Energy System Development

As far as I know, Energy System Development is a term coined by Mark Verstegen, Founder of
EXOS (formally Athlete’s Performance).

Mark’s a smart dude, but also the term obviously describes the intent, much the same way
Neuromuscular System Development encapsulates training for the nervous systems and muscular
systems.

Most people only know about ‘Aerobics,’ or ‘Aerobic Training,’ or what I often hear people talk
about in terms of ‘cardio,‘ and maybe a few refer to as ‘conditioning.’

Aerobic simply means, ‘with oxygen,’ and only compromises one of three energy systems.

Two are actually Anaerobic Pathways — which if you’re wondering, basically means, ‘without
oxygen.’

We are capable of producing energy in an oxygen environment and in an environment exclusive

of oxygen.

Oxygen is a catalyst for energy production, your aerobic energy system is actually far more
efficient at generating energy via the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) — the most
basic component of energy that your body utilizes — but at the expense of speed and a lower
power output.

You can’t sustain a high level of energy output for too long, before the aerobic system must kick
in to cope with the energy demands.

The other obvious drawback is that exclusive training of the aerobic system won’t really
contribute much in the development of the other two energy systems, while training the other
two energy systems leads to dramatic improvement of the aerobic system, as shown most notably
in the Tabata Study. Though keep in mind that those involved in that study, still did about
seventy minutes of aerobic work per week. Something to think about…

Too much time spent in the mythological ‘fat-burn zone‘ or too much low-level aerobic training
is often thought to lead to the degradation of muscle tissue, making your body less metabolically
active throughout the day.

However, most of that has to do with shear energy balance, and the fact that people can’t keep
their energy balance above maintenance levels. Burning more energy than you take in, without
the protein intake and resistance training to support muscle retention, will degrade more muscle
tissue, even in the absence of aerobic training.

Thus, spending some time training in that aerobic zone is usually a good idea, all the same.
Higher intensity forms of exercise thicken the walls of the heart when done to excess, while
aerobic training results in greater elasticity of the heart. That quality appears to be associated
with better heart health, even though higher intensity forms of energy system training still yield a
lot of the same benefits.

The other important consideration is that aerobic training improves recovery from strenuous
exercise and helps you recover better between sets of higher intensity exercise.

Basically everything has it’s pros and cons, you should be aware of that, and then cater your
‘cardio’ to improve what’s important to you.

1. The Quick System

AKA: ATP-CP Phosphagen System (Alactic Anerobic Energy System)

This is your immediate or shortest duration energy system, lasting roughly no longer than 10
seconds.

You’ll find this energy system heavily involved in sports like javalin, shot-putting, American
Football, Baseball and short sprints.

It basically uses the ATP stored directly in your muscles, to produce energy quickly.

It’s actually a pretty powerful energy system, but the obvious limitation is endurance. It’s
questionable how trainable this system actually is.

A lot of NMSD is actually geared to this system and strength training, particularly explosive
strength, with less than 5 reps is often within this system already, but in terms of everyday health
and performance an ESD day of training geared to this system most likely has sprint variations of
an exercise with longer periods of rest.

For example, a 10 second sprint followed by 60 seconds of rest. Sprint intervals like this are
often characterized by quick or short duration work periods, with longer rest periods as high as
ten times the duration of the work portion.

Often energy system work in this realm is characterized by 6-20 times the amount of recovery
relative to your work period, or enough time to allow a chemical process to restore ATP again
within the muscle. Depending how how high the intensity is, or you want it to be.

For example, 40m, 60m, 80m and 100m sprints are mostly geared to this energy system, and are
among my favourite protocols for maintaining cardiovascular fitness via this system.

Often I’ll just do a quick sprint, walk back slowly and repeat.

However, sprinting is also technical, so you need to show technical proficiency to work on them,
otherwise you’re best off with a bike, rower or something with less of a learning curve.
The nice thing about this type of training, is that you can do significantly less but get great health
benefits, while better preserving metabolically active muscle tissue, so they are relatively time
efficient. If you discount the fact that you need long rest intervals anyway.

