Training At Threshold

Training at Threshold

Train yourself to be godly. “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.”

1 Timothy 4:7-8

You’ve probably heard about “training at threshold,” a practice that helps you get the most possible benefit from whatever exercise you do. Training above or below the threshold will reap positive results, but training regularly at threshold will get you the most bang for your buck. But how do you know what your threshold is? Experts in the field of sports physiology say that the minimum heart rate required to benefit significantly from aerobic training is in the neighborhood of 60 percent of your maximum heart rate. Maximum heart rate per minute equals 220 beats minus your age in years. So if you are twenty years old, your optimum heart rate while training is 120. If you’re fifty, your optimum rate is 102. If you’re one hundred and still training, forget about your heart rate and report directly to Guinness World Records.

Spiritual disciplines can help us train at threshold in our spiritual lives. Doing so can yield dividends like greater peace and strength as we meet the challenges of daily life. To refresh your memory of some of the classic disciplines that Christians have practiced over the centuries, here’s a short list:

• prayer
• fasting
• study (spiritual books or Bible study)
• worship
• silence
• solitude
• confession
• Scripture memorization
• service
• simplicity^a

Why not take a few moments right now to ask God if there are particular spiritual disciplines that you should begin? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you get started and keep going, giving you the grace to grow stronger as you seek to live for Christ.

Father, I want to grow in the likeness of Jesus. Please show me which spiritual disciplines will help me the most right now, and give me the grace to begin doing them regularly.

^a If you want help with the spiritual disciplines, read Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1988) or Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines (San Francisco: HarperOne, 1998).