Phil Maffetone
Coach and author
Originator of the MAF method and the “180 minus age” formula. The easy-base idea is sound; the formula itself has no physiological derivation, by its author’s own admission (graded weak — see training philosophies).
Phil Maffetone is the originator of the MAF (Maximum Aerobic Function) method, popularised through his work with endurance athletes including Mark Allen. His background is in alternative and natural medicine rather than academic exercise physiology, which is worth stating given the clinical framing of his claims.
The method prescribes training below an age-derived aerobic ceiling, “180 minus age” with small modifiers, for months at a time. The underlying message, that most training should be genuinely easy, is well supported and behaviourally useful for runners who habitually run easy days too hard. But the 180-age formula has no physiological derivation; by Maffetone’s own statement it is not tied to lactate threshold or VO₂max (Maffetone & Laursen 2020), and it inherits the large individual error of age-based heart-rate formulas. It is the weakest-supported core claim among the major training philosophies: treat the easy-base idea as sound and the specific number as an unvalidated heuristic to check against an actual threshold test.