Personally, I’d rather sit around for a few minutes between bouts of intense exercise, than to do
mindless steady state work — though I still force myself to do some of that too…

The more work you do in this realm, the more muscle mass is also likely to be preserved (by
comparison to the other two), but in my opinion shouldn’t be at the expense of occasionally
working on the other two energy systems.

The downside of this type of training is that it’s hard to recover from, so you can’t do it often and
it’s questionable how much you can do in conjunction with resistance training (not very much as
they are very similar).

Most sprint coaches theorize that this kind of work can only truly be tolerated about twice a
week, some might lean to a max of three times a week, but the consensus on this type of training
is generally unanimous in the sense that you need more recovery time when utilizing higher
intensity training protocols.

About 72 hours or more for high intensity sprint work that is above 90% effort or close to 100%.

Some coaches also question the trainability of this energy system, noting that improvements to
the energy system itself seem moot relative to the neuromuscular improvements. I don’t
completely agree.

I’d note that big improvements within a 10-12 second interval can be less than tenths of a
second. A tenth of a second is the difference between first and third at the most recent Brazil
Olympics for the 100 m, or less than the difference between third and sixth for more perspective.

I recommend using it sparingly a few times a year, in low doses (less than 20-30 minutes not
including warming up), followed by resistance training (rather than on separate days), with
aerobic training done on off days to aid in recovery.

It is however more relevant for athletes in power sports than the average Joe or Jane.

2. The Medium System

AKA: Glycolytic System (Lactic Anaerobic Energy System)

The glycolytic system or your sugar system, still requires energy expenditure in an environment
without oxygen like the ATP-CP system, but after about 10-12 seconds the body basically starts
utilizing simple carbohydrates or glucose as a fuel source, rather than pure ATP.
Sugar requires some breakdown and chemical changes to occur for this system to be effective
and training this system leads to a better utilization of glucose and a greater duration of exercise
at a higher intensity.

This system is predominantly used in Power Sports like Soccer, Basketball, Hockey, Rugby, and
200m, 400m, 800m track events.

The downside?

Lactic Acid build-up, which isn’t as bad as most people think, however, it still creates a burning
sensation as your body produces the acid  — which is actually a fuel source, basically your body
in an anaerobic state produces lactic acid  — and eventually will disallow you from continuing
at that intensity.

This is also often referred to as the Lactate Threshold or Anaerobic Threshold (whatever you
want to call it), but your body is good at dealing with it for about 90-120 seconds, depending on
training, before it has to start utilizing the aerobic energy system and your power output has to
drop.

It’s maintaining this intensity past your initial threshold, that makes training this energy system
so vital, in so many activities.

The nice thing about this system though, is that with a little bit of rest, you can tax it pretty
heavily and train a lot of similar qualities to your aerobic system at the same time — as a side
note, these energy systems actually have a bit of a cascade effect in that ATP-CP can contribute
to Glycolytic System development, which can lead to Aerobic system development, but the
opposite is not true, you can’t train your aerobic system and significantly develop your ATP-CP
system really.

Your energy systems work together, not in isolation.

A good example of training protocols that develop this system would be 30 seconds on,
60 seconds off intervals or basically anything where the work is less than about 2 minutes and
characterized by at least an equal amount of rest but upwards of three times the amount of rest to
work, in terms of a ratio, or even less rest than work, as in the Tabata protocol.

Less rest to work ratios typically mean you can’t hold out as long, which is why the basic Tabata
approach is only 4 minutes — though contrary to popular opinion, there was still about 70
minutes of steady state aerobic work in that study, everyone conveniently ignores…

If you want to improve fatigue resistance, you lower the rest interval, if you want to improve the
quality of the contribution of the glycolytic system to training, you typically use longer rest
intervals, especially as they relate to sports.

45 seconds on, three minutes off, as in most hockey shift scenarios, is still an example of
Glycolytic Interval Training.
*Note more rest is needed when training the quick energy system, less for the medium, and even
less for the long system.

One of my favourite and according to Dr. Steven Boutcher at the University of South Wales,
perhaps the most effective for fat loss (per time spent, and if using a bike for comparison), is an
8 seconds on, 12 seconds off protocol. 

A major advantage to this protocol, is that the rest permits you to keep your output fairly high,
though the majority of the work ultimately ends up in the aerobic training realm. Try it for 4-5
minutes.

