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If you’ve read any books on weightlifting, endurance sports, or training in general, you’ve probably come across the term energy system before.
Unfortunately, the more you read about energy systems, the more confused you’re likely to become.
Most explanations of energy systems quickly devolve into a complex firehose of scientific jargon like Krebs cycle, mitochondrial respiration, anaerobic glycolysis, and other tongue twisters.
Luckily, you don’t need a degree in exercise science to decipher energy systems. You don’t even need to know what most of these words mean.
At bottom, energy systems describe how your body produces energy during physical activity, from squatting a barbell to running a marathon to typing on a keyboard.
As you’ll learn in this podcast, gaining a better understanding of how energy systems work can help you improve your performance by optimizing your training and nutrition to support different energy systems, which in turn can improve your performance in different activities.
For example, have you ever wondered why your muscles begin to burn and you lose your breath when doing high reps?
Or why you start to feel tired after running for more than a few minutes?
Or why most people recommend you eat a lot of carbs to perform well as an athlete?
Energy systems hold the answers to all these questions.
What’s more, understanding energy systems gives you a much better idea of how to fuel your body for exercise, as what you eat can significantly impact the efficiency of different energy systems in your body.
In this podcast, you’ll learn:
- How energy systems work
- Why your body uses different energy systems during different kinds of exercise
- How to eat and train to improve the efficiency of different energy systems
- How improving one energy system in particular may help you gain muscle and strength
- And more
Let’s begin.
Oh and if you like this episode and want to get notified when a new one goes live, head on over to Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, YouTube, Soundcloud, Podbean, or Google Play and subscribe.
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Time Stamps:
3:53 – What is an energy system?
6:20 – What is the phosphocreatine system?
10:54 – What is the aerobic system?
18:22 – How do these energy systems relate to weightlifting?
Mentioned on The Show:
What did you think of this episode? Have anything else to share? Let me know in the comments below!
+ Scientific References
- Stroebele N, De Castro JM. Television viewing is associated with an increase in meal frequency in humans. Appetite. 2004;42(1):111-113. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2003.09.001
- Wilson JM, Marin PJ, Rhea MR, Wilson SMC, Loenneke JP, Anderson JC. Concurrent training: A meta-analysis examining interference of aerobic and resistance exercises. J Strength Cond Res. 2012;26(8):2293-2307. doi:10.1519/JSC.0b013e31823a3e2d
- Mersy DJ. Health benefits of aerobic exercise. Postgrad Med. 1991;90(1):103-107, 110-112. doi:10.1080/00325481.1991.11700983
- D BL, L FL, Karen F-S, et al. Aerobic Exercise Improves Cognition for Older Adults with Glucose Intolerance, A Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease. J Alzheimers Dis. 2010;22(2):569-579. doi:10.3233/JAD-2010-100768.Aerobic
- Hofmann P. Cancer and Exercise: Warburg Hypothesis, Tumour Metabolism and High-Intensity Anaerobic Exercise. Sports. 2018;6(1):10. doi:10.3390/sports6010010
- Colberg SR, Sigal RJ, Fernhall B, et al. Exercise and type 2 diabetes: The American College of Sports Medicine and the American Diabetes Association: Joint position statement. Diabetes Care. 2010;33(12):e147. doi:10.2337/dc10-9990
- Nystoriak MA, Bhatnagar A. Cardiovascular Effects and Benefits of Exercise. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2018;5. doi:10.3389/fcvm.2018.00135
- Warburton DER, Nicol CW, Bredin SSD. Health benefits of physical activity: The evidence. CMAJ. 2006;174(6):801-809. doi:10.1503/cmaj.051351
- Mul JD, Stanford KI, Hirshman MF, Goodyear LJ. Exercise and Regulation of Carbohydrate Metabolism. In: Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science. Vol 135. Elsevier B.V.; 2015:17-37. doi:10.1016/bs.pmbts.2015.07.020
- Pollak KA, Swenson JD, Vanhaitsma TA, et al. Exogenously applied muscle metabolites synergistically evoke sensations of muscle fatigue and pain in human subjects. Exp Physiol. 2014;99(2):368-380. doi:10.1113/expphysiol.2013.075812
- Cooper R, Naclerio F, Allgrove J, Jimenez A. Creatine supplementation with specific view to exercise/sports performance: An update. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2012;9:33. doi:10.1186/1550-2783-9-33
- Hultman E, Greenhaff PL. Skeletal muscle energy metabolism and fatigue during intense exercise in man. Sci Prog. 1991;75(298 Pt 3-4):361-370. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1842855. Accessed February 7, 2020.
- Baker JS, McCormick MC, Robergs RA. Interaction among skeletal muscle metabolic energy systems during intense exercise. J Nutr Metab. 2010;2010. doi:10.1155/2010/905612
- Chascione C, Elwyn DH, Davila M, Gil KM, Askanazi J, Kinney JM. Effect of carbohydrate intake on de novo lipogenesis in human adipose tissue. Am J Physiol. 1987;253(6 Pt 1):E664-9. doi:10.1152/ajpendo.1987.253.6.E664
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