There are significant adaptations that occur when performing aerobic exercise. It influences your muscle quality through exercise that is lower intensity, longer duration. Your mitochondrial activity is enhanced and your substrate usage of intramuscular glycogen and triglyceride is increased.
During lower intensity, longer duration exercise, oxygen is present to deliver oxygen to the working muscle. Your blood volume is increased by increased red blood cell content and your body's oxygen carrying capacity. Capillarization occurs in the muscle by developing more capillaries per unit of muscle. This increases the number and size of the blood vessels.
The body's ability to deliver oxygen/fuel to the muscle cells, enhance CO2 removal and waste products, and transfer heat away from the muscle is increased through aerobic exercise and capillarization. Oxygen deliver across muscle cells increases with the increase of myoglobin in the skeletal muscle.
Not only is..
1. Oxygen transport increased (capillarization)
2. Muscle can uptake more oxygen (increased myoglobin content)
3. Greater oxygen use (increased # and size of mitochondria)
The more oxygen that is present during exercise, the more fat that can be utilized during exercise. Not only preserving your glycogen stores, but allowing your body to burn fat more efficiently during exercise. To lose fat, your body must be able to burn fat. The more aerobic exercise you do, and the more your body produces these adaptations, the more efficient you will be. You weekly volume of exercise should contain about 80-85% of your total volume at this lower intensity, longer duration exercise.
For example - If you are working out for 30 minutes, 5 days per week - a total of 150 minutes - 120-127.5 minutes should be at a lower intensity exercise. Exercising right around your aerobic base (burning 50% fat, 50% carb) is where you want you body to be.
Do you know what your fat burning zone (aerobic base intensity) is? If not I highly recommend that you get your active metabolic assessment done. I am a personal trainer, nutrition coach, metabolic technician at Lifetime Fitness, at this is an assessment that can be done.
If you have any questions, feel free to email me!
Happy Aerobic Running :)
I know that exercise improves my gait, my mind and my fatigue. I'm surprised it is not given more priority. This is probably the same for the population with no underlying health problems. It is not a cure and sometimes it is hard to find the energy, but it helps just to know you have done something for your personal wellbeing.
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