Interval training in these zones, has been shown to make significant improvements in markers for
aerobic and cardiovascular health. However, their positive influence over insulin sensitivity
might also be useful for weight loss, improving metabolic rate and muscle mass maintenance.

You can also limit training in this area significantly, perhaps even to only 20-30 minutes or less
in a training session, while getting similar results (or better) to the typical long-slow distance
aerobic work that many people still do for fat loss and weight loss.

In a pinch it’s a great substitute for longer more boring styles of aerobic training, but again, you
might not want to utilize it more than two (maybe three) times a week for optimal use.

Typically you’ll still need about 36+ hours of recovery between bouts for ideal performance.
You can’t just use high intensity training protocols all year round either, despite how some
people might approach it these days.

Be careful mixing it with resistance training protocols as it’s still relatively high intensity (most
moderate set lifting is in the glycolytic zone).

What’s interesting is that a great deal of athletic research indicates that this system can be trained
rather sparingly and the benefits last for quite some time. It’s highly trainable.

Meaning the benefits of doing glycolytic training three times a week (I’d skip resistance training
this week or use very low volume anyway) for one or two weeks can last 6-12
weeks. Ultimately, you can probably get away with a week of this type of training every 2-3
months, with maybe the odd maintenance session here or there and get a lot of the benefits.

A fun little fact about most interval research is that most of the benefits shown are seen in short
windows, and they don’t necessarily continue to advance beyond those windows.

Just because it’s been shown that higher intensity interval training has been shown to be very
effective at eliciting metabolic and aerobic improvements, doesn’t mean you should just
completely forget about aerobic training.
A lot of people these days hammer the @#%* out of this system in particular, expecting to
somehow improve. If that’s you, you might want to consider spending some time on #1 or
probably more on #3.

Just saying…

Anaerobic training is stressful on the body and harder to recover from in high quantities. Not to
discourage you from using it, but a lot of it usually just ends up being aerobic training anyway.

I recommend a few phases of each type of training each year, with a few sessions here or there,
depending on how they are planned to maintain during the rest of the year.

Of course, this all depends on your objectives.

3. The Long System

AKA: Aerobic System

At the end of a high intensity interval training session, your last interval might have as much as
40% contribution of the aerobic system.

In other words, it’s always there, always helping you last longer.

If you have decent aerobic fitness than your resting heart rate will typically be around 60
BPM.

If you’re not there on a regular basis, then you might want to mix more into your routine for
general health purposes than the other two for now. I think it’s something worth focusing on
maintaining.

This system is predominantly used in endurance sports such as long, typically slow (relative to
their power sport counterparts) distance cycling, triathlons, marathons, kayak racing, and
swimming.

I get it, it’s boring, I’m not a fan of doing the same thing ad nauseam for long periods of time
either.

The main disadvantage being the time requirement (also boredom) but the main advantage being
that aerobic training can be done almost daily. It’s much easier to recover from that other forms
of energy system training.

It’s definitely associated more so with that, than anything else, but pretty much anything that
keeps you at a moderate heart rate (about 130-150 BPM) for 20-30 minutes will have an aerobic
training effect. Even brisk walking is of benefit and is worth considering on days you’re not
lifting or doing some other form of cardiovascular activity.
Honestly, I don’t recommend average people stretch it out beyond 60 minutes, and I usually keep
them in that 20-30 minutes zone because I’d rather more frequency than duration, generally. If
you have an endurance sport objective, obviously you’ll have to stretch it out longer than that to
90 minutes.

The aerobic system can handle low-medium intensity activities for about 90 minutes in duration
or longer, depending on training.

If you’re ever heard the term ‘bonking’ or are familiar with the practice of ‘carb-loading’ in
endurance sports, then you are probably aware of this limit, in that your body can only store so
much fuel.

Once you run out of this fuel you can make yourself feel rather sickly. However, aerobic training
makes better utilization of fat as a percentage of work, so it’s often effective to combine with
resistance training (which preserves/builds muscle mass) for fat loss purposes. That’s why so
many bodybuilders use brisk up-hill walking on a treadmill for cutting purposes.

Typically the average human being stores enough fuel for comfortably about 20 miles worth of
activity in the aerobic zone, but training can change this, as can genetics.

