Hi christian
Which energy system would I be training if I was to do a circuit/medley of exercises with minimal rest and for say 30/45sec each , totaling for 5 mins of work than repeating 3-5 times
And what would be the general use for this type of duration?.
Example
30s assault bike
30sec prowler push
2mins farmers walk
30sec battle rope
30sec rower
30sec loaded carry
30sec db thrusters
Thankyou in advance Aaron
It would be aerobic capacity if the rest between rounds is low or the general intensity is low.
If you do these 5 mins at a high intensity and then having longer recovery between rounds (3-5 mins depending on your level) then it would be aerobic power.
Aerobic power increases the max power output/speed you can sustain while being in the aerobic pathway, aerobic capacity increases the duration in which you can sustain this effort.
In any case, it will work both of these qualities, just more one or the other.
I guess you meant to say anaerobic.
No. You can sustain the phoscreatine pathway for 15 secs tops and the glycolitic pathway for 2-3 mins tops if you’re a good athlete.
You could be working the anaerobic pathway (glycolitic capacity) if you were doing this bout for 2-3 mins at the max intensity you can sustain and then have a complete rest ~3 mins)
If you were to do 2-3 mins of high intensity effort with incomplete rest you quickly couldn’t withstand it and it becomes aerobic work
Something like a 2 kilometer rower sprint is actually an aerobic effort
Well said. You make a fair point.
However, if he’s doing this circuit with 30 sec of work on each exercise and with minimal rest in between every exercise and after every circuit, he’ll still be deprived of oxygen.
With every set you also accumulate fatigue and because of the increased oxygen deprivation due to inadequate rest the body will naturally respond by recruiting more fast twitch fibers, which are almost entirely dependent on the anaerobic pathway.
You are completely right about the fact that you cannot stay in the anaerobic zone with maximal or submaximal effort for 5 minutes. That’s very true. the ATP-PC system can only provide energy for 10-15 seconds max and needs at least 2 minutes to recover partially.
However, your glycolytic energy system can recover faster to provide new energy after 15-30 seconds of rest (same principle as with rest-pause).
We need to be realistic here as well. Performance will likely drop on every set and the rest periods in between every exercise of the circuit will likely increase from 10 to 30 seconds or even longer. That’s enough time for the glycolytic energy system to recover partially too.
Anyway, I think that the 3 energy systems are involved with most of the time spent under and over the anaerobic treshold.
Yes, you make a fair point as well.
It is very difficult to precisely determine what the priority will be for this workout can be modulated a lot depending on rest parameters.
Indeed, the aerobic system is always in use. And when things get intense, glycolitic and PC as well, so you’re right, it would work all 3!
“Mixed modality” training according to jason Brown works anaerobic and aerobic and would look like this:
20 cal rower
20 landmine thrusters
20 KB swings
3 min rest
I was going with the reasoning that he wasn’t taking rest between exercises and little if any between rounds.
Personally, I love high intensity intervals for aerobic training so I guess I was biased here. It would depend on the level of intensity and cardio capacity of the trainee, but I agree with you that it works all 3 systems and it can probably be mostly anerobic.
Yes, I believe we’re both right and/or wrong.
To me it seems like the training parameters of his suggested circuit lean more towards anaerobic treshold training.
BUT this type of training means going intentionally in and out of the lactate zone for repeated efforts, which means that the aerobic energy system remains dominant most of the time.
I would not place this workout in the endurance training category though.
@bigyinn1984 I apologize for the interruption, your question was adressed to @Christian_Thibaudeau
Thankyou for both of your answers.
I would be having a similar work to rest ratio if that helps?
I would also limit rest time between exercises within the circuit to as minimal as possible.
I was wondering on the impact for body recompasition and health mainly ?
Thankyou again.