sunday coffee vol. 7: the bodies 2 energy systems + how to use zone training

Usain Bolt and Eliud Kipchoge are 2 of the best athletes in the world.

Usain Bolt is one of the fastest humans alive in a short sprint - whereas Eliud Kipchoge holds the world record for a 26.2 mile marathon, set in Chicago earlier this year.

Both of these athletes are amazingly fast, but in very different ways.

Usain is a sprinter - he works in short bursts.

Eliud is a distance runner - he uses long-term endurance.

They have both achieved such incredible speed by mastering 1 of the bodies 2 main energies systems, but what are these systems and why are they important to us?

Our body has 2 primary methods of converting and using energy, known as the Aerobic and Anaerobic energy systems.

They’re named according to how we create and use energy when they’re active.

So put simply, when we’re primarily using our aerobic energy system, we’re mainly using oxygen as fuel. This lets us work for much longer, but at a much lower intensity than our anaerobic system.

When we’re primarily using our anaerobic energy systems, we mainly use energy stored in or muscles in the form of glycogen converted to ATP. This is our energy systems for short burst exercises like a 100m sprint or a 1 Rep Max Deadlift.

Here’s a graph from Ross Edgley’s book; Blueprint, that highlights what types of exercises would use which energy system. Notice that we’re usually using a combination of both systems to utilize energy.

As you can see in the graph, a Marathon would rely almost 100% on the Aerobic system, whereas a 100m Sprint would rely almost 100% on the Anaerobic system. This is why I mentioned earlier that Usain and Eliud had both mastered 1 of the bodies 2 main energy systems.

But how do you incorporate this knowledge into your training?

It would be impossible to cover all the ways to do this in one newsletter, so here we’re going to focus on one of the more popular methods for endurance athletes: Zone Training.

Zone training is a type of training based on where your heart rate is at, or in other words, what ‘zone’ it’s in. You can also think of the zones as different levels of intensity with 1 being the easiest and 5 being the most intense.

This is something endurance athletes often use to improve their speed, endurance, and pain tolerance (amongst other things). Next week we’ll cover how you might use zone training to do this, but for now, let’s cover an intro of what the 5 zones are.

ps: MHR = Maximum Heart Rate

1. Z1 - Active Recovery

Zone 1 is the easiest of all the training zones and is often used for active recovery or warm-up. This zone is a great way to get your blood flowing and your muscles warmed up before a more intense workout. It can also be used for a low-impact workout on days when you're feeling tired or sore.

2. Z2 - Endurance

Zone 2 is often referred to as the “endurance zone” and is typically the lowest zone used for training purposes. Think of it as going for a jog while you can still hold a conversation. Zone 2 is meant to be a pace you can hold right below your aerobic threshold - meant to help you improve your endurance, lung capacity, heart health, etc.

3. Z3 - Tempo

Zone 3 is a challenging zone that is designed to improve your lactate threshold, which is the point at which your body starts to produce more lactic acid than it can clear. Lactic acid is a byproduct of anaerobic metabolism, and it can cause muscle fatigue.

By training in Zone 3, you can increase your lactate threshold, which will allow you to run or ride harder for longer periods of time. To put it another way, this zone helps you develop pain tolerance and push your aerobic capacity.

4. Z4 - VO2 Max

Zone 4 is the most intense training zone that we’ll typically use and is designed to improve your VO2 max, which is the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use per minute, and your lactate threshold similar to Z3.

This zone is often referred to as “race pace” and in this zone we’re looking at an 8-9/10 on the rate of perceived exertion scale. Because of that, it’s unlikely you’d be able to sustain this for any longer than 1 hour. 

This zone is also a move from primarily using your aerobic energy system, to now using your anaerobic energy system.

5. Z5 - All Out

Zone 5 is the most intense zone of all and is only used for short bursts of effort. It is not recommended to train in Zone 5 for more than a few minutes at a time, as this can lead to fatigue, injury, and overtraining.

Examples include: A full out sprint, a 1 rep max, a maximum effort jump, etc.

If you want to be the best athlete you can possibly be across the board, you have to train both your aerobic and anaerobic capacity. You want to build both…

Today, we covered the bodies 2 main energy systems, and how to incorporate Zone Training into your program ASAP.

To recap, the zones can simply be thought of as follows:

Thanks for reading and hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving 🙂

Dane