If your goals are suited to endurance sports, then you will want to do a considerable amount of
training this system still.

Aerobic energy system training also what most people seem to think of when they hear the term
‘cardio,‘ but as you can see above, it’s only one of three systems.

It’s more for improving recovery for other things, more than anything else. It stimulates a
different part of your autonomic nervous system (parasympathetic) which can lead to improved
relaxation and stress relief. Not a bad thing if you’re a high strung work-a-holic these days,
whereas the two above might aggravate your stress levels, making things worse rather than
better.

Aerobic training is also more associated with cognitive/mood/energy benefits than higher
intensity forms of exercise, but there is a lack of research on this for the other two. Most of these
benefits appear to need about 20 minutes of aerobic activity strung together though, despite the
popularity of short workouts like the seven minute workout (it has benefits, just not necessarily
these).

Aerobic activity increases the elasticity of the heart to a much greater extent (higher intensity
forms of exercise appear to thicken the heart, though the jury is out as to how detrimental heart
wall thickening might be) than high intensity exercise, which may be of significant benefit.

Unlike the Anaerobic pathways, training your aerobic system yields little improvements in
speed, power or strength and is associated with degradation of lean tissues.
However, you are mostly in a state of aerobic energy expenditure all day, every day, anyway. So
muscle loss probably has more to do with negative energy balance, than aerobic work per-se.
Muscle degradation is easily combatted by utilizing some of the other methods above, as well as
utilizing resistance training and adequate protein intake.

See: Why Strength Training is Important.

I’ll note that research into this interference effect suggests that non-weight bearing aerobic
activities (like biking/swimming) do not have a significant interference effect when kept to less
than three times a week for no longer than about 20-30 minutes at a time. Something to consider
if you’re attempting to gain muscle via resistance training but want to maintain some different
aspects of cardiovascular health along with with.

Walking, is predominantly aerobic, and yields numerous health benefits, not to mention provides
many people a much needed break within the day.

I’m not saying Aerobic training is bad or good really. For fat-loss, you can use it more frequently
and recover better from it, but it might not have the muscle preserving effects of the other two.
Something to consider is that the other two can’t be done as often, nor for as long.

I think a mix is generally best as they have slightly different benefits/downsides.

Going for a walk or light hike between workouts is a great activity for ‘active recovery‘ days and
low level blood flow has been shown to reduce muscle soreness from previous workouts.

Even if it’s only a placebo effect, light swimming and cycling (notice non-weight bearing
endurance activities…) have also been shown to reduce muscle soreness when done between
harder workouts.

Despite popular opinion, there are aerobic methods that don’t include long continuous bouts of
exercise. As long as you keep your heart rate in an aerobic zone, sled work can be aerobic, rope
work can be aerobic and a variety of interval protocols can be aerobic. Don’t limit yourself to
just long slow distance work (that’s how I prevent myself from being bored with it) if it doesn’t
appeal to you.

Get a heart rate monitor and keep yourself in that aerobic zone for 20-30 minutes using other
methods if you like, or use rate of perceived exertion (5-6 out of 10).

I sometimes like to think of it as breathing through my nose, if you have to breathe through your
mouth, there is a good chance it’s become more anaerobic (or is approaching it) so back off,
trying to breathe through your nose for the 20-30 minutes can be a reasonable indication that the
intensity is low enough to be mostly aerobic.

Either needs to be fairly continuous though, even if you have chosen to use an interval approach.
My recommendation is 20-30 minutes of aerobic training (you could do more if you’re an
endurance athlete) with a non-weight bearing modality, on days you don’t lift, or following about
1-6x a week depending on your objectives. Or tack on a little of it after lifting.

Closing
It is important to remember that these are more like guidelines, than rules.

We know that all three energy systems work interdependently, so it’s not exactly cut and dry.

For example, working your quick or medium systems, means your aerobic system is in use
during the recovery period.

Doing resistance training will provide some benefits to these systems, depending on the type too.

If you want to optimize your training, it’s important to order any energy system work within a
training session or workout appropriately, so that the quick energy system is developed first, then
the medium system, finishing with the long system.

This is of course assuming that you plan to train 2 or more energy systems within a given
session.

