Introduction

Aerobic and Anaerobic Energy Systems

Understanding your Energy Systems for Endurance and Speed Training

Your body is a machine and like any machine it needs energy to power it. Understanding how
its energy systems work and interact with each other will put our workouts into context and
direct our training. Training the wrong energy system will be detrimental to your sports
performance.

The three energy systems

1) Aerobic energy system

Distance running uses aerobic energy

Aerobic means ‘with air’.

Oxygen provides the catalyst for a chemical reaction in our muscles (including the heart) that
generates aerobic energy. If it were not for other factors – such as insufficient muscle fuel
(notably, carbohydrate or, more specifically, glycogen) over-heating and dehydration, we
could theoretically continue to exercise aerobically indefinitely.

Aerobic workouts are often also called ‘steady state’. This is because, during them, the
body’s energy demands are balanced by energy supply. This allows us to continuously
exercise – hence the steady state. When the steady state is breached, for example, by
increasing our effort and using more energy, our body will change the way it produces
energy. It will do this with less oxygen and energy will be produced anaerobically – see
below.

Whatever our sport, aerobic energy provides a base of fitness, regardless of the specific
energy system demands of our actual sport. A good foundation will enable a sprinter (who
relies predominantly on the immediate anaerobic system) to recover more quickly between
training efforts or a football mid-fielder to sustain the high energy output required over a
match (football relies particularly on the short-term anaerobic energy system). It should be
noted that certain sports require more aerobic fitness than others, and others combinations of
all three. Table 1 provides a breakdown of the aerobic and anaerobic components of selected
track and field events and sports.

Fat as a fuel source for the aerobic energy system

Although carbohydrate is the body’s preferred source of fuel during activity, fat also supplies
energy. Aerobic training increases the body’s ability to mobilise fat as an energy source at
sub-maximal intensities (as well as improving carbohydrate metabolism). This will
significantly improve the ‘range’ of endurance athletes. To develop an improved fat burning
capability you need to train religiously at about 80% of maximum heart rate (HRmax). This is
known as ‘fat max’.

Two and three: the anaerobic energy systems

The anaerobic energy system is the energy system

of choice for the 100m sprinter.

Photo: Tom Phillips

Anaerobic means without oxygen.

Our bodies can create anaerobic energy in two ways through the:

immediate anaerobic energy system, and;

short-term anaerobic energy system.

Neither system provides sustainable energy for very long.

2) The immediate anaerobic energy system

When our bodies generate energy through the immediate anaerobic system, no reliance is
placed on oxygen. Consequently, it supplies energy for no more than 6-8 seconds. To get its
power it uses ‘high energy’ stored body chemicals – such as adenosine troposphere (ATP)
and creatine phosphate (CP) and a chemical reaction that ‘fires’ them up.

Explosive energy

You might like to think of the immediate anaerobic energy system as being like an explosion.
An incredible amount of energy is released in a very short time. From this you can appreciate
that this is the energy system of choice for equally explosive athletes, such as power and
weight lifters and sprinters.

Too much aerobic training can dull this explosiveness. It can reduce the power capability of
our power and speed generating fast twitch muscle fibres.

3) The short-term anaerobic energy system

Like its immediate energy system brother, the short-term anaerobic energy system also
produces high-powered energy. However, it is a little more enduring and can provide energy
for up to 90 seconds.

This energy system is exemplified by the efforts of a 400m runner. Their high-intensity effort
passes well beyond the energy supply capabilities of the immediate system and consequently
huge amounts of energy are released by further intra-muscular chemical reactions. Many of
us will be familiar with the burning sensations we feel in our muscles after a near flat-out
effort (this is the result of the short-term energy system going into overdrive and the over
spilling of one of the energy producing chemicals,lactate and its conversion to lactic acid).
Invariably, during such an effort, our hearts will reach maximum output. These are the
physiological consequences of our body (and in particular its muscles) crying out for more
and more oxygen but not getting it.

