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Anaerobic Threshold: What it is and Why it's Beneficial to Your Training  

Anaerobic Threshold also known as the "lactate threshold" is the exertion level between aerobic (with oxygen) and anaerobic (without oxygen) training.  Your day-to-day activities are aerobic, like walking across the street.  Leaping to safety from an oncoming car however, is anaerobic.  It's the difference between jogging and sprinting or dancing around the pole and climbing up the pole.  If you can carry on a conversation during a workout and breath through your nose only you haven't reached your anaerobic threshold (AT). 

Anaerobic metabolism kicks in when exercise intensity is greatly increased, and the aerobic system can no longer keep up with the body's energy demand. This is the point at which we cross the AT. During anaerobic metabolism, the body burns stored sugars to supply the additional energy needed, and lactic acid is produced faster than it can be metabolized. Muscle pain, burning and fatigue make anaerobic energy expenditure difficult to sustain for longer than a few minutes.

So why may you ask should you include anaerobic training in your workouts?  After all, if your goal is to lose weight or dance longer or run faster, you should be solely focusing on aerobics, right?  Wrong.  During aerobic exercise, the body uses oxygen to convert fat and carbohydrates into energy it will need for endurance.  This is important but has little impact on making you stronger, faster, fitter, and--for some--leaner.   This is why High Intensity Interval  Training (HIIT) workouts--like our BoxFIT, SurgeFIT Boot Camp, and PoleFIT classes--have become so popular. 

Exercises with short bursts of movement, force the body to use glycogen in the muscles for fuel--this demand goes beyond normal energy stores.  It's also a defense mechanism to prevent damage under extreme exertion. The lack of oxygen, creates lactic acid in the muscles.  Despite popular opinion that this by-product build-up causes muscle soreness 24-36 hours later, research has shown it's more to do with muscle cell damage (see our article on zinc below). The acid leaves the muscles within an hour or so after the workout is over, long before you can complain the jump squats made using stairs a nightmare.

While not sustainable for long periods, anaerobic training has many physiological benefits for your body--not limited to the following:  One, is the building of muscle and strength.  If you want to keep your metabolism fired up, you need lean muscle mass to do this.  Muscle tissue is hungrier then fat therefor your muscles are hungrier in the hours following high-intensity anaerobic exercise giving you a higher calorie burn for the day. Anaerobic Training improves joint protection, lowers blood sugar and boosts your VO2 max which improves your endurance for other activities, including aerobic activity. Aerobics use slow-twitch muscle fibers which only increase in size slightly.  It also builds endurance because you're able to withstand fatigue and the more fit you are, the longer it'll take for you to reach your AT.   In time, your body will become very efficient at using oxygen to generate the energy it needs.  The flip side, is by always exercising at your AT, you won't lose fat even though you may have burned several hundreds of calories.  This is because you've burned off sugar and not fat for energy.  Plus, it trains your body to burn sugar rather than fat at rest.  So striking a balance with aerobic and anaerobic training is important. 

To determine your AT, it helps to have a heart rate monitor (there are many inexpensive ones available).  While there's no one way to do this, you can get on a treadmill and walk at a speed of 3.5mph (or anything that is a brisk pace for you) with no incline.  After a few minutes of the aerobic work, start increasing the incline by 1% about every 30-60seconds and pay attention to your body's response.  Once you must start breathing from your mouth (not nose only), can't say 10+ words at a time, and begin to have to mentally focus on your workout, you've reached your AT and check your heart rate.  Again, the more fit you are, the longer it will take to reach it.    

You can improve your aerobic efficiency-and thus raise your AT-by doing high-quality aerobic work at a level just below your current AT. Monitoring your heart rate and finding your Training Heart Rate Range (THRR) will help you determine what your current AT is (AT varies for the same age due to many factors including fitness level and genetic factors).  A heart rate monitor can help you individualize your program needs.  Always consult your physician before starting a new fitness program.  

Reach Your Anaerobic Threshold with BoxFIT!

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