Training zones can be used to quantify a workout in terms of intensity or volume. A lot of times, training at different training zones correspond to different training intensities.

Heart rate training zones are commonly used in a lot of different training concepts. They are usually based on the maximum heart rate of the athlete. For example, a light training may have a rate rate below 60 percent of the maximum heart rate while the maximum intensity might be within 95 and 100 percent of the maximum heart rate. Adding zones in between, these training zones together form a training zone model.

In Trayn, you can have multiple models, each describing a separate training zone concept.

A model consists of a list of zones (e.g. Zone 1: light aerobic) and one or more parameters with a value range for each zone (e.g. Heartrate or Specific Power Output). The boundaries for zone parameters can be set individually for every athlete. Examples:

When planning a workout, a trainer can assign a training zone (i.e. "Zone 3") to an exercise along with other parameters, e.g. a duration, distance, or repetitions. Each athlete, who executes such a workout, will then see their individual parameters for the zone, i.e. "Cycling, 0:20:00 with a heart rate between 134 and 148 BPM and a power output of 108 - 117 Watts" .

Configuring the feature setting, requires admin privileges. If you can't access the admin panel in your environment, please contact your administrator.

The basic version of the Training Zones feature can be enabled or disabled in the Environment Settings in the Admin UI. The basic version allows you to create one model with one parameter. It is available for everyone. If the feature is enabled, a new page Training Zones becomes available in the Admin UI and the details page of athletes.

To create multiple models or use more than one parameter in your model, you need to upgrade to the full version of the training zones feature.

Configuring the training zone models requires admin privileges. If you can't access the admin panel in your environment, please contact your administrator.

In the Admin UI, open the Training Zones section and click Add training zone model. In addition to the name, you may want to add a short description to the model.

The table below shows 5 zones and controls to add more zones and parameters. When designing a model, it is important that the zones can be distinguished from on another, so sometimes 3 zones may be sufficient and sometimes more zones are needed.

When you click the Add parameter button, a dialog opens from which you can select a new parameter from your test parameters. In the screenshot above, the Maximum Heartrate test parameter was selected.

There are two options to define the zone boundaries:

If you want to use dynamic boundaries based on a measurement, you define the lower and/or upper boundaries for each zone as a percentage of the selected test parameter. When setting the individual parameter values for your athlete, you add only one value for the referenced test parameter (i.e. "Maximum heart rate: 198 BPM") and the Trayn will calculate the boundaries.

There is no logic enforced on those percentages, so you have to make sure this makes sense: zones are allowed to overlap and there may be gaps between them.

If you want to enter zone boundaries individually, you only define the zones for which the parameter is relevant. When setting the zone boundaries for an athlete, you can fill out all values individually. This is useful when your zone model is not defined by a simple formula but through a benchmark test, i.e. when measuring the athlete's heart rate/power output at specific lactate levels.

To set the training zone values for an athlete, go to their profile and open the Training Zones tab. If there are multiple training zone models in your environment, you can used the drop-down menu at the top to select the correct one. You'll see a table with the latest measurement below. Click Update training zones to enter new measurements.

When your model uses "percentage" zone boundaries you only need to fill in one value per parameter column and the app will calculate the boundaries for each zone. Also, if you're updating a measurement for a referenced parameter somewhere else in the app (i.e. in a test or the athletes base data), the app will automatically update the corresponding zone boundaries.

When using "individual" zone boundaries (as shown in the screenshot above), you can enter the lower and upper boundaries for each zone.

After you have created a new training zone model with "percentage" zone boundaries or changed the percentages of an existing one, the boundaries for athlete will not be updated automatically. In case you want them to be re-calculated, click the "Calculate for athletes" link next to the model in the Admin UI. From there, you can trigger an update of the zone's boundaries for all athletes.

When building a workout, click Edit parameters in a workout exercise and select your training zone model from the Select parameters to add drop-down. The model will show up in the table of exercise parameters and you can specify the training zone for each set:

If this workout is assigned to an athlete who has measurements for the training zone model, their individual boundaries will be displayed. If no measurements are available, only the name of the training zone will show up.

At the bottom of the workout, a chart will visualize the workload from the selected training zones. The chart can use either duration or distance for its horizontal axis and either the zones or one of the model's parameters on the vertical axis: