Benefits Of Building A Strong Aerobic Base

It is absolutely essential for anyone to build a strong aerobic base before embarking on high intensity exercise which are usually anaerobic in nature. I had written a post earlier about definition of aerobic and anaerobic exercise. You can read about it here.

Here are some salient points.

• Strengthening of lung muscles that facilitate air movement in and out of lungs
• Strengthening and enlarging heart muscles to improve its efficiency in pumping blood throughout the body
• Developing Endurance muscles
• Improving the recovery of muscles
• Decrease in Blood Pressure
• Decrease in Resting heart rate
• Increase the number of red blood cells that are responsible for transporting oxygen around the body.
• Reduce risk of Stroke
• Increase Mental Alertness

Aerobic training has been acknowledged as an important component for almost all professional athletes.

If its Important, Then Why Don’t Everyone Do It?

It is easy to understand why anyone would NOT want to build a strong aerobic base before jumping into high intensity anaerobic exercise.

Many people have the belief that young people do not need to build an aerobic base. After all they are still young and full of energy. Taking time to build aerobic base seems too much of a hassle for an individual that lives in our fast paced, demanding society.

Indeed, building a strong aerobic foundation is a long and tedious process which requires a lot of discipline. Yet it is something that we cannot compromise.

It is especially tempting for a person who has not been exercising, but who used to represent college, schools in intensity sports, to jump right back hoping to continue where they leave off. Obviously if you have been working out regularly, that wouldn’t be any problem. The problem only happens when you have not been working out regularly, and you think you are still as strong as before.

If you have the discipline to train aerobically for a period of time, before moving onto high intensity training, it will definitely pay you dividends down the road.

Personal Experience

I used to exercise very frequently while i was in college, as many as 6 times a week. Unfortunately like many of my friends, after graduation, i got caught up in the stressful race to climb the corporate ladder, and exercising became the least of my priorties. However i know i still love to compete and win.

About one year after graduation, i started jogging so that i can pass my annual Individual Physical Proficiency Test (IPPT), a requirement for all Singaporean National Servicemen.

It was about 2 weeks before my test. i thought i can definitely pull it off despite such short notice, as i have done so many times before. In fact i did pass my IPPT test with above average results in 2.4km run, but little did i know the impact it had on me.

For about 2 weeks after the test, i find myself unable to walk properly. My leg muscles have been ill-prepared for the strenuous task and it needed a lengthy time to recover. I also felt tired very easily, often yawning throughout the day. This was something i never experienced before!

It was after a chat with my doctor cum triathlete friend that i realize i should have taken a much longer time to prepare for the test.

How to Build A Strong Aerobic Base?

Before doing anything, you need to get a heart rate monitor. This will allow you to measure your heart rate during your training phase. It is definitely a useful tool, even beyond your aerobic training phase.

Definition: Aerobic heart rate - Rate at which your heart beats before it transits to anaerobic, usually define as 180-age. (Do not confuse with Max Heart Rate which is 220-age)

The whole training phase should last between 2-3 months, depending on your fitness level. During this period, you should engage predominantly in activities like jogging, swimming at your aerobic heart rate.

Each training period should last more than 30 mins, ideally working up to 45min to 1 hr.

It is essential that all training periods are accompanied by warming up and cooling down sessions of at least 15min each.

Warming up prepares your body for the aerobic training. You could be exercising aerobically but not burning fats. Doing a proper warmup will ensure that the fatty acids are more readily mobilized to be burned.

Cooling down session is equally important. Cooling down should involve stretching of your muscles, and it will do a long way to ensure your muscles recover quickly. In fact, Dara Torres, the inspirational 41-year old swimmer from the USA, has often cited that elaborate cooling down and stretching sessions are the secrets to her phenomenal comeback performance.

Will Building A Strong Aerobic Base be Sufficient?

Training for athletes comprises of many components. One key area is obviously diet. I will be posting another article on the importance of diet to training.

Related Posts

• Aerobic vs Anaerobic Exercise
• Importance Of Warming Up And Cooling Down
• Motivation is What Gets You Started, Habit is what keeps you Going…
• Why Visualization Can Improve Your Performance As Much As The Physical Training Itself!
• Eliminate Doubts About Your Ability

If you like this article, kindly leave a comment or rate my post. I would also appreciate any honest feedback as i constantly seek to improve the quality of my articles. Thank you for reading!

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