Why Are You Making Me Do This: Anaerobic Training is Awesome!

Hola Interwebs!

Not Fun... But Worth It!

I’m so super excited because for 2 weeks now I have had requests for my blog topics. That means you all are reading and want more. It makes me so happy I could explode!!!! However, this feeling of impending explosion could also be due to too much caffeine consumption this afternoon.

 Today’s topic is all about anaerobic training. That horrible high intensity, chest burning, back sweating, heart rate pumping, “I’m gonna puke” exercise I know you all love.

I’m a huge believer of the benefits of anaerobic training (eliciting fear in all those that train with Byn),

those of which I will discuss in a moment, but first things first….

What the Potatoes is Anaerobic Training?!

In the world of exercise, scientists have come up with two different training terms: Anaerobic and Aerobic Training. Without writing a novel, what these words refer two is the predominant energy supplying metabolic system in dominance during a given physical activity.

Aerobic training occurs when you are doing cardiovascular activity below 80% of your V02max*. This means you are not exerting your maximum effort, but you are still working. I tell my clients when trying to stay in their aerobic zone to work at a level 6 or 7 out of 10, with 10 being all out effort, like sprinting. During aerobic training your body is using metabolic systems that require oxygen to produce energy (Think aer = air!).

 Now, it is important to understand that our metabolic systems work on a scale, not an on-off switch.  This means when you are sprinting, although your anaerobic systems are dominant, your aerobic systems are still making some energy even though they are not dominant at the time.

Aerobic training has been traditionally used as the #1 type of training for improving our cardiovascular (CV) system (e.g. your heart and lungs). However, as you will see later in this post, recent research is challenging our previous conceptions in regards to what is the best type of training for CV health.

Anaerobic Training, which is the topic of this post, occurs when you are exerting all out (or near all out) effort while exercising. I tell my clients to work at a level 8 or higher out of 10, which essentially is at a level that is less than fun! Some common names for anaerobic training in the fitness world include (but are not limited to) Fartlek, Interval, High Intensity Interval and Sprint Training.

Now, at high intensity exercise the dominant energy making systems in our body do not require oxygen to work. However, because this type of training is much more energy demanding we unfortunately do not last as long as we would during aerobic training.

So why train anaerobically if it sucks so much, we can’t do it as long and it….sucks? Good question internets!

*V02max: a measure of how hard your cardiovascular system is working during exercise.  For example, if you are working at 100% of your V02max you are exerting maximal effort.

Why Should I Put Myself Through Anaerobic Training?

Because I said so….

Seriously though, there is a whole bunch of benefits from this training that the wonderful exercise physiologists have been uncovering in the last 10-20 years.

So I don’t ramble on and on I’m going to break the benefits down into the following;

A.      Physiological Benefits

B.      Metabolic Benefits

C.      Performance Benefits

So you think I’m not talking out of my well toned butt, I will be providing the names of the researchers and resources I retrieved this information from. For you phys kids out there, if you want the full articles just let me know.

Part A: Physiological Benefits of Anaerobic Training

When talking physiology, there are many different things researchers look for to see if a type of training is beneficial.  These include important metabolic enzymes, membrane transporters and pH .

Enzymes: 

Without boring you with too much exercise physiology, anaerobic training (e.g. sprint interval training) has been shown to increase the amount of key metabolic enzymes required for energy production (Iaia et al., 2007; MacDougall et al.. 1998).

Now what does this mean? Well, essentially the more enzymes you have the more energy you can make during exercise through important chemical reactions. This means you will be able to work harder, longer and stronger.

The exciting thing is though, anaerobic training does not only increase anaerobic enzymes like PFK, it also increases key enzymes used is AEROBIC exercise, like citrate synthetase. This is important because not only will this help you perform better in short, high intensity exercises, but longer lasting exercises like running or biking…cool huh! I think so.

Membrane Transporters:

I tried to draw a diagram in paint to help me explain this, but it was horrible so no drawing for you! Imagine a muscle, to help you with this get a steak from your freezer and put it in front of you. Now, on the surface of each muscle fiber (which are the little lines you can see in the steak) are cells.

If we get even smaller (use your right brain here people), on the surface of each sack like muscle cell are membranes and on the membranes are transporters, which are like doors that let things in and out of the cells.

