Please explain this to me-Aerobic/anaerobic

Hi all, I am having a little trouble understanding the whole aerobic/anaerobic thing while spinning. For example my max heart rate is 190. My target range to stay aerobic is 124-152. Mostly I stay in this range but also move into the 170-180 while doing jumps etc. From what I have read this is benificial to go to the higher ranges but not for the whole ride. Also should I be doing this every day or alternate the lower ranges with the higher? Thanks
Spinstudent :)

[Raptor]

It's good to work at low-mid intensities as well as high intensities. I'm tempted to say that it's best to work as hard as you can all the time, but that's not really true especially for different fitness goals.

You just can't work the whole time anaerobically. Your body won't sustain the power output and you'll slow down whether you want to or not. You can't work at your limit for more than two minutes or so, and the harder you try the harder it gets to maintain the effort. Very few of us train hard enough to be able to go all-out for two full minutes. Most cycling classes do one or two anaerobic efforts to provide variety. Most students appreciate a hard workout and anaerobic is the way to go to get one.

But for a new exerciser ("new" means anyone who hasn't been working out aerobically and regularly for at least a month), the anaerobic energy system is poorly trained, and the body is not very good at dealing with the lactic acid buildup and oxygen debt that occurs. So new riders should take it easy even if the rest of the class is going balls-to-the-wall. We're usually told that our training zone is 65% of Max, but a couch potato might be anaerobic at 65%. You need an aerobic base to support your anaerobic workouts. That's what "base miles" means.

Anaerobic intervals impose longer-term recovery demands on the body. I'm not real clear on exactly what these are, but it seems to include more micro-trauma in the muscle tissue and lactic acid buildup. For this reason, even conditioned athletes do anaerobic work in measured doses. You can ride every ride, seven days a week, with 1-3 short anaerobic intervals, well spaced out, with little trouble if you're so motivated. But an intense training session that includes 5+ hard anaerobic intervals with short rest between them should be followed by a full day of rest or a mild recovery workout.

Anaerobic training helps raise your anaerobic threshold (you can do more work aerobically) and can help raise your VO2Max, the highest power output you can do. So it's good.

Plus you burn a LOT more calories (whether fat, carbohydrate or protein - a calorie is a calorie) when you work anaerobically. The power goes up, but the efficiency goes down. The post-workout recovery period is also more demanding following a lot of anerobic work, so you burn more calories while recovering. Track your heart rate following a very hard workout with a lot of anerobic time. You'll find that even sitting down your heart rate is elevated. You're burning more calories than usual.

By contrast, aerobic efforts is what our body does all the time anyway, so an aerobic workout imposes very little recovery demands. If you're fit, you can walk all day if you need to, right? Just eat, drink and get normal rest, and you're okay.

Lynn

[labo]

An excellent discussion of Anaerobic Threshold (T2) and how to find yours can be found on http://www.heartzone.com/index_ns.shtml ....scroll down and look to the right side of the page and choose "Heart Zones publishes new White Paper on "How to Expand Your Fat Burning Range""....this will open an AdobeAcrobat doc that is a great explaination of aerobic vs Anaerobic zones and how to find your Anaerobic Threshold or T2....

Check it out!!!!!!!!!

[spinnerpom]

I tell my riders that anaerobic training is like candy in your diet. Use it sparingly and as a treat. :)

[Legspeed]

And I tell my riders to treat it like a cheap wine: Doing lots of it will leave you feeling hungover but eventually you get used to it and can do even more.

[hammertime]

And I tell my riders to treat it like a cheap wine: Doing lots of it will leave you feeling hungover but eventually you get used to it and can do even more.

Yeah, and the more you drink and get used to it the more your liver hates you...i.e. the more you become fatigued and then overtraining sets in and all kinds of breakdowns start happening physiologically.

...the more your liver hates you...

uhh, yeah, right. So far, my liver hasn't expressed any emotion at all to me, but then, it's male, so that's to be expected. I will say, though, that when I drink to excess, my liver does enlarge over time.

[Raptor]

Interesting aside there. I understand that lactic acid is broken down by the liver. So does excessive anaerobic exercise result in the same types of health issues that excessive alcohol consumption does?

Lynn

[Todd S]

Interesting aside there. I understand that lactic acid is broken down by the liver.

Sure that's not an urban myth?

[Raptor]

I can't remember where I read it. I think on the MAPP web site. Where IS lactate disposed of?

Lynn

[Legspeed]

Lactic acid is not "disposed of". It's either used as fuel by the muscle or converted to glucose (and eventually glycogen) by the liver.

Now, I readily admit I haven't exhaustively searched the literature, but I'm not aware of any liver transplants due to glucose/glycogen toxicity.

[Todd S]

Somebody posted this on the Spinning website a while back. A nice little 'Cliff's Notes' on lactate.

http://www.cytosport.com/science/lacticacid.html

If you want to know more, you might try a google search on 'George A. Brooks'. He's a physiology professor at Cal Berkley who was the first to postulate the 'lactate shuttle' concept. He's probably published more on lactate metabolism than anyone else on the planet.

[texasred]

Somebody posted this on the Spinning website a while back. A nice little 'Cliff's Notes' on lactate.

http://www.cytosport.com/science/lacticacid.html



Thanks Todd! That link was great. Written in plain English. :D

[Legspeed]

What I found especially interesting was point #10, which essentially said that all the benefits MDA associates (in their Aerobic training home study) with low intensity exercise actually occur at high intensities.

Hmmm, whom should I trust, one of the foremost authorities on the subject or MDA?

[Todd S]

For most, the 'Aerobic Energy Zone' is neither 'high intensity' or 'over distance'.

But it does reinforce those two skills that most athletes strive for but never achieve... Being able to sit still for a long time when your butt hurts and being able to watch a number on an electronic device without becoming distracted.