Aerobic endurance training

Generally, when you train with the long-lasting continuous method - which goes from 40 to 120 minutes or more - you work in a frequency range between 60 and 70% of the HRmax; compared to sedentary, well-trained athletes can still exceed these percentages, because the ability to work in aerobiosis even at high intensities is greater.

In technical terms this type of training is often called "long" or "very long". In the latter case, the purpose is to accustom the body to work in conditions of carbohydrate depletion (possibly with the help of particular dietary strategies) and it only makes sense in the preparation of particularly long races, such as marathon or granfondo. We must not forget, in fact, that by definition the long one (not surprisingly also called slow) must be a low stressful training for the organism; stress that inevitably arises if its duration loses proportionality with the performance level of the athlete.

In general, the purpose of the long course is to build a solid base of general resistance, on which to develop the physical abilities best suited to the discipline practiced. As we said, it is the most natural, relaxing and instinctive way to train, capable of rapidly improving the stamina of the sedentary and also useful for athletes at the beginning of the competitive season or during recovery from an injury. However, the long one has the disadvantage. to gradually lose its training effect, determining a performance plateau that can only be overcome by adopting more specific training strategies.

The long bottom is often and improperly called "slow bottom"; in reality this type of exercise presupposes a training carried out more for the need for regeneration and recovery than for real conditioning. Its intensity, in fact, must "be particularly mild and not very stressful; consequently also the duration will be limited (30-90 minutes in general). The slow one finds space as a cool-down, useful for" disposing "of the fatigue accumulated in the days of training heavier.

MEDIUM

Among the continuous methods, useful for the training of aerobic endurance, there is also the so-called "medium", in which the duration drops to a maximum of 30-90 minutes; the intensity increases accordingly, now close to 80-85% of the HRmax (or slightly higher for particularly trained athletes). The aerobic mechanism remains heavily involved in the execution of the athletic gesture, however the anaerobic lactacid mechanism also takes over - to a considerable extent; consequently a medium prolonged too long turns into a great stress for the organism and acquires a character more similar to a competition than to a training.

The medium is useful for raising the maximum oxygen consumption, enzymatic and mitochondrial functionality, as well as the management of energy reserves (ensures a more efficient metabolism of fatty acids).

SHORT AND FAST

Another continuous method to train aerobic endurance is the so-called "short fast", in which the athlete undertakes to conduct a constant physical effort, with an intensity close to the anaerobic threshold (88-92% of the max HR) for 10-30 minutes at the most; in practice, this training method can be considered a performance test. The athlete, for his part, must have sufficient sensitivity to stay just below the race pace, or maintain it for a few minutes without overdoing it.

The fast bottom increases the aerobic power and partly the lactic capacity.

PROGRESSIVE

In "progression training" the athlete starts the session at a slow pace and, as the aerobic systems reach maximum activation and the body adapts to the effort, the intensity of the exercise progressively increases. from a certain heart rate and it tends to rise - always according to pre-established patterns - to the threshold, or to the maximum of possibilities.

"Progressive training can be interpreted as a maintenance strategy or pure individual preference (for those who have no particular ambitions); if well structured, by calibrating the duration and rhythm of the various fractions, it can also have a training purpose, aimed at improvement of the anaerobic threshold and of the running technique.This work also stimulates the maximum oxygen consumption (VO2 Max) and therefore tends to increase the "displacement of the aerobic engine".