In part one of this post, I covered the three areas of focus to condition the aerobic system. Please keep in mind that aerobic exercise uses just one of the three energy systems in the human body. Simply getting on the bike and going for a long ride at the expense of other conditioning methods just will not improve your performance. Let’s take a look at some practical examples.
First on the list is heart rate training. Heart rate training is a method which is not implemented correctly in my view. Alot of times trainers and coaches will simply use the 220 minus age formula and use age-adjusted formulas to obtain values for the client or athlete to reach during exercise. This is a short-sighted approach. Here are better examples of heart rate training:
Slideboard intervals - Alternating periods of work and rest on the slideboard provides a great interval based workout with wide heart rate ranges:
Peak heart rate = 164 bpm
Repeat interval at 130 bpm
12 rounds in 16:02
Average heart rate = 141 bpm
In this example, I used interval training to record an average heart rate. If I decided to go on a continuous, aerobic workout I would want to keep my heart rate at or near 141 bpm.
The second variable is stroke volume. Stroke volume is a measure of how much blood leaves the heart per beat. With heart rate training, the heart actually gets larger and can hold more blood before pumping it out to the body. It is in strength training that the heart muscle actually gets stronger so it can further pump more blood out of the heart. How many times have you seen a person get out of breath after a few sets of walking lunges, shoulder presses, squats, and chinups? Almost always. Since blood pressure rises more with strength training than endurance training, the heart has to overcome that resistance, hence it gets stronger. Let’s dissect this with an example:
Exercise 1 - One arm push press (Left arm)
Exercise 2 - Squat thrusts
Exercise 3 - One arm push press (Right arm)
Exercise 4 - Alternating cable rotation
Exercise 5 - Plank row
Exercise 6 - Kettlebell swings
Complete 40 seconds of each exercise with a 20 second break for a total of 3 rounds. This works out to be an 18 minute workout.
By using timed sets, heart rate stays elevated in order to overcome the rise in blood pressure. As strength improves, a runner will have a more efficient and powerful stride, a cyclist will put more force through the pedals, and a swimmer will have better joint integrity to withstand the water resistance.
The final variable is the difference of oxygen in the veins from the arteries. Blood in your arteries can be saturated with 98 percent oxygen which, when it diffuses into the working muscle, will carry less oxygen in the veins. A person who has exercised for at least 6 months will have a higher oxygen difference value than someone who is sedentary. This is the hardest part to train since there is no easy way to measure the amount of oxygen taken up by the muscles. A combination of the first two methods is the best choice.
Exercise 1 - Jump squats, 20 seconds
Exercise 2 - Bodyweight squats, 20 seconds
Exercise 3 - Isometric squat, 20 seconds
Exercise 4 - Bike distance interval (0.25 up to 1.0 miles)
Exercise 5 - Walking pushups, 20 seconds
Exercise 6 - Plate straight leg deadlift to row, 20 seconds
Exercise 7 - Wheel rollouts, 20 seconds
Exercise 8 - Bike distance interval (0.25 up to 1.0 miles)
Here we have an non-aerobic component in the strength training exercises with aerobic work done on the bike. In this training method all energy systems are trained with an emphasis on getting a lot of work done in a short period of time. Progressing this type of exercise has to be done with caution so as not to fall into an overtrained state. Recovery is key here.
To sum up, all aerobic means is ‘with oxygen’. Breaking things down further we can see that the real area to focus on is the muscle with a conditioning focus on heart rate training. This three point attack will give you the best scenario to improve your aerobic performance.