Also you are better served utilizing some form or combination of interval training in your weight
loss efforts, instead of typical aerobic exercise.
Summary

 Train all 3 energy systems on a semi-regular basis.

 Be mindful of how you integrate these forms of training with resistance training.
 Place emphasis on the Anaerobic System over the Aerobic System only a few times a
year, the rest of the year should probably focus more on the aerobic system (for recovery
and heart health), if you lift (and you should). Or at least be mindful of what you can
actually recover from.
 Your Medium Energy System means anything lasting 10-120 seconds, with typically up
to 4 times the rest, but more often a 1:2 or 1:3 ratio.
 Your Long Energy System will last roughly up to 20 miles which is typically where
people bonk in Marathons without adequate training, or about 90-120 minutes (depending
on your level of training) before your carbohydrate stores are depleted and additional
carbohydrates must be consumed.
 Intervals done in the Long Energy System typically have an inverse work to rest ratio
(think walk-run protocol) or even. Often the rest is considerably shorter than the work
phase, often 1:1, 2:1, 3:1 or even up to 10:1 or higher.
 If training more than one system within a given workout, train the systems from quickest
to longest.
 All 3 systems work interdependently, not exclusively, so take most recommendations
with a grain of salt.
All About Your Metabolic Energy System
Three different metabolic energy systems power your workouts — and your day. Here’s how
each one works, and how to make the most of them all.

Most of us understand our bodies about as well as we understand our cars. We know we’re
supposed to take them out for a spin once in a while, and keep them well fueled. But when it
comes to grasping precisely how that fuel gets converted into motion — well, we’re not entirely
sure.

So let’s take a look under the hood, shall we? Like a hybrid engine, your body has several ways
of turning the stuff you eat into the stuff you do. All of these metabolic energy systems are
switched on during physical activity, but each plays a different role depending on available
energy and the specific demands of the task. Each burns a particular type of fuel at a particular
rate — thereby affecting fat loss and muscle gain in a particular way.

 The adenosine triphosphate–creatine phosphate (ATP-CP) system, or phosphagen

system, supports very brief, high-intensity activities like a single-effort vertical jump.
 The glycolytic system provides energy for activities of slightly longer duration and lower
intensity like strength training.
 The oxidative systemsupports long-duration, lower-intensity activities like walking or
distance running.

In recent years, exercise physiologists have learned how to target each system with specialized
training to better prepare individuals for a specific event or sport.

On the next few pages, you’ll discover how your body’s energy systems interact, and learn how
to challenge each one so you can reach your fitness goals faster and with less wasted effort.

First Responder: The ATP-CP Energy System

Whether you’re running a 40-meter dash, jumping up to answer the phone, or catching a child
falling off the monkey bars, the adenosine triphosphate–creatine phosphate (ATP-CP) system is
first to respond. Among your three energy systems, it’s the one most prepared for emergencies. It
kicks in whenever the oxidative system, your body’s normal method for providing energy, isn’t
up to the demands you’re placing on it.

All three of your energy systems ultimately run on ATP: It’s the fuel source for all your physical
functions, from eating to breathing to running hill sprints. Your glycolytic and oxidative systems
(which we’ll cover shortly) make most of this ATP to order, cobbling it together from the food
you eat and the air you breathe as need arises.
But a small quantity of ATP is socked away in your muscles for when you need to expend a
short burst of energy in a hurry. Let’s say you’re doing a single barbell squat with close to max
weight. As you power the weight up, the muscles of your hips, thighs and lower back
immediately burn through their ATP stores. Once the ATP has done its job, it’s either further
broken down or recycled (with the help of another substance, creatine phosphate, or CP), so it
can provide more energy to your working muscles.

How fast does the ATP-CP system gear up? Blink and you’ll miss it. “Once you begin hard
activity,” says Christopher Scott, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Exercise, Health
and Sport Sciences at the University of Southern Maine and an expert in metabolism, “it takes
just thousandths of a second for the phosphagen system to kick in.”

