TO WIN: BUILD YOUR ANEROBIC ENDURANCE
Lance Armstrong once said of bike racing, "He who can stand the most pain, wins."
Most athletes know the pain of intense physical effort. It comes from lactic acid produced during anaerobic movement.
Unlike aerobic, which means 'with oxygen,' anaerobic movement means 'without oxygen.'
Aerobic movements, such as running, use renewable oxygen produced by the respiratory system. But the forceful power of anaerobic movement uses oxygen in the cells, which is limited and quickly used up. That's when lactic acid starts flowing through the blood and muscles. When blood turns acidic, it causes muscles to burn so painfully that it may be hard to move them. The time it takes to reach that point of near paralysis is called anaerobic endurance. It's the time you can sprint or lift a weight or ride a bike up a steep hill.
You can increase your anaerobic endurance with the right kind of training. In any power sport, from ski racing to wrestling, such extended muscle endurance will help you win.
Shane Domer, the strength and conditioning specialist for U. S. Speedskating, says that training for muscle endurance will give two benefits; "You will increase the amount of time you can sustain the activity, and you will improve the time you can stay in an anaerobic state."
He adds that improving that time builds lactate tolerance, "When you increase your lactate tolerance, you increase your body's ability to cope with the pain longer. You get used to the burning in your muscles, and you're able to keep up the activity through the pain."
"The more you get used to that burning and pain, the more you can tolerate it," he says.
Lactate tolerance training is done by many athletes, including the downhill squad on the U. S. ski team. Downhillers have to spend 90 to 120 seconds in a tuck, while still keeping their legs ready to flex and move with every change in the terrain.
One of the exercises they use is the 'tuck walk.' Bend into the racer's tuck position---thighs parallel to the ground, upper body bent onto the thighs with knees under the armpits, back flat---step to the side, then bring the other foot over in a kind of hopping skip. Do 20 to one side, then 20 to the other side, and repeat. Don't cheat by unfolding into a more upright position. Repeat again until the pain becomes unbearable.
Rest by walking around for two to three minutes, then do another set. This time, do four more reps in each direction. Rest again, then repeat with the same number of reps you just did. Vary the tuck walk sessions with interval runs. Start these sessions with a light jog for about one minute. Then break into a hard sprint for thirty seconds, followed by one minute of jogging, then another 30-second sprint. Give yourself at least one day's rest before doing another session of lactate tolerance training for the legs.
Meanwhile, do a session for the arms. One of the best upper body lactate tolerance training exercises is the push-up, which uses nearly every muscle above the waist. Start by finding your max, by doing as many push-ups as you can before your muscles give out. Subtract two push-ups from this number, and do three more sets, with five minutes rest in between each set. If floor push-ups are too hard, do the exercise using a balance ball.
While lactate tolerance training can be done with science and charts and coaching, this simple method will also work well. Your goal is to increase your tolerance for the pain once you reach the limit of your anaerobic endurance. By performing this kind of training, you will build that endurance into a more powerful athletic body.