Need advice on getting fit.

Go for it. I don't know a huge amount about energy systems.

The reason I posted what Joe Defranco said on the subject is because he's probably the best strength and conditioning coach in the world.

 

When you have someone who doesn't train and they're unfit it's probably going to be too demanding for any intense intervals to be included straight away so when I say aerobic base I just mean a decent level of cardiovascular fitness, without it it's not going to take much for someone to fatigue. It doesn't make sense to train someone with intensity who hasn't done that sort of exercise before.
The guy you're quoting is talking about training athletes. Opinions on that matter vary between strength and conditioning coaches.

 

Virus,

Thanks for the reply. First let me say that I am nobody to discount Joe Defranco in any facets of strength and explosiveness training. I'll do my best to explain this and make sense while getting to your question.

There are three pieces to aerobic development. 1) The cardiovascular system/heart supplies oxygenated blood to the working muscles and carry de-oxygenated blood away. 2)the muscles themselves draw the oxygen out of the blood and utilize it with sugars and fats to generate ATP(the fuel that muscles run on). 3) Have a large supply of sugars and fats stored to draw from. The third is more for extreme long distance athletes and does not really serve the purposes of boxing and other sports.

For the purposes of this, two things have to happen for an aerobic dominant sport such as boxing, soccer, and so forth. They are an increase in oxygen supply to the muscles, and how much oxygen the muscles themselves can use.

Okay, as most know there are two types of muscle fibers, slow and fast twitch. Slow twitch run close to fully on oxygen, while fast twitch can use both aerobic and anaerobic properties for generating ATP. While it is true that Type II(fast twitch) fibers do not contain the same energy source as the Type I(slow) fibers, they can be altered through training to have increased endurance in conjunction with being bigger, faster, etc.
Through training aerobically, mitochondria(energy producing cells within the muscles) increase, thus increasing the amount of oxygen your muscles can use to create ATP.

I stated all of this to answer the comment made that an aerobic base will not help an individual perform or recover from anaerobic work. It is precisely a well developed aerobic system which is used to clear out and regenerate anaerobic processes. In terms of boxing, a boxer may throw a quick three punch combination and disengage. It is then the function of the aerobic system to clear out the "metabolic waste and byproducts" of the aftermath of the punch combination in order to refuel and do it again. The better the aerobic energy systems development, the less time it take to produce that energy again. the poorer the aerobic system, the longer it takes to reproduce the anaerobic energy.

Secondly, I have to mention anaerobic threshold. This is typically dictated by a heart rate number, which if the heart rate goes over the threshold, the body becomes anaerobic and will inevitably gas quickly. As the aerobic system develops, the lower the working heart rate is and the better the aerobic power(or energy output at or around threshold) is. While it is difficult to change the # at AT because it is largely genetic predetermined, you can as I said improve power at it, using purely aerobic processes.

In simple terms, you could see that an individual just starting out would have a very difficult time with intervals that require explosive movements, bursts of fast energy, and so forth because they will inevitably "gas" quickly due to a lack of aerobic base and capacity. It would be a very quick and unproductive workout. If they were to wear a heart rate monitor, their HR would go "through the roof" in no time.

Thus a good aerobic base is resting heart rate of high 50s, and an ability to bring the heart rate down 25-30 or so BPM from around AT would be a good indicator of a good aerobic base. After this loose guideline occurs, move on to more taxing means(intervals, fartlek, threshold training, etc.)

A good aerobic base for a person just getting in shape is accomplished via LSD training, skills work, Lefty's suggestion of jog/walk and so forth with the heart rate staying around 125-145 bpm for 45-90 minutes 3-5 x week. It promotes better efficiency from the heart, more blood to pump with each beat, promoting lower working and resting heart rates.

Hope this helps. Thanks for the reply.

 

Lefty, thanks for making that point. I need to learn how to type to the point instead of this long winded essay I just did. :good

 

Nah thanks for typing that out, haven't really looked at that sort of thing for a little while so it's nice to have a reminder about things like Mitochondria.. You do get those same benefits from intervals but as with every sort of training you need to have progression. Hope all is well with you Von :good

 

Thanks chaps u make this forum worthwhile have a good 2012

 

Back atcha Jeff :good

 

Fitness is about recovery, had a phone call this morning .

 

Sorry, It appears that Hit Training can be enhanced by a lot, by halving recovery time. This is achieved on the Vertirun it appears, not official just yet. :yep.

 

To improvise what about lying down between bout of exercise?

 

Jeff good idea, better exercising while doing it

 

Opens the Diaphragm, makes the Heart more efficient .

 

4x10 is more hypertrophy range than strength. Strength is more 1-6 rep range.