What does going on a walk with a spouse, playing in a full soccer game, mowing the lawn, and performing a squat set have in common?
They all require the unique ability for our body to get chemical energy from the food we consume to have the fuel to carry out the task at hand. In order to get energy, the body taps into the molecules we stored from food during the digestion process. This is why we want to fuel ourselves with good quality choices! The more nutritious our food consumption is, the more efficient we are when we breakdown and transfer energy. Now I know this may sound super complicated, and the details of these processes can be, but don’t worry, this isn’t going to be an overly detailed article on chemical processes, but rather is meant to highlight how we utilize different systems and forms of energy in our body to create your daily performance. Simply put, you mostly are what you eat and you are what you train.
Once we eat and digest foods, it gets stored in our body and/or transferred into chemical energy to be used immediately as fuel for a task at hand. To get from food to actual energy, we have three different systems designed for energy production. Each system is different in the way it produces energy from different sources and at varying speeds. Sometimes we need quick energy, so we don’t want to have to rely on oxygen to carry out this process. These systems, the adenosine triphosphate system (ATP-CP) and anaerobic glycolytic system, will provide you with a blast of energy. However, these systems can’t act as a sustainable source of fuel because they can’t keep up with prolonged demand. Therefore, we need to turn to another system, the aerobic system. The aerobic system uses oxygen so we can perform tasks for a long time without fatigue.
Now why does this matter?
Think about tasks you consistently do. Maybe you are a golfer and you need to be able to generate high force quickly, or you are a marathon runner and you need to last the duration of several hours. Maybe you are a parent chasing your kid down the hallway before he or she gets to the stairs. All of these are very different tasks and therefore, training needs to reflect these differences. Good training programs reflect your goals, prepare you for the activities you perform, and create efficient use of your energy systems. Having insight into what you need to train guides food choice, exercises selection, and program design. We always talk about training with intention… this is a key part!
If you are throwing a shot put, jumping to answer the doorbell, or quickly run to catch a falling object, our quick energy system (ATP-PC) comes in to respond. This system provides energy for very brief, high intensity activities. Athletes who have trained this system are fast, strong, and explosive. They tend to perform single-effort activities like swinging a bat. It also kicks in when catching yourself after stepping off a curb. Although this is a quick spurt energy system often used in short, hard activities, athletes in sports such as soccer, basketball, field events in track, lacrosse, tennis, etc. also turn to this system during the highest-effort movements like sprinting, shooting a ball, or serving. To get better at using this system, we must train explosive movements. You want to be able to develop high force over a short period of time. This is where choosing exercises such as med-ball throws, box jumps, certain strength exercises (speed squats or sit to stands), short sprints, and sport-specific drills can help. When using strength training to develop this system, structuring performance is critical. You can challenge this system by performing 3-8 sets of 1-3 reps of close to max effort, lasting only 8-15 seconds in duration, with lots of rest in between (2-5 minutes), a few days a week. We need that rest to recover and truly be able to get the most effort when performing that activity or training.
Because the ATP-CP system can only provide enough energy for very short spurts of time, we must turn to another system to keep going. This is the glycolytic system. Turning to this energy system provides enough energy for another minute or so. You use this system if you have ever tried a max push up test, swam a 50-meter race, or sprinted down the road after something (200-400meters). Athletes who specialize in activities lasting 30 seconds to 2 minutes in duration are tapping into this system. At the end of these tasks, when the glycolytic system has worked close to or at its max capacity, we know it because it burns, can feel wobbly, or make you feel like jelly. The good news is that if you train the glycolytic system, you can better recover from these efforts. Tapping into this system offers the opportunity to gain muscle, lose fat, and optimize gym time.
This is where a lot of interval training and metabolic workouts come into play. Sets should challenge you for longer than a brief instant, but the sets are never long periods of time. It bridges the gap between strength and endurance work. We want to tap into the energy system for the time duration it can handle, but not go overboard so that you can’t perform an entire workout. Medium intensity strength training, interval training, tabata workouts, stadium stairs, repeats, etc. will all challenge this system. In workouts, performing 2-4 sets of high efforts (20-40 seconds in duration or 8-12 reps) with less than 2 minutes of rest, a few days of week will promote progress in utilizing this system.
For tasks that are longer in nature, we tap into our oxidative (aerobic) system. This system relies on oxygen to be successful at sustaining function. We use this system at rest (such as during sleep) or on a 30+ minute run. Athletes who participate in any long distance endurance sports, such as cycling, running, cross country skiing, or hiking use this system. However, continuous action sports like soccer, basketball, or walking will also rely on the oxidative energy system to last the duration of the game. Our aerobic system is very responsive to exercise; therefore, if you train it, endurance improves. If endurance activities such as running aren't for you, strength training can also mimic aerobic responses (why you may feel winded after a strength day). Traditional cardio (5+ minutes), circuit training (a few rounds of 8-20 minutes of movement), and strength training 3-6 sets of 3-5 minutes of reps will improve your aerobic system.
We all use each system at different points in the day or when participating in different tasks. Our health and performance, in many ways, depends on use of these energy systems working optimally. This is why we can use this knowledge to guide activity and food choices, building a stronger, faster, more sustainable you!
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