Insufficient oxygen supply

As short-term anaerobic energy system production passes the 20-second mark, more and
more demand is placed on oxygen as a fuel source, after 30 seconds, 20% of the energy
produced is done so aerobically and after 60 seconds, 30%. As the one-and-a half minute
mark is reached, no amount of oxygen gulping will save the anaerobic ‘engine’ and we will
grind to a potentially painful halt.

Boost your anaerobic energy supplies

Training the anaerobic energy system (by interval training, for example) will increase your
body’s ability to replenish the high energy phosphates used to generate energy. This will, in
turn, extend their ability to produce more high powered efforts, as long as adequate rest is
allowed.

Table 1:

Aerobic energy system Anaerobic energy

Event
contribution system contribution

200m 5% 95%

800m 34% 66%

1,500m 50% 50%

10,000m 80% 20%

Marathon 98% 2%

Football-

Goalkeeper 100%

Forward 100%

Mid-fielder 20% 80%

Selected athletic events and sports and their respective energy system requirements
Acid Lactic And Blood Lactic

Lactic acid is a compound produced when glucose is broken down and oxidized. During
intense exercise when oxygen levels are lower, more lactic acid is produced, which can
produce hydrogen ions and a burning sensation in muscles while they're active. Despite the
myth, however, ongoing soreness in the days following an intense effort is not due to a
buildup of lactic acid but tiny muscle tears and inflammations.

"Lactate threshold" (LT) pace describes a hard but manageable effort that forces your body to
begin producing considerably more lactate. When you train at LT pace, your body conditions
itself to move lactate around, and this should improve your performances at distances from
the mile to the marathon.

From(http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/lactic-acid.html)
At rest the normal range for blood lactate is 0.5 2.2 mmol per litre (32,33). It is thought that
complete exhaustion occurs somewhere in the range of 20 25 mmol/L for most individuals
(34) although values greater than 30 mmol/L have been recorded (35).

Blood lactate concentrations peak about 5 minutes after the cessation of intense exercise
(assuming cessation is due to exhaustion from acidosis) (32). The delay is attributed to the
time required to buffer and transport lactic acid from the tissue to the blood (36). A return to
pre-exercise levels of blood lactate usually occurs within an hour and light activity during the
post-exercise period has been shown to accelerate this clearance (32,35,37). Training can also
increase the rate of lactate clearance in both aerobically and anaerobically trained athletes
compared to untrained individuals (32,38,39).

Interestingly, Stone et al (40) noted that trained individuals generated higher levels of blood
lactate at the point of failure compared to untrained subjects when exercising intensely
(squats). The time and amount of work they completed, unsurprisingly, was greater in the
trained group. This seems to suggest that training may induce greater tolerance to lactate
accumulation and it may also add weight to the argument that lactate serves to delay acidosis
and fatigue. At any absolute workload (i.e. when both groups were lifting the same weight)
the trained group had lower levels of blood lactate.
This indicates that training-induced adaptations include a lower blood lactate concentration at
any given workload and higher blood lactate concentration during maximal exercise
(32,41,42).

The anaerobic or lactate threshold is based on the point at which blood lactate abruptly
accumulates. It can be used as a prediction for race performance and to prescribe training
intensity.
Appratus

Cycling Lactate Threshold Lactate Pro 2 (LT-1730)

Lactate Pro 2 Test Strips accu–chek softclik classic lacing device

absorbent cotton wool

Procedure
1. using accu – chek softclik classic lacing device and Lactate Pro 2 Test Strips to release the
blood from the finger

2. using Lactate Pro 2 (LT-1730) to accurate the normal blood lactate acid from the
subjectA.
3. record the normal blood lactate acid subject A.
4. setting name, age, weight, and birthday subject A from the computer at Cycling Lactate
Threshold.
5. start the experiment when subject ready to start cycling.
6. maintain cycle in 60 to70kmj for the warm up until 2min.
7. after 2 min warm up subject cycle at high stroke until 30second
8. after 30 second subject A slow the cycle to cooling down.
9. after cooling down, take reading maximum blood lactate subject A
Result

Reading Blood Lactate of The Subject

(SHIELA LADIUS)

