First, let’s recap Pt. 1 real quick:
- ATP fuels muscles & gets eaten up in the process
- Metabolism is the process of ATP being re-produced
- The body has options when it comes to which pathway/system it will take to produce ATP (we discussed aerobic & anaerobic)
- The faster ATP gets recycled, the more work you can do / sec
- So, more ATP = more power = more speed
Endurance is the ability to sustain quick production of ATP (speed), mostly through the aerobic pathway, for a long time (harder better faster stronger). This is what people mean when they say conditioning is a “metabolic quality”. Metabolism isn’t just about how much food we can eat.
So, we already covered the two main systems at work. The anaerobic system & the aerobic system. Which system is putting in more work depends on intensity (we know anaerobic is better for high intensity & aerobic has a limit), genetics, training history (whatever you do more of you tend to be better at).
During these processes, there are a few different byproducts produced in the body. I won’t get into the weeds here, but just know that these byproducts can disrupt homeostasis & cause fatigue if they aren’t dealt with efficiently in the body. People with higher aerobic capacities have cells that do a great job dealing with said byproducts (thus keeping the body in its happy place) at higher outputs (they can go pretty fast without a lot of fatigue – and even faster if they’re okay with more fatigue).
So, bottom line – if you don’t have a high aerobic capacity, you might be able to go fast but you won’t get far! And even during shorter events, you’re probably not going as fast as you could if you’d done the work to maximize both systems. For this reason, a common practice is to spend a good amount of time building up an “aerobic base” before incorporating much high-intensity work. Beyond this, you’ll see many athletes roughly adhering to the 80/20 rule (80% low intensity aerobic work, 20% high intensity).
This is all great news – there’s a way! But aerobic capacity takes time to build. Long duration, lots of volume, gradual increases. You’ve got to be patient, diligent, and trust the process. Remember, by training aerobic capacity, you’re teaching your body to recycle ATP via the aerobic pathway. A great way to do this is by repeatedly depleting your glycogen stores (which takes a while, hence the long sessions @ lower intensities). This is why effective endurance training has a lot of “easy” volume. You can build your capacity without the fatigue of lots of high intensity work & thus recover adequately.
If you really want great conditioning, you must maximize your aerobic fitness. You must clock the long, tedious hours to change your body. A lot is happening beneath the surface on a cellular and structural level, just be patient.
If you just read to here, I love you. Hang in there, we’ll get into programming in the real world very soon. 😊
TUNE IN NEXT WEEK FOR PART 3: What about HIIT?