Tips To Improve Your BASELINE Scores
By Jack Thomas, founder and CEO of BASE
We designed BASELINE with a specific goal in mind – to help you know exactly how much fitter and stronger you’re getting.
BASELINE has brought a new element to group class training that offers a level of tracking and feedback that you would expect from personal training.
We believe that tracking and recording your progress is a crucial part of knowing if your training is effective and if anything might need to be adjusted.
Setting goals and seeing yourself improve is also incredibly motivating. It feels great to know you’re improving a little, day by day, session by session.
This article will help you get the most out of our BASELINE system of training with some hints and tips for maximum results and efficiency.
Our first tips are about training smart.
PACE YOURSELF
Our group classes are broken into 5 minute sets and if you give 110% in the first station, you won’t have much energy left for the rest of the class.
Make sure you have gas left in the tank after each set, and if you want to push harder on the final set you can give it your all knowing it’s the last one!
GIVE YOURSELF REST
One of the great things about BASELINE is that it pushes us hard every time we train, but we can’t and shouldn’t go ‘all out’ every day.
2-3 times per week will get good results, 4-5 times will increase your progress,
6-7 times per week training at 100% intensity will be counter-productive for most people. If you train regularly, have some lower intensity ‘active recovery’ days to let your body recover. On these days, you may wish to not input your BASELINE scores.
DON’T SMASH YOUR PERSONAL BESTS
Beat records, don’t smash them. If, on the first station, you push yourself beyond your limits and beat your run record by 200m you will feel great, but what about the strength, row and bike sets that day?
For best results and for more consistent progress, aim for small incremental increases each time you do the sets.
If you’re not feeling great on any given day don’t fret – just get moving, don’t worry about your scores and that will be a victory.
Next, we look at each individual station
RUN
If you’re not feeling at your best, don’t be afraid to drop to Level 1 or take a steady pace.
If you want to beat your PB (Personal Best) then you should know what pace you will need to run at.
As a guide, running 12.0kph will mean you hit 1.00km in 5 minutes, 15.0kph is 1.25km.
Make a mental note of your speed and next time go a little faster to beat it.
ROW
Technique is important on our Concept 2 Rowers, so ask your coach for some tips to help you get the most out of your sets.
In summary, you should aim for powerful, long strokes (pulls) with a pause at the back of the stroke. As you’re at the start of your stroke, lean forward a little, as you pull back then you lean back a little, using that hinge to generate additional power.
About 70-80% of the power should come from the legs – some argue even more than this. One of the most common mistakes is to use too much upper body. Your legs and hips are powerful – so use them!
The resistance and strokes (pulls) per minute (in the top right of the monitor) depends on your height and weight.
Typically, if you’re heavier you will have a higher resistance level whereas a lighter person will have the resistance lower, perhaps at 5-6,
For maximum efficiency, taller people should typically aim for lower strokes per minute and shorter people higher strokes per minute.
For context, I’m about 183cm and I aim for 20-22 strokes per minute for a 1 minute row
Getting these technique points and strategies right will have a big impact on your row efficiency – if you need any help with this, ask any BASE coach.
BIKE
On our Assault Air Bikes, there’s less to consider with regards to technique but there’s still a lot you can do to help you get more calories out.
First, make sure your bike is set up correctly. When standing next to the bike, the saddle should be at about the height of your hip bone. When you’re biking, your legs shouldn’t be fully extended at the bottom of the motion.
You can also move the Assault Air Bike saddle forwards and back. Find the comfortable set up for you, and remember it for next time.
The next important part is pace. It’s easy to ‘burn out’ on the bike by pushing too hard, so keep an eye on your RPM (revolutions per minute) and try to keep a steady pace throughout the set.
So if, for example, you have a 1 minute interval, try to find a steady pace you can maintain for a whole minute, rather than going too fast and then having to stop or slow down a lot at the end.
Start your intervals and sets a little slower and then build up to a faster pace if you’re feeling good.
The Air Bike is one of the very best tools for HIIT training but it needs to be respected to get the most out of it!
Lastly, we look at some mindset, preparation and accountability tips to complete the winning approach
KNOW WHAT’S NEXT
Did you know you can log into your BASELINE dashboard to see what sets are coming up today and tomorrow?
The BASELINE dashboard also has your previous personal best scores, helping you mentally prepare for the training session.
If you don’t get a chance to log in, you can view your previous personal bests on the class scoreboard displayed on the in-studio screen.
If no score is displayed, it means you’ve never done this set before.
If a score is displayed in light grey, it’s your current personal best on that set. Take a look before you start and if you’re feeling strong, try to beat it.
If a score is displayed in black, this is today’s score but not a new personal best.
If a score is displayed in blue, it’s today’s new personal best score – great work!
SHARE YOUR RESULTS
Public accountability is a strong motivator. If you feel comfortable and find it motivating, share your scores on the socials along with any goals you have such as getting stronger, or hitting the 1km run in a certain time.
You can do this by hitting the ‘SHARE RESULTS’ button in your results summary email.
This is now it looks, with my one personal best (PB) from today’s session!
STRATEGIZE YOUR STARTING STATION
Where do you like to start? This will be different for each person; there is no right or wrong station.
Do you like to get the bike out the way first? Maybe you like to leave it right to the end.
Play around and try a few different starting stations to find out what works best for you. Once you’ve found your perfect starting station, arrive at BASE early to make sure you can kick off your workout there.
SUMMARY
BASELINE is all about ‘you against you’. It’s a powerful tool to track and monitor your progress, to stay motivated and to know whether your training is working.
It’s not about beating records every single day and burning out. Listen to your body, pace yourself and use the BASELINE stats and dashboard to take your training and results to the next level.
If you’d like to dig deeper, ask a BASE coach to help you get the most out of our BASELINE technology and they’ll be happy to help.
