Every athlete who picks up a new program faces the same challenge: the program assumes you know your numbers, and you don't. Or you know your numbers in one domain and not another. Or your numbers are from two years ago before a long break. Starting with bad numbers is worse than starting with no numbers. An athlete who thinks their deadlift max is 315 from two years ago might program DE work at 189 pounds — too heavy for genuine speed, compromising bar velocity on every dynamic effort session for the entire wave.
This article explains how to establish accurate starting baselines in every domain the program requires, how to interpret those numbers, and what to do when one domain is dramatically further along than another.
The aerobic baseline is the most important and most frequently wrong baseline. Athletes consistently overestimate their Zone 2 pace because they test it on fresh legs running a comfortable distance without monitoring heart rate. The pace that "feels easy" is often 20–30 beats per minute above Zone 2.
How to find your Zone 2 pace correctly:
For most strength athletes without consistent running history, this pace is slower than expected. A 200-pound athlete with a strong gym background may find Zone 2 requires 11:00–13:00 per mile, or a run-walk pattern. This is not a problem. This is data.
The full-sentences test as a field check: attempt to speak a complete sentence of 8–10 words while running. If you cannot complete the sentence without breaking to breathe mid-sentence, you are above Zone 2. This is Viada's field-expedient check and is accurate enough for session management without monitoring equipment.
Your ME working max is not your all-time best lift. It is not the weight you hit on your best day three years ago. It is the weight you can confidently take to RPE 8–9 today, with current fitness, mobility, and movement quality.
The correct process is not a true 1RM test. For less experienced trainees, a 1RM may be less indicative of true capacity than a 3RM, as heavy loads can cause form panic and produce lower numbers than the athlete is capable of. Perform a structured ramp-up to a top set of 2–3 reps that feels like RPE 8 — hard, close to the limit, but with form intact and no grinding. Estimate 1RM: your 2RM weight × 1.06, or 3RM weight × 1.08. These conservative estimates are appropriate for training max purposes.
Assess separately: back squat, conventional or sumo deadlift, strict press, bench press, and front squat.
If movement quality is inadequate: if you cannot squat to depth with a load you can move for 3 reps, you have a mobility limitation to address before meaningful loading begins. If the movements feel unfamiliar but technically reasonable, proceed with conservative assessment and treat the first cycle of ETR as a technique development phase.
2-mile run: Run 2 miles as fast as you can sustain from start to finish. Even pacing. A survival shuffle second mile is not a competitive time — it is evidence of pacing error.
Strict pull-up capacity: Max unbroken from dead hang. Under 5: significant development needed. 5–10: functional. Over 10: strong base.
Broad jump: Three attempts for maximum distance. Under 6 feet: significant power development needed. 6–8 feet: functional. Over 8 feet: strong power base.
The most common baseline pattern for the target athlete — former athlete or first responder returning to serious training — is significant strength-aerobic imbalance: meaningful barbell strength with an underdeveloped aerobic base. The deadlift might be 300 pounds while the 2-mile run is 20 minutes.
This is not a problem. It is the starting point the program is designed for. The strength background provides structural foundation — bone density, connective tissue robustness, motor pattern competence in the barbell movements — that the endurance athlete approaching from the opposite direction lacks. But the aerobic base has to be built from the ground up, and it cannot be rushed. The first several cycles of ETR will feel aerobically demanding relative to the strength work for this athlete, and that's exactly right.
The reverse pattern — strong aerobic base, minimal strength — needs the same approach from the other direction. Don't compensate by adding extra strength work outside the program. The program provides exactly the amount of strength development appropriate for concurrent hybrid development. Adding more will compromise recovery.
The Zone 2 pace assessment. They skip it because it is humbling — finding out that Zone 2 requires a 12-minute mile when you were expecting 9-minute miles is uncomfortable. It feels like failure. It is the most important thing you will learn before you start the program.
Your Zone 2 pace is the reference point against which all aerobic progress is measured. If you don't establish it accurately, you will either run too fast on Zone 2 days (accumulating glycolytic fatigue instead of aerobic adaptation) or run at a pace that simply doesn't match your actual development, making Day 8 sessions feel like conditioning rather than the recovery-promoting base work they're designed to be.
Set the baseline. Find the real number. Be honest about where you are. The program is built to meet you there — not to evaluate you based on where you thought you'd be. The only baseline that is wrong is the one you haven't established yet.
Know where you are. ETR is built to start from there.
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