What are aerobic and anaerobic capacity/threshold, how do you train them, and what are the benefits of improving each for athletes?

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I’ve recently discovered heart rate training and have been seeing these terms thrown around a good bit. Whenever I try to google them, I seem to just be met with more and more terms I need to google to understand what it all means.

In: Biology

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Aerobic capacity is the maximum amount of o2 in ml per minute/kg of body weight your body can use.

Anaerobic capacity is the total energy output you can put out being a combination of the ATP and lactic acid systems.

For simple terms your body has two gears. Aerobic and then anaerobic.

If you increase your aerobic capacity you can put out more total work without going into anaerobic exercise. Basically you can add range to you lowest gear.

Improving you anaerobic capacity allows you to put out maximal effort for a longer period of time before you reach a point of unsustainable energy output.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Okay so first you gotta know the difference between aerobic and anaerobic metabolism. During aerobic metabolism your cells use oxygen in some processes during metabolism, however, during anaerobic metabolism they don’t so your cells gotta use an alternative pathway. If possible it’s always aerobic metabolism bc it’s a lot more efficient for producing energy. However, when you do sth intense for a short time (under 1 minute) like for example sprinting your muscles are not supplied with oxygen in time, which means that your cells start using anaerobic metabolism. Anaerobic threshold is basically the point where your cells start using anaerobic metabolism, which can be measured bc anaerobic metabolism produces lactate so your blood lactate levels go up. The fact that it produces lactate however isn’t super amazing for your muscles which is why you can’t sprint forever.

Doing anaerobic exercise is great for increasing your strenght and power bc your muscles become more tolerant against the effects of anaerobic metabolism and it’s also great for building muscle mass. Aerobic excerise however is also important bc it helps you build endurance and is sustainable, which is good for fatloss and just overall don’t forget aerobic exercise.