Every cell in our body has a variety of different membrane transporters, and for myocytes (or muscle cells) a really important transporter is the sodium-potassium transporter (Na⁺-K⁺ Transporters).

These doors help our muscles contract, which help us move and physiologists think one of the major reasons we fatigue (or get tired) during exercise is because these transporters can’t keep up with the contraction demand we are putting on our muscles.

Well, anaerobic training increases the number of these Na⁺-K⁺ Transporters (Iaia et al., 2007; MacDougall et al.. 1998), which allows muscle cells to keep up with the demand being placed on them during exercise. This helps you last longer, work harder, faster and stronger!

pH

pH refers to the amount of hydrogen ions in a given system, like our body. Most people know (if you didn’t don’t worry now you do), that exercise causes our bodies to become more acidic (i.e greater concentration of hydrogen ions)

Some trainers will refer to this as lactic acid build up, this is a misconception as it’s not lactic acid itself that is causing the body to be acidic, but hydrogen ions (H⁺), which is one of the byproducts of metabolism.

The problem with too much hydrogen in your system is that is causes everything to mess up from your enzymes, to your transporters and proteins. So, theoretically when we get acidic, like during high intensity exercise, we get tired because our bodies aren’t working efficiently.

Those that have completed an anaerobic training protocol have been found to have a better post exercise pH than control groups AND aerobic training groups after exercise (MacDougall, 1998). Physiologists aren’t 100% why this is happening (it’s not because of buffering apparently phys kids).

So, anaerobic training allows your body to have less hydrogen ions post exercise, which means your body is coping with the stress of exercise more effectively.

Part B: Metabolic Benefits

The metabolic benefits of anaerobic training are highly correlated to the benefits discussed in Part A. Anaerobic training causes your body to work more efficiently metabolically during and post exercise, which as aforementioned, allows you to work harder.

Now the ability to work harder lets you burn more calories while you’re working out. This will ultimately lead to an increase in fat loss if your diet is sound, because the higher the caloric deficit your body is in, the more fat you metabolize.

Don’t get me wrong, aerobic training will also burn calories. However, anaerobic training has been shown to burn up to twice the amount of calories in much less time then aerobic training (ACSM). For example, if you go for a 45 minute run at the same pace you would burn the same, if not less calories than 25 minutes of high intensity interval training. If you’re like me, time is an issue when working out. So I would much rather burn a whole bunch of calories in 25 minutes than 45 minutes

Part C: Performance

Anaerobic training has been shown to have a direct correlation to increases in performance in a variety of activities from running to biking to swimming. There are many reasons for this (a lot of them are mentioned above), but I think not only does anaerobic training help people physiologically but also psychologically.

Train hard for mind and body!

From personal experience, the more high intensity training I do, the better I can cope with high stress situations during performance. I attribute this to being “used” to being uncomfortable during my training which translates over to other activities.

For example, I rock climb, and rock climbing requires a huge amount of relaxation when your body is under a lot of physical stress. I find my high intensity training on the treadmill or bike is a perfect and controlled environment to practice relaxing my mind when I am really uncomfortable so that I can do it when it counts.

I may be biased, as I always think “mind over matter”, but I think this is one of the key benefits anaerobic training has in regard to performance… it makes you mentally tough.

Examples of Anaerobic Training

There are lots of ways you can anaerobically train, all you need is the basic format and a little imagination. Generally, interval training consists of;

●      High intensity intervals over 80% of you maximum effort.

●      Intervals lasting 30seconds-2minutes

●      Rest periods the same amount of time as the intervals or longer.

●      Repeated intervals for no longer than 25 minutes.

●      A very good dynamic warm up focusing on major muscle groups and a long (10minute plus) cool down.

●      Lots of water.

Preparation is as important as the training itself

●      A well fueled body: Do not eat within 1.5 hours of doing this training, but make sure to have a meal consisting of a quick digesting carbohydrate (banana) and some protein (nuts).

●      Your game face and a very motivating friend, trainer, music… ect.

My 3 personal favourite ways to anaerobically train are on the treadmill, the spin bike or tabatas using free body weight exercises like burpies!

On Wednesday, I will be demonstrating these three different examples (god help me) in my video blog. So stay tuned for that! I promise I’ll actually do my vlog this week. Last week was kinda of crazy with my new job.

Any questions, comments, suggestions are ALWAYS welcomed!

Stay Strong!

Byn