There’s a cost for this speed and efficiency, however: You can store only enough ATP and CP in
your muscles for about six to 10 seconds of serious effort. Though training the ATP-CP pathway
will improve your explosive speed and power (so you can jump higher, sprint faster and throw
farther), it won’t increase your storehouses of ATP-CP — or give you the ability to operate at
full throttle for longer than a few seconds. That’s why activities like javelin throwing, Olympic
weightlifting, and the 100-meter dash are “one-and-done” endeavors, even at the elite level. Most
trained athletes need three to five minutes of rest before their ATP is replenished and they can
perform near the level of their previous effort.

The “highlight reel” moments in soccer, tennis, basketball, hockey and many other sports are
powered in large part by ATP-CP. But it also comes strongly into play whenever you need to
move quickly (as when you’re making a dash to catch an elevator or grabbing a vase before it
topples off a counter).

“As we age, we lose a lot of our ability to exert strength quickly,” says Scott. “So doing some of
this training is important simply for maintaining quality of life.”

ATP-CP training doesn’t typically burn a lot of fat or build a lot of muscle, but that doesn’t mean
you should cut it out. For one thing, it can be a lot of fun; and since you’re using lower reps, it
probably won’t make you particularly sore. Most important, ATP-CP training is the best way to
build serious strength, speed and power.

How do you train the ATP-CP system? “Intermittent training,” says physical therapist Bill
Hartman, CSCS, co-owner of Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training. This means very brief
periods (10 seconds or less) of high effort with lots of rest (two minutes or more) between
activities.

Training Your ATP-CP System

Speed: Fast
Primary Fuel: Adenosine triphosphate and creatine phosphate, stored in your muscles
Sample Activities: Swinging a golf club, sprinting to first base, lifting a heavy weight
How to Train It: Heavy strength training, medicine-ball throws, jumps, short sprints, sports-
specific drills
Sets/Reps/Rest: 

 Three to eight sets

 Brief, maximum-effort sets lasting eight to 15 seconds; one or two heavy reps in strength-
training activities
 Long rest between sets (up to five minutes); full recovery between efforts

Frequency: Up to three times a week

How fast does the ATP-CP system gear up?

Blink and you’ll miss it.

ATP-CP athletes are fast, strong and explosive, specializing in brief, single-effort activities like
swinging a golf club or baseball bat, Olympic weightlifting, high-jumping, and shot-putting.
Athletes in field and team sports like soccer, lacrosse, tennis, martial arts, basketball and other
activities also rely heavily on the ATP-CP system during the highest-effort moments of sprinting,
serving, kicking or driving to the hoop.

Fast and Furious: The Glycolytic Energy System

As your ATP-CP system sputters out, your glycolytic system steps in and keeps you moving for
about another minute or so before it, too, begins to run out of fuel.

Because glycolysis relies on energy converted from carbohydrate (glucose) into ATP, your
glycolytic system is slightly less responsive than your ATP-CP system. But it can still provide as
much as half the energy you need in the first few seconds of intense exercise. (See “An Energy
Systems Timeline,” below.)

If you’ve ever done an all-out set of max pushups, or a 400-meter sprint, you’re familiar with
what it feels like to exercise the glycolytic system at close to its maximum. In a word, it hurts.

Contrary to popular belief, the burning sensation you get when you exercise intensely is caused
not by lactic acid (another fuel source) but by a buildup of hydrogen ions, a byproduct of
glycolysis, which can inhibit muscle contraction, giving you “wobbly knees” after a minute or so
of full-out running or cycling.

The more you train your glycolytic system, however, the better you’re able to buffer these ions
and the faster you can recover between sets of medium-to-high-intensity exercise.

The discomfort that comes from glycolytic training is well worth it. Increasingly, fitness pros are
recommending this type of training for people who want to gain muscle, lose fat and get the most
out of their time at the gym.
“A 200-meter sprinter is a great example of an athlete whose training is mostly glycolytic,” says
energy systems researcher and body-transformation expert Mike T. Nelson, MS, PhD candidate,
founder of MikeTNelson.com. “It’s a nice compromise between strength and endurance work.”

One reason glycolytic training burns fat so effectively is that it creates a significant “metabolic
disturbance,” Nelson explains. And recovering from it requires work from all three energy
systems. In this way, glycolytic training improves not only the functioning of each individual
system, but also your ability to transition smoothly
among them.

