper end for most people. There are a few that claim to do more like 5k+45-60s every day. They tend to be lower mileage and low workouts. I also have a feeling that a lot of them do it for 3 days and then take an easy day…
they other issue tends to be terminology. Take your 13:30 runner. Imagine a day is 40 mins at 7:30 in the morning and 45 mins steady at 6:00 at night. Is his easy pace 7:30 or 6:00? You see that with a lot of Kenya’s who do an easy 10k in the morning and then some 15 progression run in the evening. People like to focus on the easy 10k and ignore the 15k effort😂.
A progression run never falls under the "easy run" category, ever. Their easy pace is 7:30. A progression is a workout, albeit possibly a short/easy one.
If you only see the first 2 miles of the progression run that are At 7+mins and you don’t see the last 2 down sub 5, will you think that run is an easy run or a hard run?
the point is the meat of the training is that 15k run up around LT1 at the end. That 10k run in the morning and 30 mins at lunch does add fitness but it is the icing on the cake.
I don’t take time off for soft tissue injuries. Often, when I have taken 7-10 days of no running, the pain comes right back and I just lost a week of training. I think that while you should address the injury, i.e more calf raises if you have Achilles tendonitis, running gives you an accurate measure of if what you are fixing is working, in addition to keeping more fitness and promoting bloodflow to the injured area. And yes, sometimes it is uncomfortable to run through an injury, but the body adapts.
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