Yesterday I introduced Alan Couzens, an Aussie but American-based performance coach who specialises in energy systems.
He has totally transformed how I look at aerobic development and although maybe not applicable for team footy training, it's totally what you should be following for whatever energy system straining you do in your own time.
Yesterday we covered various topics around lactate and training zones and today we look at metabolic fitness which will be new to most, if not all, of you.
FAT v CARB OXIDATION
If you overdo dietary fat, then power can be compromised as energy per liter of oxygen is less than 6% lower for fat than carbs so a low carb runner will need a 6% higher VO2Max to maintain the same speed.
If you overdo carbs, then you become a sugar burner you can't burn as many calories per minute as the high fat runner and once you've spent all your carb tickets, your body finds it very hard to then move to fat as an energy source, and you teeter out very quickly.
FAT OXIDATION
Someone with a VO2Max 50 or less, fat oxidation peaks at less than a 4mph/brisk walk, is already down to less than 50% at a 5.5mph/jog and down to 0 at a 6.5mph - slow down to use fat for fuel!
FAT BURNING
2 people can have a very good levels of max fat oxidation but they can also achieve max fat oxidation at different heart rates and %’s of heart rate...Both athletes can also breath at different rates and move different amounts of air through the body...Different athletes can burn different amounts of fat at the same % of heart rate max
FAT UTILISATION
A typically unfit individual burns less then 100cals of fat/hr (1pd/35hrs of exercise) v a metabolically fit individual that can burn 6x that (1pd/5 – 6hrs of exercise)...If you’re looking to use fat fuel then you need to have a high ability to use fat as fuel
IMPROVING FAT BURNING
Even the leanest individual has enough fat stored to run 10 marathons back-to-back but the average individual can only access energy from fat at about 3 calories/min but for averaged sized individuals it takes about 6cals/min for your slowest stroll meaning we have great capacity but low fat burning power to even power a walk...For an average sized endurance athlete expending 2500cals/day, only 5% of them will be from fat stores...You want to be a hybrid athlete, being able to switch to whatever energy blend is needed in accordance with output, on demand
BE A FAT BURNER
A study looked at fat oxidation at rest v 25% v 50% v 70% of VO2Max and some were deriving 100% of their resting energy from fat and some just 30%...Those who burn more fat at rest tend to burn more fat all intensity levels...If you simply flood your blood with glucose then it will never learn to use fat as fuel...Cut sugar from your diet when you're not exercising and to a moderate intake overall...Train more in aerobic zones that keep lactate levels low and cut out the hard stuff until you’ve built a metabolic base...The ideal nutritional balance point for serious athletes is 48% carbs, 24% protein and 28% fat regardless of calorie surplus or deficit
FAT OXIDATION NUTRITION
50g carbs/day is the baseline minimum then add 100g/hr of training for a medium size/medium fitness athlete during low intensity base training...Add 150g for a large and/or high fitness athlete during high intensity phases...Protein x 2g/kg/bodyweight
HOW TO BE A FAT BURNER
Most athletes have a big engine for short duration efforts but have a hard time fuelling longer events and can’t burn fat for very long and chew up carbs…The engine is powerful but the fuel economy is no good so to preserve fuel you need to improve access to another unlimited fuel source by improving fat oxidation – specifically improving fat oxidation at all intensities and also reduce bodyweight…At higher levels of intensity the overall aerobic capacity of the athlete (the ability to hold power at low lactate) becomes more and more important…Aim for 20 – 25hrs of training/week but at very low intensities, capped at the aerobic threshold which is 50 beats below your heart rate max…The key session of the week should be a 4-6hr long flat bike ride followed by a long flat hike x 3 – 4hrs the next day…Combine those 2 workouts with fat oxidation nutrition and your body really no other choice but to adapt
METABOLIC FITNESS
The difference between us and elite runners is not VO2Max but metabolic fitness...Ther average weekend warrior has a VO2Max of 50ml/kg/min v the elite athlete at 70ml/kg/min = 40% difference...The max fat oxidation for a weekend warrior is 3 – 4cals/min v an elite of 7 – 10cals/min = 150% diff...In practice this is a huge difference in the relative intensity of what easy training needs to be to be sustainable between both athletes and much larger than the difference in hard training
A flattish bike ride of 6hrs on a road bike will use up about 3500cals and close to double your glycogen stores so this is going to require a decent ability to supplement the carbs the athlete brings in by burning fat as a substrate
The best thing you can do is to have 1 day/week devoted to long and easy at your maximal fat burning intensity...90mins to 4hrs...Spend the day teaching your body how to generate energy from fat...To find your maximum fat burning intensity in order from best to worse options, 1 - Do a lactate test, 2 - Train at your minimum lactate level as it tends to correlate with your highest fat oxidation level or, 3 - Profile your fitness and train at a fixed % of your max where novices will be 40% of VO2Max or lower, intermediates at 50% VO2max or less and elite athletes at 60 VO2Max or less at. which point use this equation to estimate the corresponding heart rate...Target Heart Rate = ((Max Heart Rate 180 - Resting Heart Rate 57) x .4) + Resting Heart Rate 57 = ((180-57) x .4 + 57 = 106bpm
CARDIO v METABOLIC FITNESS
They are not the same...So much important stuff come from basic metabolic fitness like conditioning your slow fibers to use fat as their primary fuel...A profession triathlete with a VO2Max of 74ml/kg/min looked like he had super cardio fitness but had fat oxidation levels at low levels of intensity of a measly 2cals/min which is really very low metabolic fitness so he struggled over longer races...Zone 1 is superior to zone 2 for metabolic benefit
CARBS
Don’t burn your jet fuel at rest but that’s what you’ll do if you overeat carbs as the body wants to keep blood glucose in a certain range and will burn them whenever it wants in order to do so which also means you'll want to keep eating them
BURNING 1000 CALORIES
Before doing anything fancy, make sure you’re doing 1000cals of work/day which is about 2hrs of purposeful walking at 3.5mph for an 80kg athlete...1000cals/day for general health, 2000cals/day for an amateur athlete and 300o/day for an elite athlete
You'll typically burn 1 calorie per kg of bodyweight per km travelled…At 80kgs you'll burn 80cals/km so to reach 1000cals you need to cover 12.5kms/day (1000/80) in any way possible…For most people you could do a 5km jog coupled with 2 x 40min walks/easy bike
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