Yeah, VO2 max is the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use. In case that was what you meant by working capacity:
It is determined by your cardiac output, which is Heart rate x stroke volume and the difference in blood oxygen levels between the arteries and the veins. So cardiac output x (arterial oxygen content - venous oxygen content)
The cardiac output part is largely determined by stroke volume as you can’t really change your max HR with training, and the difference in O2 levels is largely determined by how good the muscles are at extracting and using the oxygen, but also how good the lungs are at getting oxygen into the blood.
The limiting factor is usually on the cardiac output side. The muscles have more to go on in terms of their ability to use oxygen, so it’s the delivery that’s the bottle neck. When you do cardio, your heart will grow in a way that makes the chambers bigger, which gives you a bigger stroke volume (called eccentric hypertrophy. Mind you, there are several kinds of eccentric hypertrophy, some of them are bad, IE, heart failure, but this one is good)
The muscle side of it will also increase the enzymes involved in aerobic metabolism, you’ll get more and larger mitochondria, etc. This enhances the body’s ability to use oxygen, but as I said earlier, this isn’t really where the bottle neck lies, so I think the enzymes are more a part of getting your anaerobic threshold to keep par with your VO2max. (you can’t really change your anaerobic threshold that much in relation to your Vo2max, but if your Vo2 max goes up, your anaerobic threshold will go up proportionally)
Yeah, ok. Well, I’m not sure about that. One thing is what determines strength and such, but as for being able to work out hard day after day without falling apart is a different story. I know quite a bit about fatigue, but that’s mostly in the acute sense and there is very little information about long term fatigue, like how you recover from one session to the next, etc.
Are you asking about anaerobic conditioning, Anatoly?
Any activty less than 2 minutes can be classified as anerobic. So weight training is anaerobic.
Once your creatine phosphate levels are depleted, you move into anaerobic glycolysis. In anaerobic glycolysis, lactate is the metabolic by product. As the intensity increases, the lactate levels increase and after a certain intensity the lactate lecvels increase sharply and is known as the lactate threshold, anaerobic threshold and so on. Training can certainly improve your lactate threshold and improve your performance. The adaptations which increase lactate threshold is increase in capillary density, increase in the buffering capacity int he muscle, increase in APT-CP concentrations, increase in glycolytic enzymes, increase in glycogen, greater percentage of Type 2A fibers and so on.
Are you asking about anaerobic conditioning, Anatoly?
Any activty less than 2 minutes can be classified as anerobic. So weight training is anaerobic.
Once your creatine phosphate levels are depleted, you move into anaerobic glycolysis. In anaerobic glycolysis, lactate is the metabolic by product. As the intensity increases, the lactate levels increase and after a certain intensity the lactate lecvels increase sharply and is known as the lactate threshold, anaerobic threshold and so on. Training can certainly improve your lactate threshold and improve your performance. The adaptations which increase lactate threshold is increase in capillary density, increase in the buffering capacity int he muscle, increase in APT-CP concentrations, increase in glycolytic enzymes, increase in glycogen, greater percentage of Type 2A fibers and so on.
Since thread was already on subject, new question:
How to develop work capacity?
I see a lot of time cases when newbies (0.5-1 year of training) hit the plato since their ability to sustain intensive workout and an ability to recover after it.
So, it’s clear to me that if newbie always work very intensive way(too close to failure) he can’t handle enough volume to develop work capacity. Does it mean that he have to work far from failure and simply add volume?
I’m really want to listen to proper ways to handle this issue
Thanks
There is a time factor to it too. You just cannot go and try high volume and expect to improve work capacity. Just like anything else you go up gradually in volume.
And part of the conditioning effect is how well your heart can push put the blood with oxygen.So hence one big reason why you see a prowler being used, a weighted sled, and up hill runs. So it is not just muscular you know.
My take on this is fairly straight-forward: developing work capacity is essentially no different to developing any other physical aptitude (e.g. absolute strength, speed-strength, strength-endurance)...it conforms to the law of SAID (Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands).
In other words, if you want to build work capacity, progressively introduce (whether in a linear or periodised way) more work into the type of movement/s that you want to build capacity in.
There is some value to GPP (General Physical Preparation) work like ‘the Prowler’, but it always pays to keep in mind that no amount of GPP work will be as transferable to your particular skill than actually practising the skill itself (SPP).
IMO, the main value of GPP work is to enhance mobility, flexibility, and to relieve training boredom.
There is some value to GPP (General Physical Preparation) work like ‘the Prowler’, but it always pays to keep in mind that no amount of GPP work will be as transferable to your particular skill than actually practising the skill itself (SPP).
True.
IMO, the main value of GPP work is to enhance mobility, flexibility, and to relieve training boredom.
I think the main value of conditioning is that you can tolerate the volume, recover better and just live a healthy life . If you had to walk faster and if you are panting and puffing, then you need some serious conditioning.
I don’t think conditioning help with mobility or flexibility. There are conditioning program where you just do walking, biking and body weight exercises. It need not work your mobility or flexibility, but you can make it that way too I guess.
I think the main value of conditioning is that you can tolerate the volume, recover better and just live a healthy life . If you had to walk faster and if you are panting and puffing, then you need some serious conditioning.
I don’t think conditioning help with mobility or flexibility. There are conditioning program where you just do walking, biking and body weight exercises. It need not work your mobility or flexibility, but you can make it that way too I guess.
Yep…it’s really horses for courses with GPP.
As a power-lifter, I prefer to get my conditioning using movement patterns that may afford some transference to my lifts (e.g. high rep dynamic squats, dynamic push-ups) and just use the loading protocols and rest periods to elicit the conditioning effect.
Of course, the CrossFit dudes/dudettes would see this as hopelessly limited, and by their lights, they’d be right. One person’s ‘fitness’ is another person’s unfitness, I suppose.
I just wonder if short rest pause workouts might contribute to work capacity.
If they do, would it be wise to alternate such workouts with power workouts inside week/month cycle?
Like this:
If I do full body workouts 3 times a week I do for 4-6 weeks one a week power workout and twice - short rests workouts
After 4-6 weeks I change it to twice a week power workouts + once - conditioning.
Sort of periodization.