Nelson argues that such “metabolic flexibility” is a significant, though little-known, component
of long-term health and fitness. “Diabetics and obese people can’t transition well between energy
systems — they’re metabolically inflexible,” he says. “Smart training doesn’t just develop the
three systems in isolation — it also develops your ability to transition from one fuel source to
another so all three metabolic pathways work together effectively.”

The best way to train your glycolytic system is through repeated high-effort activity, with less-
than-complete recovery between efforts: 20- to 30-second sprints on foot, in a pool or on a bike,
with a minute of rest between them, or strength training in sets lasting 30 seconds to one minute.

Many field and team sports also train the glycolytic pathway.

Training Your Glycolytic System

Speed: Medium-fast
Primary Fuel: Carbohydrate
Sample Activities: Traditional strength training; 200- to 400-meter sprinting; 50-meter freestyle
swimming
How to Train It: Medium-intensity strength training; interval training; running stadium stairs or
hills; shaking “battling ropes”; jump-rope sprints; kettlebell workouts; swimming repeats
Sets/Reps/Rest:

 Two to four sets

 High effort for sets lasting 20 to 40 seconds; eight to 12 reps in strength-training
activities
 Short rest between sets (two minutes or less); partial recovery between efforts

Frequency: Twice a week per muscle group or area of the body trained

If you’ve ever done a 400-meter sprint, you’re familiar with what it feels like to exercise the
glycolytic system.
In a word, it hurts.

Glycolytic athletes specialize in activities lasting 30 seconds to two minutes or so. They’re fast
and seemingly tireless — though perhaps not quite as strong as the ATP-CP athlete, nor as
enduring as the oxidative athlete — and they tend to be muscular and lean. This type of training
is ideal for burning fat (in recovery) and building muscle mass. Strength training using sets of
eight to 12 reps and sprinting 400 meters or less typify glycolytic training.

Long, Slow Burn: The Oxidative Energy System

The oxidative (or aerobic) system is your slow-burning furnace, always humming in the
background, whether you’re fast asleep or running hard. It’s fueled largely on fat and glucose,
and, of the three metabolic pathways that support exercise, it’s the only one that directly requires
oxygen to function.

“We’re predominantly aerobic creatures,” says Scott. “We can go weeks without food, days
without water, but if we’re deprived of oxygen for more than a few minutes, we’re dead.”

So although it’s last to kick in after you start to exercise, the oxidative system is the most
important energy system of all. If it doesn’t work, neither do you.

Athletes in any long-distance endurance sport — cycling, running, triathlon — all need
exceptional aerobic capacity, as do athletes in all continuous-action field and team sports, like
basketball, lacrosse and soccer.

Fortunately, the aerobic system is very responsive to exercise. “Through training, you can
increase the capacity of your aerobic metabolism up to 240 percent,” says Hartman. “And the
better it works, the more effectively you burn fat in your workouts.”

Although the oxidative system is continuously active and produces loads of energy, the process
of converting fat into usable energy can take a while. Once it gets started, though, it’s your
body’s most reliable engine over long periods of time. In a 10-
second sprint, Hartman says, your
aerobic system is able to kick in only about 13 percent of the necessary energy; on an intense
four-minute run, however, that figure rises to 80 percent.

Exercise physiologists used to believe that the best way to develop the oxidative system was
through long, slow cardio exercise — an hour or more several times a week. Your aerobic
system certainly responds well to this type of training, but recent research suggests that the
oxidative system also works hard — very hard, in fact — to help you recover after a high-
intensity anaerobic effort like a set of squats or a hill sprint.

Do a second, third and fourth set before you’ve fully recovered from the previous one, and the
oxidative system ramps up its efforts even higher.

“A strength-training workout resembles a series of escalating waves of effort for the oxidative
system,” says Nelson. That’s why you’re winded after high-intensity bouts of strength training
and sprinting, even though the activities themselves are technically anaerobic. The oxidative
system shifts into overdrive to replenish the depleted ATP-CP stores and clear out the glycolytic
byproducts produced by your other two energy systems.
At the conclusion of an intense strength-training or interval-training workout, your oxidative
system often continues to work overtime, sometimes for nearly two days. This is a phenomenon
known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, or EPOC, which can burn additional fat and
calories long after the workout ends.

