About Training Effect
Training Effect measures the impact of an activity on your aerobic and anaerobic fitness. Training Effect
accumulates during the activity. As the activity progresses, the Training Effect value increases. Training Effect
is determined by your user profile information and training history, and heart rate, duration, and intensity of your
activity. There are seven different Training Effect labels to describe the primary benefit of your activity. Each
label is color coded and corresponds to your training load focus (
). Each feedback
phrase, for example, "Highly Impacting VO2 Max." has a corresponding description in your Garmin Connect
activity details.
Aerobic Training Effect uses your heart rate to measure how the accumulated intensity of an exercise affects
your aerobic fitness and indicates if the workout had a maintaining or improving effect on your fitness level.
Your excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) accumulated during exercise is mapped to a range of
values that account for your fitness level and training habits. Steady workouts at moderate effort or workouts
involving longer intervals (>180 sec) have a positive impact on your aerobic metabolism and result in an
improved aerobic Training Effect.
Anaerobic Training Effect uses heart rate and speed (or power) to determine how a workout affects your ability
to perform at very high intensity. You receive a value based on the anaerobic contribution to EPOC and the type
of activity. Repeated high-intensity intervals of 10 to 120 seconds have a highly beneficial impact on your
anaerobic capability and result in an improved anaerobic Training Effect.
You can add Aerobic TE and Anaerobic TE as data fields to one of your training screens to monitor your
numbers throughout the activity.
Training Effect Aerobic Benefit
Anaerobic Benefit
From 0.0 to 0.9 No benefit.
No benefit.
From 1.0 to 1.9 Minor benefit.
Minor benefit.
From 2.0 to 2.9 Maintains your aerobic fitness.
Maintains your anaerobic fitness.
From 3.0 to 3.9 Impacts your aerobic fitness.
Impacts your anaerobic fitness.
From 4.0 to 4.9 Highly impacts your aerobic fitness.
Highly impacts your anaerobic fitness.
5.0
Overreaching and potentially harmful without
enough recovery time.
Overreaching and potentially harmful without
enough recovery time.
Training Effect technology is provided and supported by Firstbeat Technologies Ltd. For more information, go to
Recovery Time
You can use your Garmin device with wrist-based heart rate or a compatible chest heart rate monitor to display
how much time remains before you are fully recovered and ready for the next hard workout.
NOTE: The recovery time recommendation uses your VO2 max. estimate and may seem inaccurate at first. The
device requires you to complete a few activities to learn about your performance.
The recovery time appears immediately following an activity. The time counts down until it is optimal for you to
attempt another hard workout. The device updates your recovery time throughout the day based on changes in
sleep, stress, relaxation, and physical activity.
Recovery Heart Rate
If you are training with wrist-based heart rate or a compatible chest heart rate monitor, you can check your
recovery heart rate value after each activity. Recovery heart rate is the difference between your exercising heart
rate and your heart rate two minutes after the exercise has stopped. For example, after a typical training run, you
stop the timer. Your heart rate is 140 bpm. After two minutes of no activity or cool down, your heart rate is 90
bpm. Your recovery heart rate is 50 bpm (140 minus 90). Some studies have linked recovery heart rate to
cardiac health. Higher numbers generally indicate healthier hearts.
TIP: For best results, you should stop moving for two minutes while the device calculates your recovery heart
rate value.
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