When we think about optimizing sports performance, both in professional and amateur settings, we must necessarily focus on aerobic and anaerobic training methods.
Aerobic training allows for slow and prolonged activity, while anaerobic training is fast and short. Aerobic training burns a large amount of fat, while anaerobic training burns sugars.
Aerobic training is essential to prepare the athlete to sustain prolonged performance. Think of sports like cycling, cross-country skiing, long-distance running, or cardio-fitness.
Anaerobic training is useful for sports where maximum effort is required in a short time, such as sprinting, weightlifting, jumping, or throwing.
The mixed aerobic-anaerobic system is suitable for team sports such as soccer, basketball, rugby, hockey, and volleyball.
The aerobic phase and the anaerobic phase tend to overlap, with a prevalence of the aerobic phase.
To set up a training regimen that is optimal for the athlete in order to ensure maximum potential at the precise moment of competition, a very detailed program with different training phases is necessary.
The anaerobic system burns fat but is activated by sugars. Therefore, we are in a very delicate balance that must not be broken to get the best from the athlete at a specific scheduled time.
The foundation of any sport activity must first be aerobic, to improve respiratory and cardiac capacity. The ability to use energy for sports performance is a subsequent step for the athlete. Only after this phase will the athlete focus on the specific demands of their discipline. For the professional, the technical study of the sports gesture is a phase of great work, meticulous and obsessive in its continuous pursuit of perfection.
During training phases, there may be moments of aerobic deficiency due to stress, low sugar levels, anxiety caused by the importance of the competition, personal reasons, metabolic problems, or stress-induced injuries. In professional sports, athlete monitoring involves regular blood tests, checks on hormone levels—which in women occur before and after the menstrual cycle—iron levels, as well as cardiac and lung exams.
Excessive anaerobic training causes muscle and joint injuries and can lead to an increase in triglycerides and cholesterol, sleep disturbances, and a very high state of stress.
Prof. Ph.D Francesco Calarco