What is your Training Goal?

Whilst most of us recognize the general benefit of exercise, few of us actually fully understand the physiology of exercise and the best way to achieve our exercise objectives.

The first stage to enable you to get the most out of any exercise program is therefore to know what your exercise objectives are. These may include developing muscles, reducing or maintaining weight, improving general strength and sporting competitiveness or simply maintaining a good fitness level relative to your lifestyle.

Many of the commonly held beliefs relating to exercise are poorly substantiated. A classic example is the old adage " no pain, no gain" which unnecessarily associates exercise with discomfort.

Here we explore some of the realities of exercise physiology, and try to highlight the best ways to achieve certain goals. Let us start by separating exercise programs into different groups.

Resistance training is designed to improve either muscle strength or size. The muscle cells are purposely damaged through a process of overloading (working muscles to exhaustion), the body reacts instinctively to repair the damaged cells so they can cope with any future overload, increasing their size and strength in the process.

Muscular fitness is a combination of strength, endurance and flexibility. Resistance training occurs over a short time frame and does not necessarily improve endurance capacity or for that matter flexibility (this is achieved through aerobic training). Resistance training is best achieved by working isolated areas with some form of resistance such as weights. Resistance training can complement your overall training program and for more information we suggest you consult a personal trainer.

Aerobic training relates to the process by which the body generates energy to perform work. The principal fuels used to produce energy are the body’s stores of fat, carbohydrate or protein. These fuels can be converted into energy by one of two processes, the aerobic metabolic process or the anaerobic metabolic process.

The aerobic process consumes fuel in the presence of oxygen (supplied by the flow of blood) producing by-products, carbon dioxide and water, which are expelled by respiration and perspiration. Whereas the anaerobic process occurs when there is not enough oxygen in the blood supply to produce energy aerobically. In the absence of oxygen, carbohydrate is consumed as the primary source of fuel, producing a bi-product called lactate. It is this lactate that produces muscle soreness and fatigue associated with vigorous exercise.

Knowledge of the aerobic/anaerobic process is essential to the successful attainment of your exercise objectives. Fat burn/ weight maintenance, general aerobic/ cardiovascular training or anaerobic/ tolerance to fatigue, are all types of training. Being able to put these types of training into effect relies upon your understanding of the way your body produces energy.