Before Exercise After Exercise

1.2 mmol/L 16.0 mmol/L

Wingate Result

Wingate Step Unit Value

Torque factor [Nm/Kg] 0.70

Torque [Nm] 44.80

Duration [sec.] 30.01

Peak Power [W] 965.79

Mean Power [W] 539.08

Minimum Power [W] 341.00

Time to peak power [sec.] 0.74

Time to RPM max. [sec.] 5.38

RPM Start [1/min] 69.82

RPM max. [1/min] 142.68

RPM peak power [1/min] 110.86

Mean power/Bodymass [W/Kg] 8.42

Peak power/Bodymass [W/Kg] 15.09

Fatigue slope [W/sec.] 21.84

 Rate of fatiuge [%] 64.69

Total work [KJ] 16.05

Work < PP//Bodymass [J/Kg] 7.95

Work < PP/Bodymass [J/Kg] 242.86

Inertia corr. Yes

Discussion
During exercise, such as sprinting type activities, when the rate of demand for energy is
high, lactate is produced faster than the ability of the tissues to remove it and lactate
concentration begins to rise. This is a beneficial process since the regeneration
of NAD+ensures that energy production is maintained and exercise can continue.

During exercise, the amount of oxygen entering the blood in the lungs is increased
because the amount of oxygen to be added to each unit of blood and the pulmonary blood
flow per minute are increased. The PO2 of blood flowing into the pulmonary capillaries falls
from 40 to 25 mm Hg or less, so that the alveolar-capillary PO2 gradient is increased and
more oxygen enters the blood.

Blood flow per minute is increased from 5.5 L/min to as much as 20-35 L/min. The total
amount of oxygen entering the blood therefore increases from 250 mL/min at rest to values as
high as 4000 mL/min. The amount of carbon dioxide removed from each unit of blood is
increased, and carbon dioxide excretion increases from 200 mL/min to as much as 8000
mL/min.

When their qualities begin to be excessive, these two end products react with each other
to form lactic acid. Thus, under anaerobic conditions, by far the major portion of the pyruvic
acid is converted into lactic acid, which diffuses readily out of the cells into the extracellular
fluids and even into the intracellular fluids of other less active cells.

The increase in oxygen uptake is proportionate to work load up to a maximum. Above

this maximum, oxygen consumption levels off and the blood lactate level continues to rise.
The lactate comes from muscles in which aerobic resynthesis of energy stores cannot keep
pace with their utilization and an oxygen debt is being incurred.

Contrary to popular belief, this increased concentration of lactate does not directly
cause acidosis, nor is it responsible for muscle pain or "burning". This is because lactate itself
is not capable of releasing a proton, and secondly, the acidic form of lactate (lactic acid)
cannot be formed under normal circumstances in human tissues. Analysis of the glycolytic
pathway in humans indicates that there are not enough hydrogen ions present in the glycolytic
intermediates to produce lactic or any other acid.
Conclusion
The lactate threshold provides a clear picture of the subject's current fitness level. The
lactate threshold, along with the power output, can determine a person's specific heart-rate
training zones. Knowing these zones and how to intersperse them enables everyone to
ultimately improve performance.

At the start, concentrations of lactate is low, but then suddenly increase sharply at a
clearly-defined point, which is termed as the lactate threshold. The lactate threshold
corresponds to the shift in metabolism to anaerobic within the muscle cells after exercise has
begun in the experiment. At this point, lactate is being produced faster than it can be
metabolized and it accumulates, passing into the blood. Obtaining blood samples can
determine the amount of lactate present in the blood.

A person can measure their training zone by heart rate, pace, or perceived effort. But it
is best if their course can be level and smooth so that they are able to maintain a regular
tempo (hence the term tempo runs) rather than having to speed up or slow down to
accommodate hills and rough terrain.
Reference
1. UCD Institute for Sport & Health, Newstead, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin
4.
Tel: (01) 716 3271 Email: sports.institute@ucd.ie © 2013 UCD Insitute for Sport &
Health