Anyone remember details of “The Man Plan”?

#1

Years ago I remember hearing in the podcast the rumblings of “the man plan” which was not recommended, and was supposedly a good way for many to get burnt out in a hurry.

From memory I think it was Gray ( 3 x 15 at ftp ) Starr King ( 2 x 20 at ftp ) and some killer vo2 workout. And if you could do all 3 in a week then increase by 5 watts and repeat.

My current plan has me progressing threshold and vo2 workouts very similar to this.

Last week i had 3 x 15 at FTP, and Starr King came up as a next possible workout at 2 x 20 and yeaterday I had 6 x 2 minutes that ended up averaging 130% ftp which reminded me a lot of this fabled old plan.

If someone could even point me in the direction of what episodes this was discussed in ( I remember hearing it maybe on 2 separate episodes? ) that would be great as I have tried to look through the back catalogue descriptions and do some searches to find it but came up short.

Hearing again how bad of an idea it is and comparing it to what I am doing now…. may provide some context for what to expect in this coming block :joy:

If @Nate_Pearson could even just describe it again here, even better hahaha.

Thanks!

#2

Apparently Nate Pearson has been bragging about it elsewhere

https://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/I_can_hit_all_my_trainer_road_plan_bogeys-is_it_time_to_retest_ftp_P5374804/

We have this “Man Plan” at the office. We do Gray and Starr King (3x15 at FTP). We just keep doing those workouts until we can hit all the targets. Once we can do that, we do a killer VO2 max workout. If we can do that, we bump our FTP up by 5 watts.

I’m not sure if it’s the smartest plan though. It can be mentally demoralizing. Most people just quit mid workout after a while (I’ve done it too :(). I think actually following a normal plan and being able to finish your workouts is probably a better way to get in shape :). It is fun to say “Man Plan” though.

#3

Haha, sound about what I remembet, but can’t recall what the vo2 max was, and whether that was weekly or just once they could do bith gray and starr king :face_with_monocle: