Low-Intensity Workouts Do A Body Good

“Consistency is a better pathway to success than intensity.” I believe the tortoise said that. (It was actually Joel Jamieson.)

In the fitness world these days, the trend is to emphasize intensity above all else. But consistently training with lower intensity will make your high-intensity work more efficient. While performing with high intensity is definitely necessary with some training depending on your goals, you must not neglect the low-intensity work if you want to perform at your best.

The term “aerobic exercise” means oxygen is required to produce energy for the given task. “Anaerobic” means that oxygen is not required. For any task that requires power or high intensity, your anaerobic energy dominates for up to about 30 seconds (high intensity) before your aerobic system starts to take over. Your aerobic system is responsible for recharging your anaerobic system. Your aerobic system is what powers your body’s metabolism. Your body could theoretically survive without an anaerobic energy system, but it could not survive without an aerobic system.

So which system is more important for longevity, for disease prevention, and even for performance?

There are several different aspects to aerobic fitness. If you are trying to accomplish specific goals, you have to train specifically. You can train to increase lung capacity. There are different adaptations within the heart that are accomplished with different intensities of training. The size of the chambers within the heart can be increased, thereby increasing the volume of blood able to be pumped per stroke. The walls of the heart can be thickened, thereby increasing the strength of each stroke. These variables will control how much blood is sent to your body. Once you are able to efficiently oxygenate and pump the blood, it must then be transported throughout the body. Capillary density can be increased, making your body better at delivering oxygen and nutrients and removing waste matter. This controls how much oxygen is supplied to your actual muscle fibers. Once the oxygen is delivered, the energy systems within the cells must operate efficiently. Mitochondria are the little powerhouses within your cells. There are nutrients that must be present in order for them to produce energy.

Increasing the number of mitochondria is also possible, allowing your body to produce more energy. All of these things can be trained at once, but if you want specific adaptations, you must train specifically. Allow me to explain. If you want to be a world class cycling athlete, you must train that specific cycling movement pattern. There are specific muscles involved in that movement pattern, and when training that pattern those are the muscles that will adapt with increased capillary density and mitochondrial proliferation. That is why if you are a world-class cyclist, you may not be a world-class marathon runner. There will be some overlap, but they are two different movement patterns with different aerobic adaptations. So if you are competing in cycling, you shouldn’t be doing your aerobic training by kayaking. Maybe check out one of the many spin classes offered on our island. Even if your sport utilizes anaerobic energy with short bouts of high intensity or power such as sprinting, it is the job of the aerobic system to replenish energy for the anaerobic system. The faster your aerobic system resupplies your anaerobic system, the sooner you will be able to display power again. The anaerobic system will work more effectively when your aerobic system is trained effectively. While you should still include strength and anaerobic conditioning, you have to stay consistent with your aerobic conditioning or you will not be able to display your power efficiently.

Life expectancy is directly related to aerobic fitness. A study published in the Journal of American College of Cardiology showed an obvious graded decrease in mortality across increasing cardiovascular fitness. A sampling of 37,855 patients free of known cardiovascular disease were included in this study and followed for all-cause mortality. The analysis demonstrated a “statistically significant progressive improvement in survival across increasingly high-fitness groups that persisted for up to 20 years of follow-up.” Aerobic exercise helps keep off those unwanted pounds. It helps increase stamina by strengthening your heart, which lowers heart rate and supplies more oxygen to the body. It lowers blood pressure by helping keep your arteries clear. It boosts mood and reduces health risks for many conditions including heart disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, stroke and certain types of cancer.

So no matter what you are training for, consistent aerobic exercise will help accomplish almost all health- and fitness-related goals. Whether you are training for a specific sport or just want to reduce disease risk, feel better and live longer, you shouldn’t slack on the aerobic training. If you want someone to help you program your aerobic training for specific results, it is definitely worth it to enlist the help of a qualified professional.

Although the hare probably would have won the race if he hadn’t fallen asleep, the real question is: How is his aerobic training? Because if we are talking longevity, my money is on the tortoise.