Being brought up playing sport in Australia we have probably all been told at some point that in order to make it professional you need to be able to ‘run all day’. Or that you must do all your training under fatigue because it will simulate a game scenario. Training at F45 or doing HIIT or boxing classes might be encouraged because the muscles work while also getting some conditioning. Although being able to ‘run all day’ is certainly a good thing I’m going to explain to you why training under fatigue is only hitting one piece of the pie and how well our gym and velocity training at different rest periods actually ties in with sports performance by training all 3 energy systems.
The aerobic energy system contributes to slow and steady long term running capacity in games and improved recovery time between bursts of play. This system relies on the presence of oxygen to produce energy. This is developed with long slow steady cardio. Low intensity/ long duration.
The anaerobic energy system utilises carbohydrates in food broken down as blood glucose to deliver bursts of intense exercise that lasts 15-90 seconds, think laying a tackle or bouts of high intensity running. Example hypertrophy training in the gym or repeat effort running with 30 second rests.
The ATC-PC (Adenosine triphosphate – phosphocreatine) energy system is responsible for the most rapid production of energy. This is utilised when we need to apply a large amount of force very quickly and doesn’t last more than a few seconds eg jumping above the pack to take a mark. It is also the first energy system utilised during the first few seconds of exercise regardless of intensity. Eg Performing a 3RM squat with pauses between reps and 3 minute rest period, or maybe a 30m sprint with a 3 minute rest period. This can be summarised as high intensity, Low duration. This is the energy system that gets neglected the most when we do everything under fatigue yet will account for 40% utilisation of energy system demand in a game of soccer or Aussie rules football (Even greater demand in basketball and netball). Players like Dustin Martin and Patrick Dangerfield have a very developed ATC-PC energy system in that they can recruit huge amounts of force in a short amount of time – and they didn’t get there by doing mountain climbers or bicycle crunches over and over again.
Of course, these energy systems will all need to tie in and work together for each to function optimally. Lets say for a football athlete You suddenly need to increase your pace to get to a contest on the wing (ATC-PC/Anaerobic energy system) you then get there and fight for the footy at ground level before the ball spills over the boundary, you have a short rest to recover while the ball is thrown back in (aerobic energy system). Then the ball is thrown in and ball falls in your lap at the ruck contest, before you have time to think someone tries to tackle you and you aggressively fend them off with one sudden swift and strong high intensity push (ATC-PC energy system), You hand ball it off to a team mate, he kicks it up the wing and now you take off on a slow steady jog to get in position for the next contest (aerobic)
Do you see where I’m going with this?
