Anaerobic Threshold Quotes

Though Graded Exercise helps some, the ME Association reports 74 per cent of ME patients are harmed by the therapy, with some made permanently disabled. Dr Julia Newton ran electrical pulses through muscle biopsies; Dr Van Ness tested anaerobic thresholds of ME patients – both studies demonstrated ME patients are damaged by exercise.

What ensued was a training program focused entirely on building the capacity and efficiency of my endurance engine. Our bodies have two basic energy-burning systems. The first is the “aerobic system,” which utilizes oxygen and fat for fuel. It’s your “go all day” mechanism that fuels activity up to a certain level of intensity. But when the intensity of exertion exceeds what is called the “aerobic threshold”—the point at which my lactate test curve began to escalate skyward—then the secondary system known as the “anaerobic system” takes over. Used to power more extreme efforts, such as sprint bursts, heavy weight lifts, and fast running, the anaerobic system utilizes glycogen, or sugar, for energy. And it can only be turned on for about ninety minutes before it shuts down, depleted. Proficiency in endurance sports, explained Chris, is all about building the efficiency of the aerobic, “go all day” system.

Up to this point, I’d been spending the vast majority of my running, cycling, and swimming sessions in what is referred to as the “gray zone”—a dreaded no-man’s-land where the effort exerted exceeds that which is required to properly develop the aerobic engine, yet falls short of the intensity necessary to significantly improve speed or increase anaerobic threshold. It’s that level of effort that leaves you feeling nice and winded after a brisk run but yields little in terms of performance improvement. In actuality, such training undermines true progress. It leaves you tired, with little to no gains in either endurance or speed. It creates plateaus that stunt athletic development, and often leads to injury.