Using Anaerobic exercise to supercharge your fitness
Anaerobic exercise is where the body is exercising at such a rate that the blood stream cannot supply oxygen to muscles fast enough.
Anaerobic exercise is essentially exercise without oxygen. This happens during high intensity and cannot be held for long periods of time. A product of your muscle exercising in an oxygen deprived environment is large amounts of lactic Acid. Lactic acid begins building up inside the muscle at a rate faster than it can be cleared creating muscle failure.
Anaerobic muscle respiration, which is a part of respiration, is what anaerobic exercise refers to. During anaerobic exercise, the muscle receives some oxygen, but not enough of a supply to meet the demands that are being placed on it. The anaerobic capacity of a particular muscle or muscle group is also referred to as its anaerobic or lactate threshold. Although these terms sound very technical, the definition is simple. It refers to the point in anaerobic exercise when the lactic acid starts to build up faster than the body can remove it. This is considered to be a great indicator of an athletes performance.
In the past, an athlete with a higher VO2Max was considered more fit; however, we now know that an athlete with a lower VO2Max and a higher anaerobic threshold has the potential to go further and faster without experiencing muscle failure than an athlete with a high VO2Max and a low anaerobic threshold. Training can increase your anaerobic threshold. Types of anaerobic sports include soccer, hockey, rugby, football and basketball. Essentially, any sport which requires spurts of intense physical activity would be considered to be an anaerobic sport. Weight lifting and interval training are examples of anaerobic workouts.
Your anaerobic threshold can be improved with training but this requires an exercise which allows you to spend an extended period of time above your anaerobic threshold. An exercise routine that can achieve this is High Intensity Interval training (HIIT). HIIT allows you to spend a long cumulative time in an anaerobic state by alternating high intensity activities with periods of rest and recovery.