Scott and Nelson both concede that some of these processes remain theoretical. The actual effect
of EPOC and the true energy demands of anaerobic activity can be hard to measure accurately.
For the fitness enthusiast, though, the take-home lesson is that, unless you’re a competitive
endurance athlete, lots of long, slow cardio is probably not the best way to exercise your aerobic
system. Higher-intensity activities may be a more effective and efficient way to build your
cardiovascular system — and to burn fat.

Exercise your oxidative system by jumping rope, training with light weights, or doing standard
cardio exercises for periods of one to five minutes, resting one to five minutes between sets, for
up to six sets.

If you’re serious about building your aerobic capacity, you can also do one to five high-effort
bouts of 10 to 20 minutes long, resting five to 10 minutes between them.

Because low-intensity aerobic activity speeds recovery from the minor damage caused by other
forms of exercise, perhaps the best use of oxidative training is as a restorative tool on your off-
days.

Training Your Oxidative System

Speed: Slow to medium

Primary Fuel: Fat
Sample Activities: Jogging, slow swimming, cycling, walking, hiking, martial arts, continuous-
action team sports (basketball, ultimate Frisbee, soccer)
How to Train It: Light circuit training; running five minutes or more; long-distance cycling;
traditional cardio machines; long, slow swimming
Sets/Reps/Rest:

 Either three to six one- to five-minute medium-high efforts with one to five minutes rest
between sets, or
 One to three eight- to 20-minute medium efforts, resting four to 10 minutes between reps

Frequency: One to three times a week

Although it’s last to kick in, the oxidative system is the most important energy system of
all.
If it doesn’t work, neither do you.

Oxidative athletes are typically leaner and lighter than the other two athletic types. They can go
on forever at a slow-to-medium pace, burning mostly fat — the ultimate high-efficiency, slow-
burning fuel. Oxidative training is essential for endurance sports, but athletes in field sports
shouldn’t neglect this kind of training. Done in moderation, oxidative training is also great for
helping you recover from other, more intense forms of exercise.

An Energy Systems Timeline

Let’s say you’re going out for a serious run and you want to see just how hard you can go and for
how long. You lace up your trainers, start your stopwatch, and off you go, full speed ahead.
Here’s a moment-by-moment timeline of what’s going on in your three energy systems as you
burn up the track:

0 seconds–10 seconds: ATP-CP System

The millisecond you sound the “exercise” alarm, all three energy systems go to work. But the
very first to fire up is the ATP-CP (or phosphagen) system, which burns highly combustible
fuels, like adenosine triphosphate, that are stored right inside your working muscles. Like a
dragster engine, it burns hot and fast. It’s all but spent in about 10 seconds.

10 seconds–75 seconds: Glycolytic System

Next to get going is the glycolytic system, which ramps up its efforts just seconds into your run,
and draws primarily on carbohydrate fuel. As your leg muscles churn through those carbs,
hydrogen ions and other byproducts inhibit muscle contraction and make your legs ache. Try as
you might, you can’t help but slow down a bit.

75 seconds–10 minutes and more: Oxidative system

The oxidative system has been generating energy this whole time, but it’s been working on other
projects simultaneously (like digestion and cardiovascular function). During your run, your body
shifts more of its focus to delivering oxygen to your working muscles, using fat as its primary
fuel. Burning fat takes longer than burning carbs, though, so you’ll be compelled to slow your
pace.

Once your oxidative system kicks in, it generally stays on the job, and can keep going long after
the other two systems peter out. If you find your top aerobic pace (a point just below your
anaerobic threshold, or “AT”), you should be able to hold on to it for quite a while — hours if
you are well trained. And highly trained endurance athletes can hover near or even a little above
their AT for an hour or so.

Fuel From Start to Finish

The chart above shows how the body’s three energy systems interact and support each other
during the first 130 seconds of sustained activity. Out in front is the ATP-CP system (blue),
providing a short, initial burst of intense energy. The glycolytic system (red), only minimally
involved at the start, quickly increases its output as the ATP-CP system drops off. As more
sustained effort becomes necessary, the oxidative system (green) takes over. You can see from
the transitional phases how the three systems cooperate to provide just the right energy at the
right time.